The full state Senate will consider legislation to provide a pay bump for teachers who live in particularly expensive areas.
The Senate Finance Committee discussed and signed off on a version of Senate Bill 506 that got some tweaks since it was first explored last week.
The bill is meant to address the many places in West Virginia where teachers can cross the border to other states to jobs that pay more.
“We’re trying to solve a problem, and the problem isn’t necessarily raising teacher pay by itself. The problem is we’re losing teachers in our border counties to states across the border,” said Senate Education Chairwoman Amy Nichole Grady, R-Mason.”
“So we’re trying to figure out a way that we can keep certified teachers in the classroom in the counties that they are in rather than having them go across the border to work in Ohio and Maryland and Virginia, where they’re making a whole lot more than they are in West Virginia. It’s a big problem.”
An obstacle to its legislative future could be that not all counties would qualify for the pay raises based on a formula that takes median housing prices for contiguous counties into account.
“I know it might see unfair because some counties are seeing more and some counties aren’t,” Grady said.
The regional housing market would be compared to the median home price for West Virginia. Those calculations would be annual.
The new version of the bill did place a ceiling on the amount any county’s teacher pay could increase.
The first pay raises under if this bill were to become law would take place on July 1, 2027. That’s a significant legislative factor because the expense would not hit this year.
An earlier version of the bill came with an estimated price tag of $126 million. New numbers reflecting changes that have been made to the proposal were not yet available.
Senators asked a lot of questions about how the formula might affect pay by county under current economic conditions.
“Do you have any numbers that we could have any idea of say what is a high market pay enhancement, what would be a low, what would be an average?” Grady asked.
The response from the committee’s counsel: The high would be in Jefferson County, somewhere around $25,000 in this incarnation of the bill.
Teachers in about 25 counties would receive the pay bumps under current conditions.
Some counties would not actually qualify for the bump, currently. That could change from year to year.
“I’m kind of curious about the 30 counties that would not be in line for this,” said Senator Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell.
“Can you tell us whether Cabell or Wayne County would be in the group that don’t get an enhancement in pay?”
Cabell yes, Wayne no.
Woelfel followed up with questions about regional disparities.
“I wonder how the counties do south of I-64,” he said, referring to the interstate. “Are there any counties south of I-64 that would qualify for this?”
Raleigh County, for one, was a yes.
Senator Mark Maynard, R-Wayne, asked if there’s a list of counties and how they might fare under the proposal.
“My entire district, every county in my district is a border county, borders West Virginia and Kentucky. I hate to ask you every single county,” Maynard told the committee’s counsel.
Maynard noted that Wayne and Mercer had already been mentioned as not currently eligible for the bump. He wanted to know about additional counties in the district he represents, McDowell and Mingo.
Mingo is no.
McDowell is no.
“Right,” Maynard said. “OK.”