Most Iowans support raising starting teacher pay to $50,000, Iowa Poll finds

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Sizable majorities of Iowans, both Republicans and Democrats, want to raise starting pay for public school teachers, according to a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.

The poll found that 76% of Iowans favor raising public school teachers’ minimum pay to $50,000 from $33,500, compared with 22% who oppose that step and 2% who aren’t sure.

Among Democrats, 93% support the pay increase, compared with 74% of independents and 68% of Republicans.

The poll of 804 Iowa adults was conducted Feb. 25-28 by Selzer & Co. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Lacy Hansen, a 40-year-old Republican poll respondent from Union who agreed to a follow-up interview, supports the proposed raise for starting teachers. For her, raising public school teachers’ pay is about what goes into being a professional educator.

Hansen said she used to be a para-educator for three years at the Colfax-Mingo Community School District. Being paid more at the time would not have kept her in the position, but Hansen said pay does matter for retaining educators.

“There’s a lot more that teachers and school staff have to deal with than the average person really realizes,” including training on active shooters at schools or how to deal with combative students, Hansen said.

In January, Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, called in her Condition of the State address for increasing the starting pay of public teachers in Iowa from $33,500 to $50,000. That was expected to cost the state about $47 million.

“We want younger Iowans to see the teaching profession as something to aspire to,” Reynolds said in her address. “It’s one of the highest callings one can have, so let’s make sure that teacher pay sends that message.”

House Republicans have advanced House File 2630, which would raise minimum teacher pay to $47,500 for the coming school year and then raise it again to $50,000 the next year.

The House proposal also includes $14 million for schools to raise pay for nonsalaried school staff to $15 an hour.

The House bill does not include Reynolds’ provision to give teachers with at least 12 years of experience a minimum salary of $62,000, which would cost the state about $26 million.

But the House proposal does include $22 million for school districts to increase experienced teachers' salaries.

Linda Rae Casey, a 73-year-old Republican poll respondent from Spencer, is among those who oppose giving teachers a raise.

“I disagree with the teaching in the public schools, so I’m not going to promote it by increasing teachers’ salaries so that more of them will go into that line of thinking,” Casey said.

Casey said, “We need to get back to what the true issue of education is,” focusing on reading, writing and math, so children can grow up to be self-sufficient and not depend on government assistance.

Casey said she disagreed with “critical (race) theory,” a course of study that explores how systemic racism is interwoven over decades into American institutions and policies. It is rarely if ever taught in K-12 schools.

Iowa Republican legislators and Reynolds have in recent years created a law against teaching certain concepts, including that the U.S. or Iowa is systemically racist. The law did not specifically name critical race theory, though Reynolds said it was a target.

In higher education, the Iowa House on Feb. 29 passed legislation that included directives adopted by the Iowa Board of Regents in November requiring Iowa's three public universities to eliminate all staff positions focused on diversity, equity and inclusion that aren’t necessary to comply with state or federal law.

Phillip Sitter focuses for the Des Moines Register on reporting on suburban growth and development in the western metro areas. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. He is on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @pslifeisabeauty.

About the Iowa Poll

The Iowa Poll, conducted Feb. 25-28, 2024, for The Des Moines Register and Mediacom by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, is based on telephone interviews with 804 Iowans ages 18 or older. Interviewers with Quantel Research contacted households with randomly selected landline and cell phone numbers supplied by Dynata. Interviews were administered in English. Responses were adjusted by age, sex and congressional district to reflect the general population based on recent American Community Survey estimates.

Questions based on the sample of 804 Iowa adults have a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. This means that if this survey were repeated using the same questions and the same methodology, 19 times out of 20, the findings would not vary from the true population value by more than plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Results based on smaller samples of respondents — such as by gender or age — have a larger margin of error.

Republishing the copyright Iowa Poll without credit and, on digital platforms, links to originating content on The Des Moines Register and Mediacom is prohibited.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Poll: Most Iowans support raising starting teacher pay to $50,000