Sonja Hutson is a politics and government reporter at KUER. The hold harmless provision ensures that districts dont receive less funding because of a drop in the student population. If republishing the story online, please provide a link to EdNC.org or a link to the original article in either the byline or credit line. Shooting on campus injures student at SC State, McMaster announces Blythewood selected for $2 billion investment, thousands of jobs, Judge Newman tells Murdaugh at sentencing, I know you have to see Paul and Maggie during the nighttime when youre attempting to go to sleep, Continuing coverage after Alex Murdaugh's life sentence, One injured after shooting outside of S.C. State dorm. Senators acknowledged during Tuesdays debate that those funds may be a challenge to appropriate, depending on when they come in and what strings could be attached to them. Beshear will also suggest including teachers and school personnel in his proposal to provide financial bonuses to essential workers who have remained in their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic with $400 million from federal stimulus dollars. State officials say these changes were made to counter rising health insurance costs that are causing financial deficits, with the reserves of the state plan dropping $119 million over the past nine years. [CDATA[> Utah teachers could get a bonus for the extra work they did this winter during the surge of omicron variant COVID-19 cases. I continue to believe that all of our educators in Kentucky are underpaid, and it's far past time for a raise. Please use the following guidelines when republishing our content. Holding back third graders who arent deemed proficient remains a sticking point, Some board members raise concerns about capacity: If you build it, they will come., Teachers personal libraries were not the laws intent, says lawmaker, The bills would advance Gov. On paper, it looks great, and anytime you hear teacher pay raise, you want to cheer, Hughey said. may not be republished without prior permission. This plan ups that match to $4 for every $1. Givens, R-Greensburg, agreed that lawmakers need to discuss providing pay raises for teachers, saying he will always be a proponent of higher wages for Kentuckys educators. Another concern, he said, centers on teachers workloads as more laws and regulations governing their profession are passed. The budget takes $431 million from the North Carolina education lottery over the biennium and puts it into the Needs-based Public School Capital fund. This gap between individual and family premiums is common in the teaching profession. Multiple teachers expressed frustration with the declining quality of prescription drug coverage since the switch from Prime Therapeutics to CVS Caremark, a change that state officials said was made to save money on rising healthcare costs. The task force, proposed by Senate Education Committee Chairman Dennis DeBar, R-Leaksville, would focus on the financial solvency of the plan, rate increases, benefits and comparisons to other Southeastern states. Even beyond covering for subs because students are out sick or teachers are out sick because of COVID, they have to do extra planning or [spend] extra time with students catching up, Blain said. So, weve got to think about how to do something about that how to encourage our bright young students to become teachers and enter those classrooms and change lives and help our students, and part of that is compensation, Gams said. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(e){if(void 0!==e.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var a in e.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;rState insurance premium hike blunts teacher pay raise The state does not contribute to premium costs for children and spouses, making family coverage significantly more expensive. "You deserve that raise.". The plan has been spending more on care than premiums could cover every year since 2016, which has significantly decreased the surplus reserves of the plan. Last year, Lee ordered a review of the Basic Education Program, a funding formula with 46 components that determine how much money the state sends to districts for textbooks, technology, and other needs. A legislative task force is also examining possible changes to per-pupil funding for the state, particularly the funding disparities that exist between school districts, Meade said. But it does not factor in over $35 billion in federal funding in coronavirus aid, much of which will go to the state government. But because of the pandemic, the roughly 2% increase for 2020-2021 was put on hold. The budget bill now goes to Gov. The Texas Senate unanimously signed off on a two-year, $250 billion state budget Tuesday, though there are still questions about how tens of billions of dollars in expected federal aid will be used and whether it will arrive in time for lawmakers to use this legislative session. COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - A new push to get South Carolina teachers a yearly pay increase is sitting in a Senate committee. The budget beginning July 1 continues $5,000-a-year pay raises that began in April for state and university employees and turns a $2,000 bonus K-12 teachers are Adding to frustration with the insurance premium increase are other changes to the plan. this week changed to last week). Andy Beshear speaks during the first day of the 2021 Kentucky Education Summit on Nov. 1, 2021. Brandy Zink is teacher of the Year for the Long Beach School District. Chalkbeat Tennessees reporters will be there to report the news you need. Minimums are set by the state and are based on experience in the classroom, the highest degree a teacher has, and where they teach. Teachers were giving up prep periods in order to go and just cover an additional class, said Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, Senate Chair of the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Thats for most employees. More than three-quarters of third-graders could be held back, they warn. A Franklin Circuit Court judge struck down that program, which included $25 million in tax credits annually for five years for donors to groups that handle education opportunity accounts, in an October ruling. Nobody heres doing it for the money. Lee also weighed in on the culture wars in the classroom in the wake of anti-critical race theory laws and national debates about when and how to teach children about or protect them from learning the harsh realities of U.S. history. Mississippi is one of two states in the Southeast that doesnt pay any extra towards premiums for family coverage, according to figures compiled by the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration that were presented at a 2021 hearing. [CDATA[// >