Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets watch as the U.S. Space Force Honor Guard performs drill movements at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C., March 9, 2026. (Brandon Thomas/U.S. Air Force)
Concerns over a new pay scale for Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps instructors have prompted a bipartisan legislative effort to evaluate the pay system and establish markers for its success.
The legislation would require the Defense Department to measure the effects of the scale on instructor recruitment and retention so that Congress can determine whether it is supporting instructors as intended.
The bill’s introduction follows the release of a Government Accountability Office report in January that found some JROTC instructors were concerned the new pay scale was lower than the previous pay system in areas with a high cost of living.
“If the new JRTOC pay scale is causing instructors like those in Nevada to leave the program, Congress needs to know that,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., who co-sponsored the bill alongside Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D.
Overall, instructors interviewed and surveyed by the accountability office had mixed opinions about the new pay scale, which was first instituted for the 2024 to 2025 school year.
Instructors in rural areas were more likely to be paid more and were, therefore, happy with the change, according to the report. Instructors in more expensive areas, however, said they worried the scale would make it more difficult to recruit other instructors, particularly experienced senior officers.
All the military services have experienced difficulties in recruiting instructors for the JROTC, a program for high school students to learn the values of citizenship, service and responsibility from instructors who are typically retired or reserve officers and enlisted noncommissioned officers.
To address recruiting difficulties, Congress first expanded eligibility requirements for instructors, requiring fewer years of military service, and then modified their pay system, according to the report.
But neither the Defense Department nor the Department of Homeland Security, which operates the Coast Guard, are equipped to evaluate the effectiveness of the new pay scale and need to establish a plan and metrics to do so, the GAO report said.
“Defining metrics to evaluate the new pay scale would provide the military services with improved oversight and visibility about the effectiveness of the new pay scale in supporting JROTC program goals, to include recruiting and retaining JROTC instructors,” the GAO said.
The proposed bill would force the Pentagon to implement that recommendation.
“My commonsense legislation would ensure that we have all the information we need to recruit and retain the best possible JROTC instructors,” said Cortez Masto.
There were more than 6,000 instructors working in more than 3,400 JROTC units across the country in 2025, with an enrollment of about 490,000 cadets across all 50 states and at Defense Department schools overseas.
