The measure creates financial incentives for school districts to increase salaries of educators who are in their first three years of teaching.

“The goal of the TEACH Act is to incentivize local schools to pay beginning teachers more so we can keep new educators in the state,” said the bill’s sponsor Rep. Llew Jones, a Republican from Conrad.

The new law would provide additional state funding to school districts that set starting teacher pay at a minimum of $34,000, an amount that would increase annually with inflation. If a district has more than 6,500 students, beginning teachers would have to make 70% of the district’s median teacher salary for the district to qualify for the incentive.