Utah’s teachers will obtain a salary increase in the 2025-26 school year, state leaders say

Utah teachers are receiving an increase of $ 1,400, Governor Spencer Cox announced Friday, which the public school says Educators, “see you. We recognize you. “

Cox and other Republican legislators shared the announcement Early Friday during a press conference at the Capitol. They also announced a unique $ 1,000 bonus for support personnel.

In total, the main UTAH legislators say they will set aside $ 100 million of the State Budget for these teachers’ compensation changes and support personnel. The increase of $ 1,400 is a permanent salary increase and will enter into force on July 1.

Additional financing will increase the salary of teachers in the state to between $ 60,000 and $ 65,000, the highest in Mountain West, Cox said.

“I am very proud of the good people who are doing this job, day after day,” Cox said.

Officials also announced other investments in public education, including the promotion of $ 77.7 million to support Professional development for educators and $ 14.3 million for supplies and teaching materials.

The measure is produced immediately after Cox signed a bill that effectively prohibited public sector employees, including teachers, police and firefighters, collectively bargaining with agencies.

Those who oppose that bill, HB267It included the largest teacher union in the State, which argued that annuling the collective bargaining rights of public unions would harm workers’ services and compromised essential public services.

Legislators have argued that the State has continued to increase the payment of teachers and the financing of public education “despite” union efforts, as stated by Senate President Stuart Adams, Republican of Layton, earlier this month.

“No other state in La Nación has done more for the compensation of the teachers than we have done,” Adams said Friday.

As HB267 worked through the legislature, public unions Mass mobilized, with thousands filling the Capitol in the course of approximately two weeks in protest and many The entrance trays of the flood legislator with emails that denounce the measure.

When state legislators approved the bill, hundreds filled the Capitol’s roundabout asking Cox to veto it. He signed it in the law February 14.

Union leaders have said that they would explore a Citizen Referendum Si Cox signed the bill. That would require gathering more than 140,000 signatures in 40 days to put the issue before the voters on the 2026 electoral ballot. If they gather enough signatures, the law would be suspended until the voters decide.

Christy Giblon, president of the Provo Education Association, said that although she appreciates the salary increase, she sees it as a “panic response” to the possible referendum and a possible boycott of the annual summer conference “present for teachers” of the first lady of Utah, Abby Cox.

“After the governor signed the anti-union bill, the teachers have responded very vocally online that they do not intend to go to that event, who do not see the governor as a supporter of education,” Giblon said.

Cox said the decision to increase the teacher’s payment does not intend to crush a referendum effort.

“This is the right thing to,” Cox said about the salary increase. “If there is a referendum, people in the state of Utah can decide whether that is something good or not.”

– This is a developing story. Consult the updates again.