Atlanta teachers to receive largest pay raise in over a decade

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - One of the metro’s largest school districts hopes better pay will motivate educators to join their ranks.

Lisa Morgan knows exactly what teachers want and need. She’s the president of the Georgia Association of Educators and has been teaching students for more than 20 years.

“Number one is educators feeling burned out. Number two was student mental health and number three was educator pay being too low,” Morgan said.

Pay raises are now on the table for teachers at Atlanta Public Schools. The district is proposing an 11% pay raise for next school year.

“Our minimum state salary scale is a little over $41,000. And if you look at that as what the state is providing and in Atlanta Public Schools, they’re saying it’s going to be $61,000 for that first-year teacher,” Morgan said.

The pay bump marks the district’s largest pay raise since 2009, according to Nicole Lawson, chief human resources officer for Atlanta Public Schools.

“It most certainly will help attract candidates which also means we will have better quality in our applicant pool and hopefully it will allow us to retain our teachers as well. The goal is always to retain because we don’t want to lose our teachers,” APS Chief Human Resources Officer Nicole Lawson said.

Teachers can also get extra pay for specializing in high-need subjects or if they teach at high-need schools. Since the district-wide pay raise was placed on the table, APS said they have already received more qualified and experienced applicants.

“The teachers have entered the APS portal. We have tons of candidates. Our vacancies in one day have gone down. We were at 100 vacancies yesterday and today, we’re down to 87,” Lawson said.

Atlanta Public Schools officials said if a teacher took all the incentives, they could make up to $67,000 in the first year.

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