At All Costs Elective teachers discuss discrepancy in stipends compensations

Eliana Grant | Reporter

In regards to teachers and their wages, many may not consider the balances and effects that go into setting up proper livable wages for public school teachers all across PFISD, and how it may work with school budgeting. One particular thing many school districts provide are stipends, an extra amount of money given to teachers in certain positions that provide extra work or specific education in their class.

“It’s my 24th year teaching, and I think the big thing is that my stipends really haven’t changed is probably an accurate statement,” theater teacher Michael Fisher said. “Even though my salary has gone up with the rate of inflation, the stipend hasn’t really adjusted.” While stipends may have not gone down for Fisher, there are a range of different stipends, all with varying degrees of extra money.

The primary ones are academic, athletic, performing arts, degree/ position, academic extra duty, and supplemental stipends. If these would be given to various teachers in specific jobs such as coaches, special education teachers, or language teachers.

“I think that the idea of stipends is that you’re supposed to be creating incentives for doing extra duties,” Fisher said. “It seems to be challenging to attract people to be, for example, the class sponsor, [because] that stipend tends to be lower than other things There’s a global undervaluing of particular extra duties, then the district will kind of echo that.”

Over the last few years, stipends have remained relatively stable and consistent throughout the various departments in the district. Nevertheless, many teachers are still lacking in proper compensation for after school or extra work centered around their job.

“The art department does not have a stipend associated for any of their outside work,” technical theater teacher Nicole Malone said “A lot of our art departments are really active in the community, they’re also really active with VASE, which is their scholastic [project]. So all of that is extra time and extra duties and they are currently not compensated for those.”

It may be effective to consider how school budgeting affects or may affect how much money is put into a stipend, or in what particular department the money will be focused on. “No stipends have decreased for any teachers in [the district]. In fact, many stipends have increased during the last several years,” the district’s Chief Human Resources Officer Willie Watson said. “The district does have challenges with funding because state provided funds haven’t increased to match inflation. If the district receives increased state funds, the district could consider further increasing stipends.”