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Pennsylvania State Senate
04/23/2024 11:01 AM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20210&cosponId=37075
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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: March 22, 2022 02:23 PM
From: Senator Judith L. Schwank
To: All Senate members
Subject: $45k minimum teacher salary
 
I will shortly introduce legislation that will increase the minimum teacher salary in Pennsylvania from $18,500 to $45,000. The education professionals helped by the minimum salary proposal are currently not earning enough to raise a small family and pay their college debt. Given the crucial role teachers play in the lives of students, they shouldn’t have to scrape to make ends meet.

This proposal demonstrates respect for professional educators by providing them with a wage that is more in line with what similarly educated professionals earn. In 2021, the average starting salary in Pennsylvania was $46,232 a year.

My bill will:
  • Increase the minimum salary in the Public School Code from $18,500 to $45,000. The last time the minimum salary for educators was increased was in 1989. Since then teaching has become much more challenging. Teachers face increased continuing education requirements, more students with complex needs, and the daunting task of keeping students safe in the classroom. The Commonwealth is behind schedule for a necessary adjustment to keep pace with inflation – especially for some communities that don’t have the local tax base to attract and retain educators. The Governor’s Budget Office estimates there are about 1,500 educators who will be positively impacted.
 

  • Ensure that all professional educators are covered. – This proposal ensures that educator-type employees—like social workers, psychologists, and therapists—who are employed in professional positions, would be legally recognized as “professional employees” and would be included in minimum salary requirements.
 
This legislation will NOT require collective bargaining agreements be reopened to reflect the new salaries. There is nothing in the bill that would require current contracts to be modified, only that the educators earning under $45K in school year 22-23 be paid $45K.

Finally, given the limited scope of this proposal it is my intention to solve the specific and narrow problem of teacher retention in certain locations. Much like when the minimum salary was increased 30 years ago, I do not anticipate this increase will have a broader impact on educator salaries above $45,000.

Please join me cosponsoring this very important legislation.


Introduced as SB1211