Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is proposing spending approximately $200 million to give every public schoolteacher in the state a $6,000 raise in next year’s budget, something legislative leaders have signaled they will support. However, the Republican-dominated legislature is angling to make that pay hike contingent on the passage of legislation for school vouchers.
Typically, salary increases are discretionary spending and can differ across school districts. These would be paid directly to teachers, with $4,600 going to their paychecks while the remaining $1,400 would go toward benefits.
In behind-the-scenes negotiations, legislative leaders are hoping to use the pay raise to secure passage of school choice legislation, most likely some form of voucher program allowing students to use public education funds to pay for private schools, with amounts based on household income, sources tell The Salt Lake Tribune. The gamble is education stakeholders would think twice before mobilizing opposition to school choice legislation if it means sacrificing a pay raise.
Cox, while alongside First Lady Abby Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, announced the teacher pay hike surrounded by dozens of teachers and administrators at Centennial Junior High School in Kaysville on Thursday afternoon.