Jackson County Teachers See Base Pay Increase With Additional State Funding

The base pay for the Tennessee’s lowest paid teachers has increased from $36,000 to $38,000.

Jackson County Director of Schools Kristy Brown said this state increase raises the system’s base pay by just under $1,000. Brown said this increase in instructional funding is a step in the right direction.

“I feel like to be competitive with the other states around us that we need to be more in the $40,000 range or so for starting out,” Brown said. “I do think that will happen in just probably a few years to come.”

Brown said she hopes to see pay remain above the state minimum while the system sets its budget. Brown said this pay increase directly impacts teachers starting with a Bachelors Degree and no prior experience.

However, statewide the new base pay does go into effect for teachers with advanced degrees and prior experience. Those educators will receive the $38,000 plus an additional $3,605 with 0-5 years experience.

“We’re obviously considering that as we are planning for next years budget,” Brown said. “We’ll make sure that we meet or exceed the base salary and experience pay at every level. We already exceed it in several places on the salary scale, I’m happy to say.”

Brown said the statewide increase are great for educators in general. She said she hopes this increase will bring more candidates into the profession.

“I do hope that it recruits more teachers to come into the profession,” Brown said. “And keeping what we’re able to locally, above that minimum amount as best that we can is always a good thing. So we can be competitive with the counties around us and in this area to recruit the best teacher candidates that we can.”

The state has added $120 million for teacher pay across the state for the 2021-2022 school year, to be spent on teacher salaries. Brown said all funds sent for teacher salaries to Jackson County Schools will be used to fund an increase to meet or exceed the minimum requirement of $38,000 plus experience pay in addition to teacher raises.