Lawmaker Urges Salary Hike for Teachers After Increase in Supplies Allowance

Representative Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. from Camarines Sur is asking other lawmakers to support a new law. This law will increase the starting salary for teachers from Salary Grade 11 to 19. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. promised to raise teacher salaries, and this law supports his promise.

The idea is to add to a recent law that increased the money teachers get for classroom supplies. This increase will help about 800,000 public school teachers.

Villafuerte pointed out that low salaries are a big problem for these teachers. Because they don’t get paid enough, they’re less likely to improve their skills or get more education. He said teachers have a lot of work and play a key role in shaping society. They help with education, culture, politics, and morals, but they’re paid less than many other workers.

He hopes that increasing their salary and giving them a regular allowance for supplies will encourage teachers to do better. It should also make teaching a more appealing job for young people.

House Bill 1851 talks about this salary increase. It says the increase will depend on a teacher’s qualifications and how long they’ve been teaching. It also makes sure that this increase is separate from other general salary raises.

Villafuerte also mentioned House Bill 9682. This bill proposes to raise the yearly allowance for teaching supplies. It would go from P5,000 to P7,500 per teacher for the 2024-2025 school year, and then to P10,000 per teacher in the following years.

According to HB 9682, this allowance can be used for both physical and digital teaching materials, other costs, and for different ways of teaching students.