Pay raise: Governor, lawmakers announce boosts to Utah teacher salaries

With the 2025 legislative session now in its frenetic home stretch — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox joined the state’s ranking Republican lawmakers Friday to announce boosts to teacher salaries and bonuses for education support professionals.

 

The state’s K-12 public school teachers will be receiving a “direct salary increase” of $1,446 — while education support staff will receive a $1,000 bonus.

Meanwhile, an additional $178 million — representing a 4% funding increase — will be used to raise salaries for all school district employees, according to the governor’s office.

The salary increase for teachers represents an ongoing figure. The bonus for support staff is a one-time payment.

During the Friday gathering of lawmakers and media, Cox said Utah is good “because her teachers are great. … I and our legislative colleagues behind us are committed to ensuring you have the resources that you need to do your job effectively.

“Our priority is to support you.”

Senate President Stuart Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz also commented Friday on the announced teacher salary increases — and their own respect for Utah’s K-12 educators.

But Utah’s major teacher union, the Utah Education Association, responded quickly to Friday’s announcement— calling the leadership’s actions “nothing more than political posturing that ignores the reality facing Utah’s public schools.”

Utah teachers = rock stars

The father of a teacher, Adams said Utah’s high birth rate translates into large classroom sizes.

Despite a high student-to-teacher ratio, the state’s high performance numbers in standardized tests and overall “child well-being” measures, compared to the rest of the nation, reveal the capacity of Utah’s teaching corps.

“We have rock star teachers,” said Adams.

The Senate leader added that the Utah Legislature has “almost doubled the public spending on education” over the past decade.

“We not only want to congratulate teachers, but we want to show them our appreciation by giving them more compensation,” said Adams. “We’re announcing today a $1,400 direct salary increase to teachers — similar to the $6,000 increase we did in 2023.

“That’s a $50 million appropriation for teachers directly to their salary. ”

Education support staff, he added, will receive a $1,000 bonus.

Adams noted that his teacher/daughter has told him that her school’s support staff proved to be invaluable during the challenges posed by the pandemic.

In 2020, he added, the starting salary for a Utah public school teacher was $44,000. In 2024, it’s almost $60,000 — and that salary figure will increase with the compensation increase announced Friday.

“No other state in the nation has done more for teacher compensation in Utah,” said Adams.

House speaker: Utah leads region in teacher starting salaries

Schultz, who is also the parent of a teacher, said he’s witnessed the “energy and passion” of Utah’s K-12 teachers during his frequent visits to schools.

Teaching’s not easy, he added. But the state’s school teachers are performing a difficult job because they love it.

“There’s a narrative out there being pushed by a small group of people that the Legislature doesn’t like our teachers and that we don’t value education — that is simply not true,” he said.

“I want to set the record straight on that again. These are our family members — and these are the people educating our kids, our most valuable assets.”

Schultz said that beyond the aforementioned salary increases, “we’re going to provide funding for additional educator professional time, teacher supply and materials, stipends for student teachers to grow (our) own education pipeline program.

“We’ve made historic investments in education and worked hard to make teaching a more desirable career — including funding for classroom supplies, paid maternity leave, paying students and teachers, additional teacher preparation days, simplified teacher evaluations and so much more.”

Utah, he added, “now leads the Intermountain West in starting salaries for teachers.”

Cox said the budget figures confirm that “we have done more for education than any administration in the history of the state — and I don’t think our numbers are close.”

The governor said many didn’t believe him when he said, a few years ago, that there’s no reason why Utah’s teachers can’t have a starting pay above $60,000.

“Well, not only did it happen — it’s happened and then some,” said Cox. “And it happened because of the people that are here behind us who were willing to take our taxpayer dollars and put them where it matters most: and that is again, with our teachers.”

UEA pushback

In a statement released shortly after Friday morning’s gathering, UEA President Renée Pinkney noted that a salary increase is “an important recognition” of Utah educators — but added, “Utah’s public schools remain underfunded, classrooms are overcrowded, and educators are struggling under the weight of unsustainable workloads.”

Pinkney said educators across Utah are “burning out due to severe lack of support, insufficient staffing and the growing challenges of managing student needs without adequate behavioral support resources.”

The UEA chief also took issue that “state leaders took credit for policies that educators fought for, not politicians. Paid maternity leave, professional planning time, and paid student teaching were all championed by members of the Utah Education Association, not handed down by lawmakers.”

Meanwhile, added Pinkney, “these same politicians pushed through a union-busting bill designed to silence educator voices, ignoring thousands of pleas from Utahns who demanded the protection of teachers’ collective bargaining rights.”

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