BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — On Wednesday, Governor Brad Little signed into law House Bill 153 increasing starting teacher pay to $40,000 over a two-year period.
"These educators have one of the most sacred honors in the state of Idaho and that is to get all of our kids to the starting line of life," Gov. Little said.
The minimum starting salary for teachers in Idaho is $35,800. Under this new law that will increase to $38,500 by this coming fiscal year and $40,000 the year after that.
New teachers on the second and third "rungs" of the state's "career ladder" will also see increases.
"This bill is part of my overarching goal of making sure that our kids in Idaho stay in Idaho that our children, our grandchildren," Gov. Little said. "That we don't have what we have right now which is about 30 percent of the teachers leave in the first three years."
Superintendent of public instruction Sherri Ybarra was at the signing and explained why this new salary minimum is what the governor called bait.
"One of the things that we're aware of is that students are not going into the colleges of education at the rates that we would like," Ybarra said. "So the first step is attracting folks into the profession."
"We've still got a long ways to go," Gov. Little said.
Like Governor Little, third grade teacher Jessie Spurgeon calls this change a good first step.
"While there's still progress to be made in terms of retention and compensation for veteran teachers, this step allows educators to focus on what we love working with our students," Spurgeon said.
The increases set to happen on the "residency rungs" won't be see on the "professional rungs," where more experienced teachers are placed.
While it won't impact Spurgeon directly, she says she remembers how hard it can be in those first years.
"Lacking pay is really difficult. Spending money on your classroom with your lack of pay is really difficult," Spurgeon said. "So, I think it's a great step for Idaho."
But while getting qualified teachers through the door is important she says it's also important to keep them.
"I was going to be a teacher no matter what, and I do think that is pretty common," she said. "If a teacher wants to be in the field they're going to be in the field but it is nice being a professional and being compensated as a professional."
This year's K-12 budget does include about $7.2 million to go toward master educators premiums, which reward the states most successful veteran teachers.
Spurgeon says some great next steps for education would be investing more in professional development, helping teachers pay for their continued education and providing district professionals to support and help teachers with content and curriculum.
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