The Knox County Board of Education approved a 4% raise for teachers at a recent meeting, according to WBIR-TV in Knoxville:
BOE members voted in favor to give teachers a 4%, which is up from a 3.5% raise in 2020 education budget the BOE passed in April.
Board Chair Patti Bounds said that’s the largest raise for Knox County teachers in at least a decade and said teachers deserve it. She also said it will help the county retain good talent.
The move comes even as Governor Bill Lee’s education budget only included a 2.5% increase in the state allocation to districts for teacher salaries.
Many districts around the state are looking at actual raises for teachers in the 1-3% range as the state’s school funding formula continues to suffer from a significant deficit in funding.
Tennessee teachers earn well below the national and even regional averages for teacher salaries, with teacher salaries in Tennessee increasing at less than half the national rate over the past eight years.
Overall, Tennessee ranks 44th in education funding in the country.
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