House panel approves bill raising pay for teachers, paraeducators

The House Appropriations Committee approved a bill Monday raising minimum pay for teachers and education support staff, making it eligible for debate later this week.

Lawmakers also passed House File 2611 through an appropriations subcommittee earlier Monday. The bill would raise teachers’ starting salaries to $50,000 over two years, with a $47,500 minimum in year one. It also would raise minimum hourly pay to $15 for paraeducators and other school staff who are paid hourly.

The full committee approved an amendment shifting $22 million in funding dedicated to raising teacher pay from salary schedule assistance to programs under Teacher Salary Supplement. The bill’s manager, Rep. Carter Nordman, R-Adel, said the change will make the pay increases “more sustainable for our school districts.”

The bill passed with unanimous support. Nordman called the legislation a “major step forward” in addressing pay for educators in Iowa.

“Not only is attracting individuals into the teaching professional profession important, but retaining those who are in the classroom today is vital to the success of our education system,” Nordman said. “Our teachers deserve it. Our support staff deserve it. And I think this bill shows our commitment to education funding in the state of Iowa.”

The legislation was one component of an education package introduced by House Republicans earlier in February — which included the House’s proposal on changing Iowa’s Area Education Agencies and a 3% State Supplemental Aid bill, which was approved by the House Thursday.

Gov. Kim Reynolds kicked off the conversation on both AEAs and raising minimum starting salaries for teachers at the beginning of the 2024 legislative session. Reynolds’ AEA bill, Senate File 2386, remains alive in the Senate, though changes have been made to the AEA components, and the minimum starting salary was lowered from Reynolds’ proposal of $50,000 to $46,251.

In the subcommittee meeting Monday, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, said though the House separated the teacher pay component from the AEA proposal, the discussions are still intertwined. A Guidehouse consulting firm report found that despite Iowa’s higher per-pupil education spending for special education students, these students scored lower than the national average on National Assessment of Educational Progress tests. Holt said many people have brought up the need to raise pay for paraeducators in an effort to improve scores for Iowa’s special education students.

Lobbyists on behalf of school and education groups spoke in support of the bill. Melissa Peterson with the Iowa State Education Association thanked House lawmakers for introducing a measure that would increase not only teacher pay and also address repeated calls for increasing wages for other school staff.

“We think this bill, while perhaps not perfect, does move us in the right direction of helping to address recruitment of teachers, retention of experienced, quality teachers and also getting us to a place where we are competitively offering a wage for our education support professionals, that will encourage them to stay, helping us do work and educate our generations in public education,” Peterson said.