Educators’ favorite emerges as Iowa lawmakers consider proposals to boost teacher, staff pay

DES MOINES — Multiple proposals to increase the pay of Iowa’s teachers and educational support staff are moving through the Iowa Capitol, but public education advocates are particularly receptive to one version.

A proposal from majority Republicans in the Iowa House would increase the starting salary for all Iowa teachers over two years to $50,000, set a $15 minimum wage for educational support staff like teacher aides and devote $22 million in additional funding to increase salaries for veteran teachers.

That bill advanced Monday through the House’s state budget committee at the Iowa Capitol, as House legislators considered it from a financial perspective. The bill, House File 2611, previously received unanimous approval from the House Education Committee as a policy.

The House Republican plan differs from similar proposals presented by Gov. Kim Reynolds and majority Republicans in the Iowa Senate, particularly with its added funding for veteran teacher salaries and support staff minimum wage.

Melissa Petersen, with the Iowa Education Association — the statewide union that represents Iowa teachers and other educational professionals — thanked Reynolds for starting the conversation, but praised House Republicans’ approach.

“We really appreciate the House’s commitment to addressing what is an incredible staff shortage issue in our public schools,” Petersen said Monday during a legislative hearing on the proposal. “We appreciated the governor’s suggestion and to invest a new $96 million to address this issue. But we really like that the House leadership is interested in addressing not just teacher compensation, but educational professional compensation. That’s really important.”

The current minimum beginning teacher salary in Iowa is $33,500. The House bill would increase that to $47,500 for the 2024-2025 school year then $50,000 for the 2025-2026 school year and beyond.

Groups representing Iowa’s school boards and school administrators also expressed support for the House bill.

“One of our members’ top priorities is addressing the teacher shortage, and we think being able to pay competitive wages is a great way to address recruitment and retention issues, as well as the investment in the support personnel like para educators,” Michelle Johnson, with the Iowa Association of School Boards, said during Monday’s hearing. “So overall, we think it’s a great investment.”

Dave Daughton, with the School Administrators of Iowa, said the group supports the House bill for the same reasons, and also expressed gratitude for the House approach of making the proposed increases a bill by itself — separating it from legislation that would dramatically alter the operation and funding of the state’s nine area education agencies. Reynolds put the teacher pay provisions in the same bill as her AEA proposal, which has sharply divided Iowans, education advocacy groups and state lawmakers.

“As has been mentioned, we have a significant teacher shortage in Iowa, as well as support staff shortage, and we need to find ways to help address that. We think this does it,” Daughton said.

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All three members of the legislative subcommittee panel — two Republicans and one Democrat — moved to advance the House proposal out of subcommittee and shortly afterward it was approved unanimously by the full House state budget committee.

“I’ve been hearing more and more about support staff as well, almost as much as teacher salaries. So I think this is really important bill that addresses that,” said Rep. Carter Nordman, a Republican from Panora who managed the bill through both legislative steps Monday. “It’s important that we attract teachers into the profession, but also retain teachers. And I think this addresses that. I think this is a good step forward.”

A spokesman for majority Iowa Senate Republicans said that caucus is weighing how all pieces of the K-12 public education funding pie for fiscal 2025 — which begins July 1 — being considered this session fit into overall spending, including general state education funding, teacher and staff salaries and AEA funding.

Those spending levels ultimately will be negotiated by Senate and House Republican leaders.

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