House and Senate Budgets Fall Short on Teacher Pay and Long-Term School Investment
February 22, 2026
February 22, 2026
“Virginia’s students deserve fully funded public schools and school staff deserve pay that reflects the value of their work. These House and Senate budgets take a few steps in the right direction, but they still fail the basic test: they do not put Virginia on a path to reach the national average for teacher pay or to provide a living wage for the school staff our students rely on every day. Without sustained, recurring investments, and the fair revenue needed to support them, we will continue to see vacancies, burnout, and missed opportunities for our students.”
– Carol Bauer, President, Virginia Education Association
Virginia’s educators and school staff have been clear about what our schools need: competitive, recurring pay increases that move Virginia toward the national teacher pay average, full funding for collective bargaining implementation, and a fair tax system that generates the sustainable revenue required to strengthen public schools.
Neither the House nor the Senate budget delivers on that standard.
On compensation, the House funds 2% salary increases each year, and the Senate funds 3% each year. Both proposals include $1,500 one-time bonuses this year. Even the Senate’s higher proposal falls well short of the roughly 4.5% annual increases needed to reach the national teacher pay average within the next four years. A 3% increase barely keeps pace with inflation; 2% does not. Both budgets lock Virginia into a path that will not solve our severe educator and school staff vacancy crisis.
On revenue, the Senate takes a meaningful step by allowing the data center sales tax exemption to expire, generating nearly $1 billion over the biennium, with a portion directed to K–12. The House does not take similar action. But neither budget includes the widely discussed 10% tax on income over $1 million, a proposal that would have made our tax code more fair and generated recurring revenue for sustained school investment. Without broader tax fairness reforms, lawmakers limit what they are willing to invest in educator pay and student support.
Both chambers also recognize the importance of statewide collective bargaining, but the House provides approximately $20 million to stand up the Public Employee Relations Board and implementation infrastructure, while the Senate provides about $6.5 million over the biennium, raising serious concerns about whether the system can be fully and effectively implemented.
As lawmakers enter the final three weeks of session and negotiate a conference budget, they must strengthen recurring compensation, fully fund collective bargaining implementation, preserve targeted investments for students who face barriers, and commit to sustainable revenue solutions that allow Virginia to meet its promises.
For a more detailed breakdown of the House and Senate proposals, including compensation, student supports, revenue, school construction, and funding formula changes, see the sections below.
Educator and Staff Compensation: Still Far Below What’s Needed
Both budgets include $1,500 one-time bonuses for the current school year, which is similar in scale to what Governor Youngkin proposed. While educators and staff certainly deserve that recognition, bonuses are not a substitute for the sustained, recurring salary increases needed to address Virginia’s staffing crisis and restore lost ground after years of inflation.
House Budget:
That level of investment simply does not keep pace with inflation, let alone move Virginia toward the national teacher pay average – a commitment legislative leaders have referenced repeatedly, including the goal of reaching it by FY28. It also does nothing to guarantee a living wage for school support staff, many of whom continue to struggle with rising housing, health care, and childcare costs.
Senate Budget:
While the Senate proposal is better than the House, it still falls well short of the roughly 4.5% annual increases needed to meet the national average goal. A 3% increase is unlikely to meaningfully improve recruitment or retention. Locking in these percentages now effectively guarantees we will not reach the national teacher pay average on the timeline legislative leaders have repeatedly referenced.
Competitive compensation is the single most important lever to attract and retain high-quality educators. Both budgets miss the mark.
Collective Bargaining: House Leads on Implementation Funding
VEA’s top legislative priority this session has been statewide collective bargaining. Implementation requires a fully functioning Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) and adequate administrative capacity.
The House investment is significantly stronger and more likely to ensure collective bargaining can be rolled out effectively and fairly statewide. The Senate funding may not be sufficient to fully stand up the system over the next two years.
As lawmakers enter conference, ensuring adequate implementation funding must be a top priority.
One-Time K–12 Funding
The House advertises roughly $1.7 billion in additional K–12 funding over the biennium. A significant portion of that includes approximately $400 million in one-time flexible funding.
