Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §22.1-289.1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§22.1-289.1. Competitive compensation for certain positions; biennial review of teacher compensation required.
It is a goal of the Commonwealth that its
public school teachers and all other
individuals employed in Standards of Quality-funded positions be
compensated at a rate that is competitive in order to attract and keep highly
qualified teachers
individuals in such positions. As used
in this section, "competitive" means, at a minimum, at or above the
national average teacher salary for the position.
The Department of Education
shall conduct a biennial review of the compensation of teachers and shall
consider the Commonwealth's compensation for teachers relative to the national
average teacher salary. The results of these reviews shall be reported to the
Governor, the General Assembly, and the Board of
Education by June 1 of each odd-numbered year.
2. That the provisions of this act shall become effective on July 1, 2023.
3. That state funding shall be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficient to fund a five percent annual pay increase for each individual employed in a Standards of Quality-funded position, effective from the 2023–24 school year through the 2027–28 school year, provided that such five percent annual pay increase (i) is subject to a local matching requirement in accordance with each local school board's composite index of local ability-to-pay and (ii) shall be adjusted annually as necessary to account for rebenchmarking and to yield a rate of compensation percentage increase for all Standards of Quality-funded positions that is pegged to providing a competitive average teacher salary in the Commonwealth.