State teachers are getting a 1% raise in the upcoming school year.

The average starting salary for Lexington County teachers is $33,897 with a bachelors degree. With a master’s degree, it’s $39,000, according to the SC Department of Education’s website.

A 1% pay hike will mean starting teachers with BAs get $338.97 a year more and those with MAs $390 a year more.

The 2017 southeastern average teacher salary was $50,127.

A new report from the American Federation of Teachers ranks South Carolina 35th in the country for teacher pay and 32nd in dollars per student.

“I’m going to be asking for more funding for teacher salaries for next year,” said SC Education Superintendent Molly Spearman.

“I think what we need is for the public to get behind that. They expect me to ask for that funding, but we need business folks, we need parents to say we think this is important too.”

The SC Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office estimates per pupil spending to be $13,214 for the 2017-18 fiscal year. A 2009 General Assembly budget proviso suspended professional staffing ratios except for four year old programs and programs serving students with disabilities.

That means the school board determines how many students are in each class. The only classrooms with size limitations are Pre-K with 20 students to every 1 instructor, and special education programs, which range from 10:1 to 15:1

The Center for Educator Recruitment Retention and Advancement (CERRA) reported 4,900 South Carolina teachers left public schools in 2016 and did not return to teaching. At the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, 550 teaching positions were unfilled across the state’s 85 school districts, according to CERRA.

“I don’t know that [the raise] will make a difference in a teacher staying or not staying,” said Kathy Maness, a Lexington Town Council member and former teacher with the Palmetto State Teachers Association.