Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how something rare emerged at the Idaho Legislature today - consensus on a major teacher pay bill. Teachers, school districts, lawmakers and state officials all backed the new plan, the third version proposed in the past two weeks, saying it'll boost Idaho teacher pay and begin correcting a crisis in attracting and keeping teachers in the state.

The bill, HB 296, will raise state funding for teacher pay every year for the next five years, with next year’s boost at $33.5 million. Teachers would qualify for the raises by meeting performance standards along with factors including experience and additional education, and additional premiums could be earned for leadership and for “master” teachers.

Final amounts paid to teachers are determined by school districts, but the law specifies the amount that districts would be provided by the state; that amount would go up, for teachers at every level, each year for the next five years.

Idaho’s minimum teacher salary is now $31,750, and a third of the state’s teachers have been stuck at that level for years. By the end of the five-year phase-in, the minimum would be $37,000. An experienced teacher who’s now at the minimum would get 4.5 percent more in state funding next year to hit $33,200, and by the end of the five years would be up to $44,375; a master’s degree would bump that up to $47,875 in state funds.