FISCAL NOTE
Date Requested: January 29, 2026
Time Requested: 02:08 PM |
| Agency: |
Education, WV Department of |
|---|
| CBD Number: |
Version: |
Bill Number: |
Resolution Number: |
| 2871 |
Introduced |
SB516 |
|
|---|
| CBD Subject: |
Education (K12) |
|---|
|
FUND(S):
0317
Sources of Revenue:
General Fund
Legislation creates:
Increases Existing Expenses
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
This proposed legislation establishes a minimum salary of $50,000 for teachers and providing at least a $2,000 salary increase for all teachers. In its current form, this proposal has an estimated cumulative cost to the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) under the Public School Support Program (PSSP) in the amount of $66,095,028 for salary increases for professional educators and student support personnel.
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2026
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2027
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
0 |
66,095,028 |
66,095,028 |
| Personal Services |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Current Expenses |
0 |
66,095,028 |
66,095,028 |
| Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
The estimated cost to the State under the Public School Support Program (PSSP) to raise the minimum teacher salary to $50,000 and provide a $2,000 raise for all teachers $66,095,028 for 2026-27 and annually thereafter.
WVDE would like to note that there are technical issues with the bill noted in the memorandum section below.
This cost estimate includes the estimated increases in Step 1 for professional educator salaries ($52,639,326), Step 3 for fixed charges ($4,591,560), Step 5 for professional student support salaries ($3,151,193), Step 6 for substitute costs ($1,394,763), and retirement ($4,318,186).
The total portion of the overall additional cost attributable to professional educators is $62,361,810, and the portion attributable to professional student support personnel is $3,733,218.
Please note that county boards of education will incur additional costs for personnel employed in excess of funded personnel employed in positions not eligible for state aid funding, personnel employed using other funding sources such as state or federal grants, and extended employment terms for professional personnel. Those additional county costs are not included in the above estimates.
The West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board (CPRB) should also be consulted to obtain information relating to the additional cost, if any, to the State due to the impact of the proposed salary increases on the unfunded retirement liability of the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS).
Finally, this cost estimate does not assume the passage of other legislation that may impact the PSSP, resulting in increased costs for the pay increases provided in this bill.
Memorandum
The salary tables proposed to be struck in the bill are outdated and do not reflect current law. WVDE therefore assumed the legislative intent was to update the existing salary tables and applied the proposed increases to the current tables. The cost estimate provided is calculated on what we assume to eventually be a committee substitute for the introduced version of the proposed legislation.
As drafted, the legislation does not uniformly provide a minimum $2,000 salary increase to all teachers. Certain combinations of education level and years of experience result in increases below $2,000, including one instance in which the increase is only $3. To align with the apparent legislative intent, the salary tables would need to be corrected.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Tina Payne
Email Address: tina.a.payne@k12.wv.us