One Iowa lawmaker is pushing in the House to do everything he can to fight for better teacher pay. 

Iowa Representative David Young says teacher pay has been an ongoing hot-topic issue, specifically to find the appropriate amount of money to award teachers for their efforts. He recognizes that raising the base pay for teachers is long overdue, but explains that there must be realistic expectations. 

“Our bill right now has the first year it takes the base salary for teachers to $47,500, then the second year to $50,000. And then with that, there’s some teacher’s supplemental salary funds of about $22-million that also can be used for those teachers who have been there awhile, and have been paid more but we want to retain.”

Young adds that the House passed the Supplemental State Aid number of three percent that produce funding for teacher salaries too. He clarifies that teacher pay is a priority for Republicans and Democrats, which he sees both sides forming an agreement to come together on this issue.