By Eve Larsh, The Journal of Martinsburg
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Some West Virginia and Eastern Panhandle legislators say they believe locality pay will help teachers stay in the state.
Locality pay, which allows teachers to earn an appropriate wage based on what county they live in, was passed by Senate Bill 451 earlier this summer.
State Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, is in favor of locality pay. “It’s an easy way to term the ability to pay teachers locally what the market will pay,” she said. “In simple man’s language, we want to pay teachers the salaries that equate to the cost of living in the Eastern Panhandle.”
For Rucker, locality pay was one of the issues that got her into politics. She said that she believes teachers don’t get the same amount of attention in the Eastern Panhandle as they do in other counties. …
