2026 SESSION

SENATE SUBSTITUTE

26105818D

SENATE BILL NO. 284

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the Senate Committee on Education and Health

on February 5, 2026)

(Patron Prior to Substitute—Senator Aird)

A BILL to establish a timeline and process for increasing the average teacher salary in the Commonwealth.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. That the Governor's introduced budget bills for the 2027, 2028, and 2029 Regular Sessions of the General Assembly shall propose funding for, and state funding shall be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act enacted during any regular or special session of the General Assembly in 2027, 2028, or 2029 to fund, the Commonwealth's share of compensation supplement incentives for Standards of Quality-funded instructional and support positions sufficient to increase the average teacher salary in the Commonwealth to at least the national average teacher salary by the beginning of the 2030 fiscal year.

§ 2. In order to project the national average salary in fiscal year 2030 for the purpose of calculating the proposed and funded amounts as required pursuant to § 1 of this act, the most recent actual or estimated national average teacher salary published by the source used in the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission's Virginia Compared to the Other States report shall be utilized but adjusted by the actual and forecasted percentage change in the United States Average Consumer Price Index for all items, all urban consumers (CPI-U).

§ 3. In order to project the current-year average teacher salary in the Commonwealth for the purpose of calculating the proposed and funded amounts as required pursuant to § 1 of this act, the most recent actual average teacher salary in the Commonwealth published by the source used in the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission's Virginia Compared to the Other States report shall be utilized but shall be adjusted to recognize subsequent compensation increases from the state, assuming localities accept and implement a full match for Standards of Quality pay increases.

§ 4. The minimum compensation supplement that shall be proposed in the Governor's introduced budget bills and provided pursuant to the general appropriation act as described in § 1 of this act shall be structured as follows: (i) such supplement for the 2026 Session shall provide at least one-quarter of the increase required pursuant to § 1 of this act for fiscal year 2027, (ii) such supplement for the 2027 Session shall provide at least one-quarter of the increase required pursuant to § 1 of this act for fiscal year 2028, (iii) such supplement for the 2028 Session shall provide at least one-quarter of the increase required pursuant to § 1 of this act for fiscal year 2029, and (iv) such supplement for the 2029 Session shall provide at least one-quarter of the increase required pursuant to § 1 of this act for fiscal year 2030.