House passes bill to give teachers raises, bonuses

Utah educators could see some significant raises and bonuses under a bill aimed at making the teaching profession in Utah more attractive to new educators and college students.

Thursday the House passed HB382, which would appropriate $68.7 million for $2,500 raises for educators, elevating the entire pay scale in each district.

On top of that, lawmakers want $34.9 million to go toward one-time teacher bonuses — $1,000 each for every classroom teacher.

"We have seen the signs that say 'No Excuses,' we have some funding this year way above what we are used to, and we need to put money where our mouth is and help education," said Rep. Brad Dee, R-Washington Terrace, sponsor of the bill.

Local school boards set teacher salaries and pay scales in individual districts and salary money comes from the weighted pupil unit that is set by the Legislature.

But Dee said that in past years, regardless of record WPU increases such as last year's 6 percent increase, teachers are still not getting adequate compensation.

"Water is just not getting to the end of the row," he said.

The bill would require that the money go directly to teacher salaries rather than being routed through the WPU, to ensure that all teachers receive the increase and money isn't rerouted to other programs.

But some lawmakers said the initiative is micro-managing school districts and that the responsibility for determining salary increases should rest with the local boards.

"It's an important issue that each of us has campaigned on and I am supportive of the idea, but I am uncomfortable with us dictating to local school districts what salary increases are going to be," said Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville. "Education is a complicated and difficult process — sometimes there are reasons for water not getting to the end of the row and it is presumptuous for us to assume that we know what is best," he said.

Under the bill, raises and bonuses would be available to certified teachers, school administrators, counselors, librarians, social workers, speech pathologists, audiologists and psychologists.

The House also passed HB416 that would give $15,000 loans to teachers to be used in purchasing a home. If the borrowing teacher stayed in Utah and taught for five years, the state would forgive $5,000 of the loan. If the teacher stayed and taught for 10 years, the entire loan would be paid off.

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