The Illinois General Assembly has passed a bill that would force local school boards to pay teachers no less than $40,000 a year by 2023.Currently state law says you can’t pay a starting teacher less than $9,000 if they have a Bachelor’s Degree.
Local Superintendent Steve Wilder, in charge of Knoxville District 202, says the teacher shortage in Illinois is “absolutely real”.
But Wilder says that he’s philosophically opposed because there are districts around the state that have minimum salaries well below $40,000 that would struggle to afford the mandated increase.
Having said that, Knoxville will pay starting teachers about $37,000 for the 2018-19 year and Wilder says the district might near the $40,000 minimum by 2023 anyway.
Wilder tells WGIL he wishes teachers could get paid more.
“But for a law like that to mandate that minimum and take away the local control and decision making between teachers’ groups and the boards of education, I think that’s absolutely wrong,” Wilder says.
A survey conducted by the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools found 89 percent of Central Illinois superintendents said they “significantly fewer” qualified applicants than five years ago.
