LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Arkansas Senate and House Democrats introduced a bill on Jan. 25 that would raise starting salaries for teachers from $36,000 to $50,000 and includes a $10,000 raise for every public school teacher in Arkansas.
According to a press release from ArkDems, the bill is known as the Raising Arkansas’s Investment in Schools and Educators Act of 2023.
The release says a companion bill was filed that would raise the minimum staff pay for all classified staff in public schools from $11 an hour to $15 an hour.
“Arkansas teachers are paid worse than their peers in every other southern state. With the RAISE Act, we can right this wrong and deliver a huge win for our children in Arkansas’s public schools,” said Senate Minority Leader Greg Leading of Fayetteville. “We also know that our dedicated and hardworking staff, who make our schools run every day, deserve a raise. And that’s exactly what our staff pay bill will do. Right now, there is a majority in this legislature that wants pay raises for teachers and support staff. Together with these two bills, we can build a brighter Arkansas for every child.”
The release says the RAISE Act will cost $350 million for the $10,000 raise and a one-time cost of $30 million to help districts meet the new minimum salary of $50,000.
According to the release, the classified raise comes from a House recommendation out of the educational adequacy study to raise the per-pupil foundation amount for non-teacher employees.
The release says the classified staff pay bill doubles the initial recommendation of a $ 2-an-hour raise to $4 an hour.
According to the release, the raise would be achieved with an $89 increase per pupil, which is around $42 million in total.
