LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The fight for teacher salary raises is still not over.

The State House and Senate Education Committees came together Monday to discuss the 2022 adequacy report.

Several legislators made proposals for teacher pay increases, including Republican State Representative Brian Evans, who proposed a $4,000 raise for teachers this school year, and raising the starting minimum salary from $36,000 to $40,000.

One teacher in attendance, Gwen Faulkenberry said she feels lawmakers are not getting the message and are not doing enough.

“We’ve got to do something to stop this bleeding out of teachers, and it’s not something we can keep kicking down the road,” she said. “I do appreciate any raise, but I have to wonder… would they be thrilled with that?”

We reached out to Evans for comment but have not heard back.

He did say in the meeting, his proposal takes it one step at a time to make sure we have enough money to keep this promise to teachers.

He added if Arkansas’s economy stays strong over these next two years, we can keep increasing the base salary over time.

The committee will meet back Tuesday morning to continuing discussing the adequacy report.