Virginia House, Senate budget plans include different level of teacher pay raises
(The Center Square) – Virginia House and Senate leaders released their budget proposals on Wednesday, both of which propose teacher pay raise higher than Gov. Ralph Northam’s initial plan, but differing on how high the increase should be.
The House version would provide a 5% salary increase to teachers beginning July 1, 2021, which would cost the state more than $231 million. The Senate version includes a more modest increase – a 3% raise beginning in August, which would cost the state more than $140 million.
Both versions differ from the governor’s proposal, which would have provided a guaranteed 2% bonus for teachers, which could have been turned into a permanent 2% raise.
The House version would also include additional revenue from expense taxes related to the federal Paycheck Protection Loans. The legislation includes language, compatible with House-passed legislation, which would only allow tax deductibility on $25,000 worth of business expenses from the loans. The Senate version, which is compatible with Senate-passed legislation, would allow tax deductibility on $100,000 worth of business expenses.
Both versions differ from the governor’s agenda, which was to provide no tax deductibility standards for any of these expenses. The loans were given out by the federal government to ensure businesses could maintain payroll and keep workers employed during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the heavy restrictions placed on business operations in the commonwealth, many members of the business community backed the Senate version over the House version, noting that a lot of businesses are still struggling to keep their doors open.
The budget proposals also include funding for COVID-19 vaccination efforts and money to offset formulaic losses to education funding caused by the loss of enrollment from the COVID-19 pandemic. They also include funding to support criminal justice reform legislation backed by both chambers of the General Assembly, which includes abolishing the death penalty and most of the state’s mandatory minimum sentencing requirements.
“The 2021 House budget proposal will provide nearly $500 million to address learning loss and make sure our schools hit the ground running when they return to in-person instruction, additional funding to put more counselors in schools and give our teachers a long overdue 5% pay raise,” House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, said in a statement. “With this budget, Virginians will be safer, healthier and more prosperous. I am grateful for the hard work by Chairman Torian and the Appropriations Committee and look forward to working with the Senate and Governor Northam to pass a budget focused on building a better Virginia.”
Speaking to the Senate version of the bill, Finance and Appropriations Chair Janet Howell, D-Reston, praised the bipartisanship of the chamber’s budget proposal.
“While there have been hardships in the past year, I’ve seen resilience and adaptation to what Virginians have faced collectively and individually,” Howell said. “Putting together the Virginia budget multiple times this year has similarly required adaptation and redirection as our economy is fluctuating. We have pushed ahead to help Virginians through the pandemic, and to move us forward in a number of areas including education, health and human resources, and criminal justice reform. I’m extremely grateful for our ability to work together in a bipartisan fashion in the Senate, and to then build a budget we could be proud of and holds our tradition of strong fiscal management.”
Both bills will need to make their way through the committee process before receiving a vote on the chamber’s floor and heading to the other chamber for consideration. If lawmakers fail to agree to compromises during the committee process, members of the House and the Senate will meet in a joint conference committee to hash out differences and create agreed-upon legislation.
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