Utah teachers are getting a $1,400 raise, Gov. Spencer Cox announced Friday, telling public school educators, “We see you. We recognize you.”
Cox and other GOP lawmakers shared the announcement early Friday during a news conference at the Capitol. They also announced a one-time $1,000 bonus for support staff.
In total, Utah’s top lawmakers say they will set aside $100 million from the state’s budget for those teacher and support staff compensation changes. The $1,400 raise is a permanent salary increase and will go into effect July 1.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Gov. Spencer Cox, center, shakes hands with Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, during a news conference at the Capitol in Salt Lake City, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, announcing an increase in teacher salaries in the state.
The additional funding will raise teacher starting pay in the state to between $60,000 to $65,000, the highest in the Mountain West, Cox said.
“I’m just so proud of the good people who are out there doing this work, day in and day out,” Cox said.
Officials also announced other investments in public education, including pledging $77.7 million to support professional development for educators and $14.3 million for teaching supplies and materials.
The move comes on the heels of Cox signing a bill that effectively banned public-sector employees, including teachers, police and firefighters, from collectively bargaining with agencies.
Those opposed to that bill, HB267, included the state’s largest teachers union, which argued that nullifying public unions’ collective bargaining rights would hurt worker pay and compromise essential public services.
Lawmakers have contended that the state has continued to increase teacher pay and public education funding “in spite of” union efforts, as Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, put it earlier this month.
“No other state in the nation has done more for teacher compensation than we’ve done,” Adams said Friday.
As HB267 worked through the Legislature, public unions mobilized en masse, with thousands filling the Capitol over the course of about two weeks in protest and many flooding lawmaker inboxes with emails decrying the measure.
When state legislators passed the bill, hundreds filled the Capitol rotunda calling on Cox to veto it. He signed it into law on Feb. 14.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Union supporters gather during a protest against HB267 at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025.
Union leaders have said they would explore a citizen referendum if Cox signed the bill. That would require gathering more than 140,000 signatures in 40 days to put the issue before voters on the 2026 ballot. If they gather enough signatures, the law would be put on hold until voters decide.
Christy Giblon, president of the Provo Education Association, said that while she appreciates the pay increase, she sees it as a “panic response” to the potential referendum and a potential boycott of Utah first lady Abby Cox’s annual “Show Up For Teachers” summer conference.
“After the governor signed the anti-union bill, teachers have responded very vocally online that they don’t intend to go to that event, that they don’t see the governor as being a supporter of education,” Giblon said.
Cox said the decision to increase teacher pay isn’t intended to squash a referendum effort.
“This is the right thing to do,” Cox said about the pay increase. “If there is a referendum, the people in the state of Utah will get to decide if that’s a good thing or not.”
— This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
