SC teachers could see $1,000 pay raise, after Senate Finance Committee approves 2021-2022 budget

COLUMBIA (WOLO): Public school teachers in South Carolina could soon see a  $1,000 annual pay raise, after the Senate Finance Committee approved their 2021-2022 budget this week.

“We are ecstatic and very hopeful. In a year that has been the toughest of my 23, this would be just a really wonderful gesture.”

A $1,000 pay increase in addition to the 2 percent step increase already put in place, however it’s been in a freeze this last year due to COVID-19. Veteran teachers teaching beyond 23 years, do not receive that 2% step increase.

Richland 2 teacher, and SC for ED member Nicole Walker says adding this pay raise would really benefit the state’s long time educators. 

“After year 23, you really have no way of earning more money unless the state says we’re going to give everyone in the system a raise. So this $1,000 dollars and making it an annual raise would be a huge way to retain those veteran teachers,” said Walker. 

State Senator and former social studies teacher Mike Fanning says South Carolina is experiencing a teacher shortage on both sides of the aisle- from new teachers coming in, to those leaving the profession. They hope this pay increase would offer some incentive. 

“We started this year with an 800 teacher teacher shortage. In January when we came back, another 600 veteran teachers left and didn’t come back. We’ve been able to kind of gloss over it because we’ve been in the midst of this pandemic, but when we start the next school year, we can’t start that year short of 1,000 teachers, and we can’t lose any more teachers on top of that.”

And after losing 3 of her long-time colleagues to other jobs this last year, Walker now feels hope. 

“To watch teachers be so hopeful yesterday, and so excited, I can’t tell you what it did for my own heart. It was a joy to see people have hope.”

Senator Fanning says after years of bad news for state educators, “it’s neat to actually fight for something. To get teachers that victory that their phone calls and their messages and their hard work all year, finally something positive came out.”

Senator Fanning is hopeful this raise will at least get our teachers closer to the national average, ranking as one of the worst states in the nation for teacher pay. 

The budget will now head to the senate floor for debate next week. SC for ED is calling on all state teachers to contact their legislators to ensure this gets passed.