SB 284 Virginia Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Teachers; timeline and process for increasing salaries to at least national average.

Summary

Average teacher salary in the Commonwealth; national average. Requires the Governor's introduced budget bills for the 2027 and 2028 Regular Sessions of the General Assembly to propose funding for, and state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act enacted during any regular or special session of the General Assembly during 2027 or 2028 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 end of fiscal year 2029 and establishes a detailed timeline and process for satisfying such requirement.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 13, 2026 Last action Feb 10, 2026

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What changed between versions

Introduced → Education and Health Substitute · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended from an original introduction to a committee substitute version, significantly extending the timeline and adjusting the funding schedule. The primary changes involve shifting the target date to reach the national average teacher salary from fiscal year 2029 to fiscal year 2030 and expanding the budget sessions required to fund this increase to include the 2029 session. Additionally, the funding distribution was altered from a front-loaded approach (one-third, one-half, remainder) to an equal distribution of one-quarter across four consecutive budget sessions.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to cover four fiscal years (2027-2030) instead of three (2027-2029), requiring funding proposals in the 2029 Regular Session in addition to the 2027 and 2028 sessions.

TIMELINE

The target date to reach the national average teacher salary was extended from the beginning of fiscal year 2029 to the beginning of fiscal year 2030.

The budget sessions required to fund the salary increase were expanded to include the 2027, 2028, and 2029 Regular Sessions, adding the 2029 session to the original list.

FISCAL

The funding distribution schedule was changed from a tiered approach (one-third, one-half, remainder) to an equal split of one-quarter of the required increase for each of the four budget sessions.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 5, 2026

Upper · Passed

Reported from Education and Health with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N)

upper

Jan 29, 2026

Upper · Passed

Senate subcommittee offered

upper

Jan 29, 2026

Committee

Assigned Education sub: Public Education

upper

Jan 13, 2026

Committee

Referred to Committee on Education and Health

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors