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Ensuring Teacher Pay Raises
Cicero said there was no more valuable or noble employment to the state than that of instructing the rising generation. We couldn’t agree with Cicero more.
Nearly everyone can think of a special teacher in their childhood that opened new doors of knowledge and understanding, impacting them for the rest of their lives. Teachers know that the pay for their labors will not afford a luxurious lifestyle, that they may need two incomes to support a family, and that at times their labors may seem in vain. We are grateful there are people whose passion and love of a particular subject drive them to serve and teach despite the pay and rigors of the job. We thank and salute them for doing so.
This year the Legislature sought to provide a special reward to all our teachers for a job well done. We intended to signal our thanks in the form of a $2,500 gross pay raise and $1,000 bonus to every classroom teacher. Recently, Legislative Leadership was informed that even though over $100 million was set aside for teacher raises, the total number of teachers provided to the Legislature for calculating purposes was not accurate.
The Legislature made it expressly clear in the bill’s intent language, and in the media, that each teacher was to be awarded a $2,500 raise in addition to a $1,000 bonus. Rather than allow districts to pass along anything less than $2,500 gross pay raise to teachers, we intend to fulfill our commitment. It is our intent that every single dollar promised makes its way directly into the hands of the teachers. This was a very public promise the Legislature made to our valuable and noble teachers and to the public as well. Indeed, the bill authorizing the raises passed both houses of the Legislature with overwhelming support. This is a promise the Legislature intends very much to honor.
We have requested an audit to determine the exact number of teachers in each district and exactly how much additional funding will be required to fulfill our promise. Once that data has been received, we intend to pass a supplemental appropriation bill in the next General Session to enhance the $100 million that has already been set aside. Every public school teacher will receive a $2,500 gross pay raise.
We thank our teachers for their work educating our rising generation. We know they labor often times in obscurity and at great personal sacrifice. They deserve this raise and we intend to work to ensure that each and every teacher receives what has been promised to them.
Sincerely,
Speaker Greg Curtis
Rep. David Clark
Rep. Gordon E. Snow
Rep. Brad Dee
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Anonymous
Speaker Greg Curtis,
As the spouse of a teacher and a future teacher myself I appreciate the effort that has been put forth by the Utah Legislature. I am wondering what steps are being implemented to ensure that district do not cheat teacher’s out of the $1000 bonus and $2500.00 pay increase that has been promised. I am concerned because My husband has already heard at his school from a district representative that Jordan is already saying that the full $2500 will not be added to the pay scale, that the funding is actually only $2400 and that retirement funding and other taxes will be removed from that amount prior to the remaining amount being added to the lanes on the salary scale. It was my understanding that $2500 was to be added to each step and lane and that it would be taxed accordingly once distributed through paychecks. I do not know how accurate this information was and wanted to know from you if this would be allowed to cheat their teachers out of the intended raise. I must say that if this does happen it is misleading to inform the public of a raise that teachers do not actually get. This happens time and time again. It is often reported in newspapers that teachers get a certain amount in raises when they really do not.