Whittled teacher bill offers signing bonus

After passing the House by one vote last week, a bill putting some $22 million toward new teachers' pay raises and a mentoring program was whittled Monday to a $2.5 million, one-time chunk of change to give new math, science or technology teachers a signing bonus.

HB188 was substituted by Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, then passed by the Senate Education Standing Committee.

Sponsoring Rep. Brad Johnson, R-Aurora, called the move "better than nothing."

"It was a funding issue," he said. "But I do believe that increasing the salary of beginning teachers and making us more competitive . . . would do more to increase the quality of teachers, which is the most important issue in public education."

The original HB188 sought $18.3 million to boost pay for teachers in their first five years, plus $2.9 million for a teacher mentoring program.

The idea was to recruit more teachers to a profession facing a shortage.

But the bill's hefty price tag didn't sit well with the Utah House. Last week, representatives argued the bill would take money away from veteran teachers and programs. Some said senior teachers are the ones who need a raise, and that the bill creates pay inequity. The bill squeaked by on a 38-37 vote.

Substitute HB188 appropriates money to the Public Education Job Enhancement Program, giving signing bonuses to attract new science, information technology and math teachers, of which there have been shortages. The money also could be used for scholarships for graduate students in those fields.

Stephenson said the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee prioritized $2.5 million for that purpose.

Some senators wanted to extend the incentives to special education teachers, also in short supply in Utah. But Substitute HB188 probably isn't the proper place to include them, noted Sen. Patrice Arent, D-South Cottonwood, as those teachers are not currently part of the Public Education Job Enhancement Program.

Utah Education Association President Pat Rusk lamented no funding for a new teacher mentoring program as a "loss for all teachers." She and state associate superintendent Ray Timothy said that would help teacher retention, a key issue in addressing the teacher shortage.

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