The School Board for the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District on Monday approved across-the-board pay increases for employees, including teachers, for the upcoming 2022-23 school year.
The Mountain Home and Salem school districts will receive additional funds from the state to help improve the salaries of its teachers.
The Teacher Salary Equalization Fund, created by Acts 679 and 680 of this year’s legislative session, will provide Mountain Home Public Schools with $712,153.80 in additional funds for teacher salaries. Salem Public Schools will receive $154,907.90 from the fund.
Arkansas lawmakers created the fund earlier this year to help address the inequality in pay across the state’s 238 public school districts and 24 public charter school systems.
Schools with an average annual teacher’s salary of less than $51,822 were eligible to receive additional funds if the schools were not already participating in the Education Compensation Reform Program, which helps districts meet the states minimum teacher salary requirements.
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Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed two bills Monday that will raise the median teacher salary by $2,000 to $51,822 across the state. Senate Bill 504 and House Bill 1614 also create the Teacher Salary Equalization Fund, which dedicates $25 million in state funding to provide $185 dollars per student to districts that are below the median salary and can t meet the goal otherwise.
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Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a pair of identical bills Monday that will raise the state’s median teacher salaries by $2,000 and create a fund to help lower-paying districts reach that amount.
Senate Bill 504 by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, and House Bill 1614 by Rep. Bruce Cozart, the chairs of the Senate and House Education Committees respectively, will raise the target median teacher salary to $51,822 for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years. The House and Senate Committees afterwards would jointly set the statewide target median salary.
It also provides $25 million to create a Teacher Salary Equalization Fund that will provide $185 per student in districts that are below the median salary. According to the legislation, the gap between the highest average salary, $60,963, and the lowest of $39,578 was $21,385.