Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, speaks on March 18, 2025, on his bill that would raise certain teachers’ salaries based on median home prices in an effort to attract and retain educators. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
Teacher pay raises would be determined by median home prices in their county, according to a bill being considered by the West Virginia Senate. Some educators in wealthier counties could see a massive pay bump, like in Jefferson County, where a teacher’s salary could double to more than $101,000.
Only 25 counties would qualify for a potential salary enhancement, according to the state’s board of education, leaving out teachers in poorer counties.
West Virginia has the lowest teacher pay in the nation, and the state doesn’t have enough certified teachers.
Sen. Craig Hart, R-Mingo, a public school teacher, said, “I have very mixed feelings about this bill.” It wouldn’t help the teachers in impoverished counties like his own, he said. The average home price in Mingo County is $64,000.
“The poorer just get poorer,” he said Tuesday in the Senate Education Committee, which advanced the measure. “I don’t want to see rich counties not have teachers, but I thought the rich counties might have the money to pay their teachers.”
The state needs to attract and retain teachers in order to address its nearly bottom ranking in education outcomes, according to bill sponsor Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam. His measure, Senate Bill 506, would implement a market-based pay rate that would be based off of the area’s median home prices. The state board of education would create a formula for calculating the raises.
“Let’s see if we can get the way we pay our state employees more consistent with what the market requires in order to retain these employees and attract them,” Tarr said. “You’ve seen the challenges we’ve had educating our kids, and I want teachers first.”
The pay raises, which would take effect in 2026, would cost the state an estimated $183 million.
Senate Education Committee members acknowledged that the price tag could halt the bill. Lawmakers are grappling with Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s proposed budget that looks to close a $400 million budget hole.
Five years of modest pay raises for state employees under previous Gov. Jim Justice — as public employee health insurance prices climbed — haven’t moved the needle for teacher pay disparity.
Morrisey called for teacher pay raises in his inaugural State of the State address, but the Republican governor didn’t request any bills that could implement the raise.
Border counties, particularly in the Eastern Panhandle, have struggled to retain teachers.
“It’s definitely skewed in the Eastern Panhandle because of their locality to the D.C. area and the home prices there,” said state schools Deputy Superintendent Sonya White.
Sen. Scott Fuller, R-Wayne, said the bill is necessary to maintain the teacher workforce in West Virginia. Wayne and Cabell counties have lost teachers to nearby Ohio and Kentucky, he said.
“It’s going to require a fairly substantial bump in pay,” Fuller said. “We have fantastic teachers … we just don’t have enough of them. Then the ones we do, we lose a handful or more because of the payscale. I support this bill 100%.”
Tarr said that, based on the proposed salary calculator, some of the salaries may be above what is required for a teacher.
The bill will go to the Senate Finance committee for consideration.
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