HB1566: Public school teachers and other Standards of Quality-funded positions; compensation.

Legislative Summary

Compensation of public school teachers and other Standards Compensation of public school teachers and other Standards of Quality-funded positions; competitive rate. Requires the Commonwealth to compensate its public school teachers at a rate that is competitive, defined in current law as at or above the national average teacher salary, in order to attract and keep highly qualified teachers. Current law declares it the policy of the Commonwealth to compensate public school teachers at such competitive rate but does not require it. The bill requires the Department of Education to conduct an annual calculation to determine the estimated national average teacher salary for each year of the current budget biennium that relies on the most up-to-date data from the source of the 50-state average salary of K-12 teachers in public school set forth in the annual Virginia Compared with the Other States report published by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. The bill permits the Department, in making such calculation, to use the trends of the percent change for the national average teacher salaries in the two to four years prior to project averages in each year of the current and upcoming biennia. The bill requires the results of such calculation to be reported to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the Board of Education by June 1 of each year. The bill also requires state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficient to fund a certain flat percent annual pay increase for each individual employed in a Standards of Quality-funded position. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2024.