Teacher raises tough to come by this year in NW Arkansas

The Benton County Daily Record has a good story today on districts' inability to dole out much in the way of raises to teachers. State law requires districts to give at least a step increase to all teachers — an increase in their base pay for another year’s experience. Operational costs have prevented raises over and above the state requirement in Bentonville, according to Superintendent Gary Compton. Gentry Superintendent Randy Barrett says that the drop in enrollment has pretty much balanced out the new money the Legislature provided this year. All of the recent commentary in the state hits the mark when it says the Lake View ruling is largely symbolic. The problems remain, and it's up to us to make sure the mechanisms we've put into motion keep education as our first funding priority.

Side note: In Louisiana, the governor's proposed budget includes an annual pay raise of $2,375 each for Louisiana's 56,893 certified teachers and administrators, making average pay in that state higher than its neighbors, including Arkansas. It's garnering a lot of attention down there -- I'm getting on average a dozen or so hits per day on this site from searches based on "Louisiana teacher pay raise" from a recent entry I posted on the issue.