There’s a lot of talk among Virginia lawmakers this year about paying teachers more. But with Governor Ralph Northam’s five percent teacher pay raise, it isn’t guaranteed that’ll make it to teachers’ bank accounts.
If school divisions can’t come up with their full share of the local match – on average about 40% , depending on the district - they lose it all. It’s all or nothing.
House Education Committee Chair Steve Landes says the House is working on something a little different.
“We’re trying to see how you can make that flexible so that ones [districts] that have already done what they can do…so they don’t get penalized,” Landes said. “And at the same time encourages others who want to raise the bar, too.”
But details of what that flexibility will look like aren’t clear yet. They will be clear by this Sunday, when House and Senate issue separate versions of the state budget.
Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment couldn’t say yet Wednesday what the Senate version of a pay raise would look, like just that “education remains a priority.”
