(File/Richard Ross/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s teachers would get another pay increase in the coming school year, but not the boost they were hoping for, under a budget proposal sent to the House floor.
The state spending plan approved by the House budget-writing committee would also provide across-the-board pay raises for state employees. However, all public workers at school districts, colleges and state agencies will see their health care premiums rise for the first time in 13 years.
Teacher salaries
The plan would increase the state-allowed minimum pay for all K-12 public school teachers by $1,500.
That means first-year teachers in the coming school year could make no less than $48,500, up from this year’s $47,000 salary floor.
Gov. Henry McMaster and state Superintendent Ellen Weaver both called on legislators to double that to $3,000. That would mean teachers in their first year out of college would make no less than $50,000 in the coming school year, fulfilling McMaster’s 2026 goal a year early.
But that would cost $200 million, according to McMaster’s recommendation and Weaver’s request.
The House budget-writing committee opted instead to spend an additional $112 million while collapsing the so-called salary schedule, which sets teacher pay according to their years of experience and level of college degree.
The plan would eliminate the step increase that’s between a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. It’s for teachers who have acquired 18 credit hours above their bachelor’s.
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Of the salary schedule’s five levels of college degree — bachelor’s, bachelor’s plus 18, master’s, master’s plus 30, and doctorate — the fewest number of teachers fall into that “plus 18” category.
About 3,400 teachers are paid at that level, and most of them are working on their master’s degree. So, they’ll make the jump to the next category, said Patrick Kelly, a lobbyist for the Palmetto State Teachers Association.
Last year, McMaster proposed broader changes to the salary schedule, resulting in a backlash from veteran teachers. Legislators quickly scrapped his idea. It wasn’t adopted by budget writers in either chamber.
But the smaller adjustment proposed by House Ways and Means is more acceptable, especially if it means the state will raise pay for all teachers, Kelly said.
“This cut results in a better outcome for a higher number of educators,” Kelly said.
Teachers would have preferred the $3,000 raise, but any increase is helpful in enticing people to the profession, Kelly said. Giving the same raise to long-time teachers as well will likely encourage them to stay in their roles, he said.
“In many ways, the most important recruitment effort the state can make is encouraging current teachers to remain in the profession,” Kelly, a high school teacher, said in a statement.
Across-the-board raises acknowledge “the unique and irreplaceable skills and expertise of those with years of classroom experience,” he added.
Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association, said she hoped to see raises for school support staff, such as counselors, librarians and administrators, in the final version of the budget, since their salaries often stagnate as well.
“We are excited to hear they are still looking at increasing teacher pay, but the process is a long way from getting finalized,” East said.
State employees
The budget plan provides at least a 2% cost-of-living increase for all state employees. The lowest-paid workers would get a bigger bump.
However, for the first time since 2012, employees of school districts, colleges and state agencies covered by the state’s health insurance would have to pay more in premiums under the Ways and Means budget plan.
They would pay $36.76 more monthly, or about $440 each year. The change would not affect retirees still enrolled in the health plan.
“Unfortunately, this year, with the amount of recurring dollars that we had, which was tight, we just weren’t able to cover 100%” of the cost, said Rep. Chris Murphy, R-North Charleston.
The state would still pay an additional $89.4 million to cover employees’ health insurance costs in the coming fiscal year. Fully covering the rise in rates was too much for the state budget to handle, he said.
Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, asked legislators to consider finding a way to cover the costs for state employees at the lower end of the pay scale.
“I would hate to see what we are doing with the raise be eaten up by the health care cost,” Cobb-Hunter said.
Murphy said the salary adjustments will more than cover the premium rises for all workers.