A group of prominent Utah educators and politicians believe that they’ve determined the exact starting salary that would keep teachers in the classroom and entice more to join them.
The magic number: $60,000 a year. The next problem: how to fund it.
That salary recommendation — which came Wednesday from an Envision Utah committee focused on the issue — is $10,000 more than even the highest paying Utah school district is currently offering. It’s nearly double the lowest paying. And to move all teachers up, it would cost roughly $530 million in extra funding annually.