House and Senate Democrats have put forward a bill to raise teacher salaries by $4,000 and to raise the minimum salary from $36,000 to $42,000.

The RAISE Act would use $600 million of the state’s $1.6 billion surplus to establish a Teacher Pay Sustainability Fund to ensure that these pay raises could take effect immediately and be sustainable.

The plan would leave $1 billion of the current surplus for investing in other critical needs.

“After raising teacher pay, we can use our remaining billion-dollar surplus for other essential needs like adequately paying our bus drivers, custodians, and other classified and support staff,” said Representative Reginald Murdock (D-Marianna), the Democratic nominee for Senate District 9. “The RAISE Act is a big step toward improving education throughout our state, but it’s just the beginning of what we need to do.”