The Public Education Compensation Committee released its final recommendations on teacher and public education employee pay raises in October. Thursday, members of House and Senate Education Committees had an opportunity to ask questions.
PECC is recommending a four-year phased increase to reach a teacher base salary of $60,000, but the state is only responsible for 70% of the salary – with local districts handling the remaining 30%.
State Sen. Eric Buckson (R-Dover) worries some districts may not be able to meet 30% of the recommended threshold and how that will impact their retention of teachers.
“The concern, obvious, is that now you’re setting up- districts are going to be challenged to keep good teachers because they’re going to be competing against other districts that can afford it.”
The state cannot mandate districts meet the 30% threshold, but Associate Secretary of Special Operations Kim Cline notes they are aware which ones may struggle more than others.
“Delmar is not likely to be at $60,000 in FY28 without significant local taxation to bring that local share up," Cline says.
State Secretary of Education Mark Holodick echoed her remarks: "Delmar, which is near and dear to my heart, which I've looked at pretty closely — it's really challenging for them on that 30% side to negotiate because of where their tax base is."
Other lawmakers raise concerns about additional changes that need to be made to support educators in Delaware.
State Rep. Rich Collins (R-Millsboro) recommends that future legislation should combine the compensation package with efforts to address discipline issues with students and teacher absence.
“One of the things we heard last year, and believe me, I've done my best to confirm this with superintendents, is that there is apparently an absolutely massive problem with attendance of teachers, and I believe that any compensation package should be part of a toolkit to address that," Collins says.
State Rep. Jeff Hilovsky (R-Millsboro) suggests the state also consider creating an evaluation system to provide merit-based raises for educators.
Holodick says the Teacher Career Ladder Working Group is currently meeting to address issues similar to these and will provide a briefing to PECC in March.
Gov. John Carney will announce his FY25 budget plans this month, including if he recommends the state adopt PECC’s recommendations.
