SC teachers, bus drivers could get raises in 2023 to help fill growing vacancies

Amid a record teacher shortage, the state agency that oversees public schools in South Carolina wants lawmakers to spend about 2% more on teacher salaries next year.

The Department of Education in its annual budget request, filed in September and made public this month, asked lawmakers to spend $75 million more on state aid to classrooms, which can be used to toward teacher pay.

Under a new funding formula approved earlier this year, districts have flexibility in how they spend the money — they may or may not use it for teacher raises — but if they were to put all of it toward pay bumps, it would amount to a roughly 2% increase in teacher pay.

“The new formula was meant to be simpler, with a lot of lines rolled up, which is a good thing, but at the same time, for situations like this, it makes it a little more difficult to say, we’re putting this amount to benefit teacher salaries,” said outgoing state Superintendent Molly Spearman.

The proposal comes as South Carolina opened the school year with a record 1,474 teacher vacancies, a 39% increase from last year, according to the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement.

While a 2% salary increase will help with teacher recruitment and retention efforts, the Palmetto State Teachers Association said more needs to be done.

“It’s not sufficient in scope, in light of the teacher shortage,” said Patrick Kelly, PSTA’s director of governmental affairs. “It’s going to take a drastic shock to the system to break the cycle of educator turnover that we’re experiencing in this state and 2% is simply not going to get it done.”

State lawmakers earlier this year raised minimum starting pay for teachers to $40,000 from $36,000. The PSTA called the increase a good step, but said starting teacher pay will need to reach $50,000 by 2027 if districts are going to compete with the private sector.

“Until we get to that point, compensation is always going to be an issue,” Kelly said.

Finding more money for teacher pay next year shouldn’t be an issue.

If budget forecasts are accurate, South Carolina may be able to raise teacher pay by even more than what the Department of Education requested. State economists estimate budget writers will have an additional $3.5 billion to allocate when putting together a spending plan. Of that amount, $754 million will be annual dollars, which can be used to pay for ongoing costs such as salaries and programming.

“I’m going to guess and hope (the General Assembly) will be able to do more than that ($75 million), because it’s sounding as though 2023 is going to be a strong revenue year for South Carolina,” Spearman said.

In addition to the teacher shortage, the state can’t find enough bus drivers to get students to and from school, because drivers can make more in the private sector. In some cases, drivers are being forced to run two or even three daily routes.

The Department of Education explicitly said it wanted to a raise starting bus driver pay from $9.12 to $13 an hour, which would require an additional $31 million in state dollars. School districts can choose to pay bus drivers more with local money.

“We’ve got brand new buses sitting in parking lots because we can’t find people to drive buses, “Spearman said.

The Department Education also recommended lawmakers increase the teacher supply stipend by $50 to $350, which would cost the state about $3 million.

“This increase will reduce the out-of-pocket costs teachers often incur to adequately supply their classrooms,” the Department of Education wrote in its budget request.

Department of Education requests

The Department of Education had other proposals in its annual budget requests. Here are some of the highlights:

▪ $2.1 million to recruit and retain Department of Education employees

▪ $14 million for school district grants for innovative programs in rural and underserved areas.

▪ $20 million for early childhood education

▪ $29 million for new school buses

▪ $150 million for capital projects in disadvantaged school districts based on need.