SB 157 Public elementary and secondary schools; competitive compensation for certain positions

About SB-157

Competitive compensation for certain positions in public elementary and secondary schools. Declares it the goal of the Commonwealth that its public school teachers and all other individuals employed in Standards of Quality-funded positions be compensated at a rate that is competitive, defined as at or above the national average salary for the position, in order to attract and keep highly qualified individuals in such positions. The bill requires state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficient to fund a five percent annual pay increase for each such position, effective from the 2023%9624 school year through the 2027%9628 school year, provided that such five percent annual pay increase (i) is subject to a local matching requirement in accordance with each local school board's composite index of local ability-to-pay and (ii) shall be adjusted annually as necessary to account for rebenchmarking and to yield a rate of compensation percentage increase for all Standards of Quality-funded positions that is pegged to providing a competitive average teacher salary in the Commonwealth. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2023.