SB157: Public elementary and secondary schools; competitive compensation for certain positions.

SENATE BILL NO. 157

Offered January 12, 2022
Prefiled January 10, 2022
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-289.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to competitive compensation for certain positions in public elementary and secondary schools.
Patron-- Hashmi

Referred to Committee on Education and Health

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 22.1-289.1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 22.1-289.1. Competitive compensation for certain positions; biennial review of teacher compensation required.

It is a goal of the Commonwealth that its public school teachers and all other individuals employed in Standards of Quality-funded positions be compensated at a rate that is competitive in order to attract and keep highly qualified teachers individuals in such positions. As used in this section, "competitive" means, at a minimum, at or above the national average teacher salary for the position.

The Department of Education shall conduct a biennial review of the compensation of teachers and shall consider the Commonwealth's compensation for teachers relative to the national average teacher salary. The results of these reviews shall be reported to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the Board of Education by June 1 of each odd-numbered year.

2. That the provisions of this act shall become effective on July 1, 2023.

3. That state funding shall be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficient to fund a five percent annual pay increase for each individual employed in a Standards of Quality-funded position, effective from the 2023–24 school year through the 2027–28 school year, provided that such five percent annual pay increase (i) is subject to a local matching requirement in accordance with each local school board's composite index of local ability-to-pay and (ii) shall be adjusted annually as necessary to account for rebenchmarking and to yield a rate of compensation percentage increase for all Standards of Quality-funded positions that is pegged to providing a competitive average teacher salary in the Commonwealth.