SC Education Department wants $50K starting teacher salary. Can the state afford it?
South Carolina teachers would have a starting salary of $50,000 under a budget proposal pushed by the state’s Department of Education.
But honoring that request may be difficult as budget writers will have to also weigh how much to set aside for state employee pay increases, health insurance premiums for those on the state health plan, maintenance of effort costs for the state’s Medicaid program, and college tuition mitigation efforts.
Increasing the starting pay for teachers to $50,000 a year would cost an additional $200 million a year, which would eat up more than a third of the newly available annual dollars lawmakers are expected to have to allocate when they write a budget next year.
Lawmakers will have about $533 million of additional annual money to allocate during next year’s budget discussions, according to the Board of Economic Advisors. Additional BEA estimates, which could adjust how much is available, are expected in 2025.
Increasing teacher pay remains the top priority for the S.C. Department of Education, said Jason Raven, spokesman for the agency.
“The most impactful in-school factor affecting student success is the effectiveness of the classroom teacher,” state Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver wrote in her department’s budget request, pointing to efforts in previous years that raised the starting pay from $32,000 in 2018-19 to $47,000 for the current school year.
Gov. Henry McMaster set a goal to bring the starting teacher pay to at least $50,000 by 2026, the last year of his term in office.
“The projections now are not what they’ll be at the end,” House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister said. “But certainly we’re going to do that by the time McMaster’s term is over. We’re committed to that, whether we get there this year or not. I know we’re within striking distance, but yes, that would be a large portion of the recurring revenue to commit to that one item.”
Bannister added the economy has been performing well and additional recurring revenue may become available.
Increasing teacher pay has been seen as one of the remedies to address teacher shortages in South Carolina.
Earlier this year, lawmakers raised the starting teacher pay to $47,000 from $42,500 and extended the state base salary schedule, which pays teachers based on years of experience and education level, to 28 years from 23 years.
The state’s teacher shortage dropped at the beginning of this school year by 35%, according to the South Carolina Educator Supply and Demand Report.
The Center for Education Recruitment, Retention and Advancement found South Carolina had 1,043 teacher openings at the beginning of this school year. That is down from 1,613 openings in the previous school year. The number of teacher vacancies had been growing over recent years.
“We’ve seen that for the first time in five years the number of vacant teaching positions in this state declined this school year, and I think part of that is because of the significant investment the General Assembly has made in educator salaries,” said Patrick Kelly, the director of governmental affairs for the Palmetto State Teachers Association.
However, part of the drop in vacancies is due to districts opting to staff fewer positions this school year as federal COVID money through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief fund schools expired.
“While this workforce reduction was somewhat expected with the expiration of federal ESSER funding, the impact on students could be devastating, especially in core areas for academic success,” the Palmetto State Teachers Association said in a statement.
This story was originally published December 13, 2024 at 9:58 AM.
