SC governor wants to give all teachers a $3,000 raise

CAYCE, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said Tuesday that he wants to give a $3,000 raise for all the state’s nearly 53,000 teachers in next year’s budget as part of a promise by Republican lawmakers to get paychecks above the national average by 2024. The latest raise proposal would cost $211 million and should propel the average South Carolina teacher’s salary into the top 25 in the nation and about $2,500 over the Southeast average, McMaster said Tuesday, citing National Education Association data as he announced his proposal. “We chose this profession and will continue to choose this profession because we believe we are making a difference in the lives of our students.” The national average for teachers is just over $60,000 a year and House Speaker Jay Lucas joined the governor on stage to repeat his promise to do everything he can to get the state’s average salary to that mark in five years. That rally also brought 10,000 people to the Statehouse in one of the largest gatherings at the capitol in the past 20 years, SC for Ed Board Member Nicole Walker said she wishes lawmakers would do more for veteran teachers, who stop getting yearly “step” raises when they reach their 23rd year of teaching — just as many of them are in their 40s with children near or in college and other mounting bills as retirement begins to loom.