DES MOINES, Iowa — A bill introduced by the House Education Committee would increase the minimum starting teacher salary to $47,500 for the 2024-25 school year, then increase again to $50,000 on or after July 1, 2026.
After unanimously passing out of the House Education Committee, the Appropriations committee advanced the legislation to the Iowa House floor.
HF 2611, a bill with an overarching goal of improving Iowa's education system, is seeing strong bipartisan support in the House.
"We think that compensation is a huge issue to best address our staff shortages and to quite frankly make sure that everyone understands this state respects quality education professionals," said Melissa Peterson, the Legislative and Policy Director for Iowa State Education Association.
Originally, the proposal to increase teacher's minimum salaries was combined with reforms to Area Education Agencies (AEAs), something advocates had different views on.
After House Republicans introduced a new, AEA-focused bill of their own, they also separated the issue from the conversation surrounding teacher pay increases.
"The compensation discussion is a really important one to have and so there's no need for both of those conversations to be tied together from a policy standpoint," Peterson said.
However, in the Iowa Senate, the teacher pay increase remains lumped in with AEAs.
Advocates are showing their support for the House legislation, hoping to emphasize the importance of this increase being sustainable.
"We just want to make sure that as we work through the process that this is a sustainable funding and not something that has an end to it, because that would actually make it worse," said Dave Daughton, representing School Administrators of Iowa and Rural Schools Advocates of Iowa.
The legislation also requires a minimum wage of $15 per hour for Education Support Personnel, a large reason why advocates significantly support the bill.
"It goes beyond just teachers," Peterson said. "Teachers are a very important part of this equation but so are other education support professionals. So, what we really like about the House proposal is that it seeks to retain and recruit."
Advocates agree that this legislation would be beneficial for bringing educators to rural schools and continuing to retain them.
"It's important that we attract teachers into the profession, but also retain teachers," said Rep. Carter Nordman, R-Scott County.
This proposal is less than what Gov. Kim Reynolds originally proposed in her Condition of the State. Reynolds wanted to increase the minimum teacher salary to $62,000.
The legislation is now eligible for debate on the House floor.