The Knoxville School Board approved the 2024-2025 teacher contracts Monday night, but change is expected due to legislation passed Tuesday at the state capital. 

The new contacts were agreed upon between the Knoxville Education Association and the Knoxville Community School District. In the agreement, teachers in Knoxville will see a 2.1% salary increase for next school year and the starting base salary for new teachers will move to $41,930. However, this will be changing in the future now that the state recently set their rates on Tuesday, where new teachers will be starting at $47,500 next fiscal year. KCSD Superintendent Cassi Pearson says both sides acted in good faith with the contract discussions as they were made when the state had not set their new rate yet. Pearson says they want to reward their teachers, but also remain fiscally responsible. 

“We want to have the best teachers, recruit new teachers, and retain the great teachers and staff that we have, but also maintain our fiscal responsibility and our budget.”

Negotiations are expected to re-open now that the state has set state supplemental aid and the new base salary requirements