That funding cannot responsibly be used to hire permanent staff or sustain long-term salary increases. School divisions cannot build recurring raises or staffing positions on money that disappears in two years. Doing so would be fiscally reckless and would create instability when those funds vanish.
One-time money may help divisions manage short-term pressures, but it does not solve structural underfunding, does not reduce class sizes permanently, and does not address long-term compensation needs.
The Senate relies less heavily on one-time flexible funding and makes more formula-driven investments, but neither chamber commits to the level of recurring funding necessary to fundamentally strengthen Virginia’s public school system.
Addressing Students Who Face Barriers to Education
(Special Education, At-Risk Add-On, Academic Supports, Community Schools)
Special Education Add-On:
At-Risk Add-On (Low-Income Students):
The Senate’s at-risk investment is one of the strongest elements of its budget and a meaningful step toward equity.
Community Schools:
This is a smart investment that directly addresses barriers to learning.
Teacher Pipeline Investments: Helpful but Insufficient
The Senate includes modest investments in teacher pipeline programs, including:
The House does not make comparable new investments in teacher pipeline programs.
However, pipeline investments alone will not solve Virginia’s staffing crisis. Compensation remains the primary factor in attracting and retaining high-quality educators. Without competitive pay, recruitment programs cannot overcome the broader market forces pushing educators out of the profession.
Revenue and Tax Fairness: Senate Takes a Step; House Misses the Moment
The House budget largely avoids major revenue reforms. It does not take on the data center sales tax exemption – a massive and growing corporate tax loophole that is draining resources our schools need for ongoing investments – and that choice directly limits what the House is willing to do on educator pay and sustained K-12 funding.
The Senate takes an important step by allowing the data center sales tax exemption to expire, generating roughly $977 million over the biennium, with about $118 million directed to K-12. That is a meaningful move to close a loophole that benefits some of the most profitable tech companies on the planet, and it is the kind of structural revenue reform Virginia needs more of if lawmakers want to make real progress on compensation and student supports.
But even with that step forward, neither budget includes one of the most widely discussed tax fairness proposals of this session: creating a 10% “millionaire’s tax” on income over $1 million a year. That option was plainly on the table, and it’s disappointing that lawmakers in both chambers walked away from it. If we are serious about fully funding public education and making Virginia more affordable for working families, we should be willing to ask the very wealthiest Virginians to contribute a little more – especially when, under our current system, a teacher and a person earning more than a million dollars a year pay the same state income tax rate. A fair tax code should not treat classroom educators the same as those at the very top of the income scale when our schools are struggling to hire and retain the professionals students need.
Virginia’s students and educators cannot be expected to accept budgets that fall short year after year while the Commonwealth declines to use the most straightforward tools available to generate recurring revenue and make the tax code more equitable.
School Construction: Long-Awaited Progress
Both budgets signal readiness to allow localities to implement a 1% sales tax for school construction, subject to voter approval – a major policy win after years of advocacy! This revenue could generate around $1.5 billion annually for local school construction needs.
In addition:
Lawmakers should now pass the enabling legislation into code so this authority is permanent and not solely dependent on budget language.
Getting the Funding Formula Right
The Senate includes $1.25 million over the biennium to support the Joint Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education Funding as it works to modernize Virginia’s funding formula.
The House provides $250,000 for similar work.
VEA strongly supports this investment. Bringing in expertise, conducting modeling, and preparing for real implementation is essential if Virginia is going to make meaningful changes in the next full biennium budget introduced in December 2027. Getting the formula right is foundational to everything else.
The Path Forward
The Senate budget is stronger than the House in several key areas: at-risk funding, revenue reform through data center tax changes, and modestly higher salary increases. The House budget is stronger on collective bargaining implementation and direct school construction funding.
But both budgets fall well short where it matters most: competitive compensation that will attract and retain high-quality educators and ensure students have excellent teachers in every classroom.
Virginia remains far behind pre-pandemic student outcomes. We are still facing severe educator and school staff shortages. A budget that maintains near-flat inflation-adjusted pay and relies on one-time funding will not change that trajectory.
As lawmakers head into conference, they should:
Our children cannot afford another biennium of incremental change when bold action is what’s required.
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