Des Moines, Iowa — The Iowa House has passed a plan to raise the minimum salary for teachers by nearly 50 percent within two years.
The current minimum salary is $33,500 a year. Republican Representative Bill Gustoff of Des Moines says the plan would bring about the largest single boost to teacher pay in state history.
The plan includes money to help districts not only raise the pay of current teachers who aren’t being paid 50 thousand dollars a year, but to pay a 15-dollar-an-hour wage to other school staff, like paraeducators. Representative Sue Cahill, a Democrat from Marshalltown who’s a retired teacher, says there’s bipartisan agreement this is the right move.
The bill passed on a 93-to-one vote. House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst says that margin sends a message to the governor and state senators who’ve tied a teacher pay decision to bills that overhaul Area Education Agencies.
Gustoff calls it a “kumbaya” moment.
The Senate Education Committee’s AEA plan would raise minimum teacher pay, but to a lower level around 46 thousand dollars a year. In January, Reynolds also proposed a minimum salary of 62-thousand dollars for teachers with at least 12 years of experience. That’s not included in the House-passed plan or the one Senators have drafted.
