PIERRE - Competing plans to increase teachers' salaries in South Dakota were unveiled Thursday in the Legislature.

One bill, HB1262, would set $28,000 as the base pay but would move the floor to $39,000 by 2015. The level of base pay would increase for more experienced teachers who can show they are worth their salt.

HB1268 would establish a $30,000 base in 2013. School districts would have to incrementally increase their base salaries over the next five years, and they could tap a state fund that was established last year to give extra money to teachers. School districts that choose the program must contribute $1 to salaries for every $4 they receive from the state.

Both bills were discussed briefly Thursday in the House Education Committee, which will resume consideration of them Tuesday.

Rep. Mike Buckingham, R-Rapid City, is the sponsor of HB1262. The bill would set up a three-tier system of base pay for teachers, with successively higher pay for teachers who do good jobs and get advanced degrees.

"Moving from one level to another requires teachers to do more than just stay alive, as current salary packages do," Buckingham said. "Teachers must demonstrate increased competency, professional growth and student achievement."

Teachers with less than three years of experience would be on the first tier and get no less than $28,000 in the 2009-10 school year. Those with more experience would get an extra $1,000 in base pay. To reach the third tier, with an extra $4,000 in base pay, teachers would need advanced degrees and would have to be nationally certified.

Teachers in all three tiers would be evaluated annually and would have to show that they continue to get better at their craft, Buckingham said.

"This is a comprehensive change to how we offer instruction, with measurable results," he said.

Teachers who do not improve would be mentored, and those that don't get better would be terminated, Buckingham said.

"We can't continue to keep teachers who are not high performing," he said.

Legislators have talked for years about improving South Dakota teachers' salaries, which are the lowest in the nation.

HB1268 is offered by Rep. Kristi Noem, R-Castlewood. She said it would serve to improve not only minimum salaries but all teachers' salaries.

"My intention is to set the base, knowing that the base will move every salary in that school, and it should," she said.

Noem said base salaries in South Dakota currently range from $20,000 to more than $30,000. The size of a school district doesn't necessarily indicate how much money its teachers are paid, she said.

Noem told of one school district with 2,700 students that offers the same base pay as another district with only 27 students.

The House Education Committee also will take up a third teacher-salary bill Tuesday. HB1214 would set minimum pay at $28,000 in the next school year and $30,000 a year later.