Lawmakers in Columbia to raise the teacher’s pay, but school districts will have hard times to fund the pay raise

Charleston, South Carolina – The teacher’s shortage problem has been an ongoing issue for school districts in South Carolina in the last couple of years, but things additionally worsened since the start of the pandemic.

In multiple occasions during the last two years, teachers were seeking pay raise, something that becomes even more important taking into consideration the rising prices and the inflation Americans face lately.

In an effort to keep existing teachers at their positions and make the teaching job more attractive for potential candidates, South Carolina lawmakers plan to raise the teacher’s pay, but that might come as a big problem for the school districts who will have to cover the major portion of that cost.

According to multiple reports, SC lawmakers want to give teachers a $4,000 raise as part of the state’s budget, but local school districts would have to foot most of that bill.

While majority of people support this initiative, because of the way the school districts are funded by the state, some school districts like the Charleston County School District will have to fund 70% of the teacher’s pay raise.

According to the Charleston County School District Interim Superintendent Don Kennedy, CCSD will receive $6 million more compared to last year, but the total cost for teacher salary is $19 million. That means that the school district will have to fund the rest $13 million which according to some other calculations, might reach up to $19 million.

Greenville County Schools already announced they are against raising the teachers pay because they won’t be able to fund the pay raise if the proposed bill remains as it is.

Kennedy didn’t say if he supports the current legislature’s plan, but he says he will use all the experience he has to make it work if needed.