Educators in Helena press state leaders for higher teacher pay
More than 30 Helena educators pressed state leaders for higher pay as Montana’s average teacher salary sat at $58,600 and new teachers averaged $41,639.
More than 30 educators gathered in Helena on Wednesday to press state leaders for higher pay, keeping teacher retention and school staffing front and center as districts head toward the next school year. In Lewis and Clark County, the debate lands on Helena Public Schools, which says it employs about 580 certified staff and 375 classified staff, while the Helena Education Association’s teacher contract runs from 2025 through 2027.
The push comes against a statewide labor picture that has been worsening for years. A Montana Department of Labor & Industry report said the state has faced a significant workforce shortage that has reached public schools, with more reports of teacher vacancies and emergency authorizations used to fill critical roles. In the Montana Office of Public Instruction’s 2023 compensation analysis, teachers earned an average of $74,800 in total compensation during the 2022-23 academic year, while salary alone averaged $58,600, ranking 34th among states. New teachers averaged $41,639 in salary, teachers licensed more than 20 years averaged about $69,000, and average benefits came to $20,647.
State lawmakers have already tried to move the needle. The Office of Public Instruction said the TEACH Act set a legislative target of $35,660 for starting teacher pay in FY24, and its analysis found 552 full-time teachers below that threshold. In 2025, Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the STARS Act, a $100 million law that expands incentives for districts to raise starting pay and ties extra state aid to salary targets districts must meet to qualify. The state says the law replaces a narrower earlier incentive with a larger program aimed at teacher base pay.
The Helena gathering highlighted a policy split that remains unresolved for classrooms in and around the capital city: whether Montana should keep relying on targeted incentives for new hires or build a broader funding structure that also helps districts hold onto experienced educators. The STARS framework is built around base pay thresholds, while the OPI data show that veteran teachers, even after decades in the profession, still average about $69,000 a year in salary. For Helena schools, where bargaining remains active and staffing depends on what the district can offer against statewide competition, the gap between entry pay and long-term retention is still the central problem.
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