Legislated Teacher Salary Increases by Year in SREB States
A summary of which state legislatures in the region took action to increase teacher salaries in recent years.
2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR
Updated January 2021: During their 2020 sessions, legislatures in eight SREB states proposed increases in teacher salaries for the 2020-21 school year. After the pandemic began and states reconsidered their budgets, the states did not act on those proposals.
Two SREB states acted to increase teacher salaries.
| Florida | March 2020: Legislature approved House Bill 641 to establish a statewide minimum annual teacher salary of $47,500. The governor signed the bill in June 2020. The appropriations act provided $500 million for implementation in 2020-21, and the governor proposed another $550 million in 2021-22. |
|---|---|
| Mississippi | January 2020: Approved House Bill 1, which provided a supplemental appropriation to cover an unexpected appropriations deficit from a 2019-20 teacher salary increase of $1,500 (which was approved in 2019). |
2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR
Updated December 2019: Legislatures in many SREB states took action to increase teacher salaries for the 2019-20 school year. The table below summarizes those actions across the region.
| Alabama | 4 percent |
|---|---|
| Arkansas | $1,000 |
| Delaware | 2 percent |
| Florida | $2,0001 |
| Georgia | $3,0002 |
| Louisiana | $1,000 |
| Mississippi | $1,500 |
| Oklahoma | $1,2203 |
| South Carolina | 4 percent to 10.6 percent |
| Tennessee | 2.5 percent4 |
| Texas | $5,500 to $9,000 increase in statewide minimum salary schedule steps |
| Virginia | 3 percent on July 1, 2019, and an additional 2 percent on September 1, 2019 |
| West Virginia | 5 percent average |
Notes:
1 Because salaries are determined at the local level via collective bargaining, legislators appropriated funds sufficient to provide $2,000 across-the-board raises, and it was up to the districts to budget as such.
2 Funding for the raise was provided through the state funding formula so non-formula-funded employees didn’t automatically receive this; also, some districts had “strategic waivers” that may have allowed them to opt out of mandated salary increases.
3 Districts were allowed to provide differentiated raises as long as the increases averaged $1,220.
4 Legislators provided additional formula funds for the increases, but local districts determined funding allocations and some teachers were paid with non-formula funds.
2018-2019 SCHOOL YEAR
In 2018, several states took action to increase teacher salaries for the 2018-19 school year:
| Alabama | 2.5 percent salary increase |
|---|---|
| North Carolina | 6.5 percent average salary increase |
| Oklahoma | Salary increases ranging from 15.8 percent to 18.3 percent |
| Tennessee | 2 percent salary increase |
| Virginia | 3 percent salary increase (to take effect 7/1/2019) |
| West Virginia | 5 percent salary increase |