WEST virginia legislature
2025 regular session
Committee Substitute
for
Committee Substitute
for
Senate Bill 506
By Senators Tarr, Barrett, Grady, Rucker, Woelfel, Bartlett, Rose, Willis, and Takubo
[Reported March 26, 2025, from the Committee on Finance]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new section, designated §18A-4-2d, relating to enhanced pay for certain teachers; setting out legislative findings; defining terms; requiring use of the highest of two multipliers to be used to set the amount of the market pay enhancement; requiring market pay enhancement to be adjusted annually; providing payments are in excess of certain other amounts; requiring West Virginia Board of Education report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance; and allowing West Virginia Board of Education rules to explain and implement this new section.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
## ARTICLE 4. SALARIES, WAGES AND OTHER BENEFITS.
##
(a)(1) Findings. —The Legislature finds that it has a constitutional requirement to provide the citizens of this state with a thorough and efficient system of free schools. This requirement mandates that the Legislature create and maintain a high-quality public school system.
(2) To continue to offer our citizens a high-quality public education, the Legislature recognizes West Virginia must retain and attract certified teachers in order to offer the best available public education to the citizens. To that end, the Legislature must address the issue of West Virginia’s regional disparity in cost of living by providing competitive, market-appropriate pay.
(3) Lastly, the Legislature finds that certified teachers throughout the state should be compensated according to the county or regional market in which they provide instructional services. Therefore, this section shall create market pay for certified teachers based on the median home price of the county or region in which they provide educational services to enhance the salary of certified teachers whose base salary is not sufficiently competitive to certified teachers’ salaries in states near the West Virginia certified teacher’s work location.
(b) Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the terms defined in this section have the meanings ascribed to them unless a different meaning is clearly required by the context in which the term is used:
“Average teacher’s base salary” shall mean the average state funded salary of professional educators for the county as set forth in §18-9A-4.
"Board" shall mean the State Board of Education.
"Border state" means any of the five states which border the state of West Virginia.
“Certified teachers” shall mean a certified teacher is an educator who has met all state-mandated requirements, including completing a bachelor’s degree, an approved teacher preparation program, passing required exams, and holding a valid unencumbered teaching certificate, to be legally authorized to teach in the public schools of West Virginia. For the purpose of determining the number of certified teachers, the board shall use data for the second school month of the prior school term.
"Contiguous county" means any county regardless of which state it is situated that borders on the county of employment of a teacher.
“County median home price” means the median home price of the county of employment of a teacher as determined by the National Association of Realtors for the calendar year immediately preceding the calculation as required by this section.
"Market pay enhancement" means a positive result obtained when subtracting the West Virginia median home price from the regional median home price and dividing the difference by the West Virginia median home price; subtracting the West Virginia median home price from the county median home price and dividing the difference by the West Virginia median home price; and then multiplying the highest of the two preceding figures by the average teacher salary in a county. The market pay enhancement may not exceed 50 percent of the average teacher’s base county in an affected county.
"Region" means the county in which a teacher is employed and each contiguous county to that county. A contiguous county may be a county in a border state.
"Regional median home price" means the average of the median home price of the county of employment and the counties contiguous to that county of employment of a teacher as determined by the National Association of Realtors for the calendar year immediately preceding the calculation as required by this section.
"West Virginia median home price" means that figure as determined by the National Association of Realtors as the median home price in this state and shall be for the calendar year immediately preceding the calculation as required in this section.
(c) (1) Market pay for teachers multiplier. -- Beginning on December 1, 2026, and continuing on the first day of December every year thereafter, the state board shall determine:
(A) The West Virginia median home price for the immediately preceding calendar year based on data available from the National Association of Realtors;
(B) The regional median home price for the immediately preceding calendar year based on data available from the National Association of Realtors. A regional median home price shall be calculated for each of West Virginia’s 55 counties; and
(C) The county median home price for the immediately preceding calendar year based on data available from the National Association of Realtors. A county median home price shall be calculated for each of West Virginia’s 55 counties.
(2) These figures shall be used to determine the multiplier used to set the amount of a market pay enhancement. In order to determine the multiplier to set the amount of the market pay enhancement, the state board shall determine two multipliers and the higher of the two multipliers shall be used to calculate the market pay enhancement. The state board shall calculate the first multiplier by deducting the West Virginia median home price from the regional median home price. This figure divided by the amount of the West Virginia median home price is the first multiplier. The state board shall calculate the second multiplier by deducting the West Virginia median home price from the county regional median home price and this figure divided by the amount of the West Virginia median home price is the second multiplier. The higher of these two multipliers shall be used in calculating the market pay enhancement. The multiplier shall be rounded down to the nearest whole percentage.
(d) Calculation of market pay enhancement. –The higher of the multipliers as determined by subsection (c) of this section shall be multiplied by the average teacher’s base salary in each county. Certified teachers in that county shall receive that amount as a market pay enhancement annually effective starting July 1, 2027: Provided, That this amount shall not exceed 50 percent of the average teacher’s base salary in the affected county.
(e) Distribution. - State funds for this purpose shall be paid within the West Virginia public school support plan in accordance with §18-9A-4. Funding shall be allocated for this purpose for all certified teachers, regardless of the funding source utilized to compensate the teacher’s base salary.
(f) Applicability of payments. - These payments shall be in addition to any amounts prescribed in the applicable State Minimum Salary Schedule, any specific additional amounts prescribed in this section and article and any county supplement in effect in a county pursuant to §18A-4-5a.
(g) Reporting. — The state board shall prepare a report in any year where a market pay enhancement calculation is required pursuant to the provisions of this section to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance detailing any relevant information regarding market pay enhancements for certified teachers.
(h) Additional enhancements. - Nothing in this section prevents a county board from providing, in a uniform manner, market pay enhancements greater than those required by this section.
(g) Rulemaking. — Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, the state board may propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of §29A-3-1 et seq. explaining and implementing this section.