A local supplement is an additional amount of money that a local district may apply on top the state’s salary to help attract teachers to come and stay in a particular district. While people may be fixated on actual state salary schedule, a local supplement has more of a direct effect on the way a district can attract and retain teachers, especially in this legislative climate.

The past few state budgets that were actually passed have limited DPI’s abilities to disperse ample amounts of money to local county and city districts for various initiatives like professional development and support. When local central offices have less money to work with, they then have to prioritize their needs to match their financial resources. That means some school systems cannot offer a sizable local supplement to teachers because they are scrambling to fulfill other needs that a fully funded state public school system would already offer.

Look at the interactive table of 2024-2025 local supplements offered by each LEA for which a portion is shown. (This is the last updated info as of October of 2025).

You can find a lot of info here.

The state average is a tad over $7,000.

Over 95 LEAs have a local supplement under that state average. WSFCS is right under $9K. Costs of living in a more populated area can offset the gains that a local supplement can offer, but not totally making the local supplement a vital way of keeping a teaching force in the district.

Simply put, local supplements are a big deal and complicated. It gets more complicated when the state starts placing more financial burdens on LEA’s to fulfill state mandates.

If the state is deliberately deadlocked on passing a new budget (even the federal government is shut down as of this post), then a district in financial devastation like WSFCS may resort to more cuts that extend beyond the “Reduction In Force” measures already seen.

Local supplements are the most likely to be considered.