Arkansas' lawmakers won't take up teacher pay

Why it matters: Arkansas' teacher salaries are among the lowest in the U.S., which impacts the state's ability to recruit and retain educators.

• The minimum starting salary for a teacher in the 2022-2023 school year is set at $36,000, up from $34,900 last academic year.

Flashback: A spokesperson for Gov. Asa Hutchinson told Axios last month that the governor supported "the proposal to raise teacher salaries to a minimum of $46,000 and implementing at least a $4,000 salary increase."

• After pushback from legislators noting it would cost more than $300 million to pay teachers more, Hutchinson cut the proposal to a minimum starting wage of $42,000 and a $4,000 increase per teacher for the 2022-2023 school year.

Context: The money to pay teachers more would likely have come from the state's record $1.62 billion revenue surplus.