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A new bill in Nebraska would raise the minimum teacher salary in the state to $50,000 and overhaul the state’s current education funding system, but critics say it leaves gaps in funding for districts.Nebraska currently ranks 50th in average base pay for teachers in the country, according to the National Education Association. LB 1182, proposed by Sen. Loren Lippencott, looks to change that. The bill would use funding from the current state education funding system, the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Act (TEEOSA), to fund teacher base salaries.”We take that $1.2 billion and shifted over toward paying our 23,000 schoolteachers in Nebraska $50,000. So that would be their minimum pay,” Lippencott said.The bill would propose using a new form of block grant funding as a new system to determine a district’s state funding. In the proposal, the state would fund all teacher salaries at $50,000. The districts would fund any and all salaries above the minimum.Nebraska State Education Association President Tim Royers said this leaves funding gaps for districts. “Whether you’re in a small school district with only 100 kids or you’re sitting in Omaha Public Schools; you’re going to be getting less funds than what you do presently, because this bill just doesn’t take into account some pretty basic costs to keep your school staffed,” Royers said.He said this would hurt veteran educator salaries and does not take into account teacher benefits. “We’ve seen it tried in other states, and it simply doesn’t work,” Royers said. “When this happened in Arkansas, they were literally dozens of school districts that had to actually lower teacher pay for the majority of their educators.”Lippencott said that would be up to the discretion of the individual districts. If passed out of committee, the bill still needs to make it through several rounds of debate.
A new bill in Nebraska would raise the minimum teacher salary in the state to $50,000 and overhaul the state’s current education funding system, but critics say it leaves gaps in funding for districts.
Nebraska currently ranks 50th in average base pay for teachers in the country, according to the National Education Association. LB 1182, proposed by Sen. Loren Lippencott, looks to change that. The bill would use funding from the current state education funding system, the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Act (TEEOSA), to fund teacher base salaries.
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“We take that $1.2 billion and shifted over toward paying our 23,000 schoolteachers in Nebraska $50,000. So that would be their minimum pay,” Lippencott said.
The bill would propose using a new form of block grant funding as a new system to determine a district’s state funding. In the proposal, the state would fund all teacher salaries at $50,000. The districts would fund any and all salaries above the minimum.
Nebraska State Education Association President Tim Royers said this leaves funding gaps for districts.
“Whether you’re in a small school district with only 100 kids or you’re sitting in Omaha Public Schools; you’re going to be getting less funds than what you do presently, because this bill just doesn’t take into account some pretty basic costs to keep your school staffed,” Royers said.
He said this would hurt veteran educator salaries and does not take into account teacher benefits.
“We’ve seen it tried in other states, and it simply doesn’t work,” Royers said. “When this happened in Arkansas, they were literally dozens of school districts that had to actually lower teacher pay for the majority of their educators.”
Lippencott said that would be up to the discretion of the individual districts. If passed out of committee, the bill still needs to make it through several rounds of debate.
