Acts 679 and 680 of 2021 created the Teacher Salary Equalization Fund designed to assist school districts in increasing teacher salaries.  Beginning with the 2021-2022 school year, school districts must meet the following qualifications to be eligible for Teacher Salary Equalization funding:

• Be identified by DESE as having an average annual teacher salary below the statewide target average annual salary; and
• Not be scheduled to receive funds from the Educator Compensation Reform Fund - ECRP (Act 877 of 2019) – see Commissioner’s Memo FIN-21-042 for further details on ECRP.

For the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, the General Assembly has set the statewide target average annual salary at $51,822.  For 2021-2022, the DESE will calculate each school district’s annual average non-federal classroom teacher salary as reported on the 2019-2020 Annual Statistical Report and described in lines 83-84.  National Board-Certified Bonuses will be subtracted from the reported average in determining eligibility.  All districts with an average non-federal classroom teacher salary of less than $51,822 after subtracting NBCT bonuses, and that are not receiving ECRP funds in 2021-2022, will be eligible for Teacher Salary Equalization funding.  Funding for eligible districts will be $185 multiplied by the prior year Average Daily Membership (ADM) of the district.  Attached is a list of school districts the DESE has determined to be eligible for Teacher Salary Equalization funds in 2021-2022.  Funding amounts per district are based on cycle 6 data are preliminary only.  Final funding amounts will be determined after the 2020-2021 three-quarter ADM is finalized in cycle 7.

Teacher Salary Equalization funding shall be expended only for teacher salaries and benefits.

Disbursement of Teacher Salary Equalization funding will be monthly.  The exact amount a district receives for Teacher Salary Equalization must be transferred to the teacher salary fund with accounts 69314 and 52204.  The journal entry required to make this transfer from fund 2001 to fund 1000 is as follows:

DR          2001520000000000            69314

CR          2001                                    01010 (CASH)

DR          1000                                    01010 (CASH)

CR          1000                                    52204

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