One Iowa Legislator continues to fight for raising teacher salaries in the state.

Representative David Young says he’s an advocate for rewarding teachers an appropriate amount of money for all the work they do in the communities they serve. Young describes the latest bipartisan bill that passed the House pertains to increasing the base salary for teachers to $47,500 for the 2024-2025 school year, followed by another increase to $50,000 during the 2025-2026 school year. He discusses that the House is also working to improve pay for paraeducators.

“And those folks who work in the classroom or maybe they’re a bus driver or a cook, or they’re working in some other way at our schools, to give them a pay raise as well where they can make up to $15 an hour if a school wants to use those funds in those ways, and that’s very, very important, making sure we’re taking care of our teachers.”

Young mentions he’s had family members who were teachers in Van Meter and Jefferson, highlighting that everyone knows people in the education field, and that it’s important to award them accordingly.