What Will Teachers Earn? by MagicvalleyTN

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May 17, 2015

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What Will Teachers Earn?

Liz Schroeder

Troy Bird

Teaches: Fourth grade at Summit Elementary School in Jerome. Experience: Nine years (six in Jerome). Teaching is Schroeder’s second career. Previously, she was an executive director for a chamber of commerce. “I had really wanted to teach, and I felt like I wanted to make a difference,” Schroeder said. Education: Bachelor’s degree in public relations and advertising; master’s degree in education, plus 12 credits. First-year teaching salary: About $38,000 as an entry-level teacher in Nevada. Salary changes: When she moved to Jerome, her starting pay was $31,782. “I came in right when they had the freeze in pay,” Schroeder said. “They didn’t honor your years (of experience) or master’s when you first come to the state.” Current salary: $39,172. “This past school year, I received about the same the first year I did teaching in Nevada,” Schroeder said. Career ladder’s effect: Schroeder expects she’ll make around $50,000 once the career ladder is fully implemented within five years.

Teaches: Vocational agriculture at Oakley High School. Experience: Firstyear teacher. Bird was a grocery store meat department manager, working toward a corporate position. What spurred him to go into teaching? “Not the pay.” He took a cut. Bird wants to make a difference in the lives of students and “pay back what teachers have given to me,” he said. “I really enjoyed my ag classes, and the teachers who taught me had a real impact on me.” Education: Bird and his wife each earned a bachelor’s degree May 2 from Utah State University. “It’s been eight years coming,” he said. He took breaks to start his own business and work. He and his wife were also caring for their two young children, born prematurely. “We’ve had hail to get this degree done.” He took a full load of college classes this year. He also coaches track in Oakley and has a second job as a grocery meat cutter. First-year teaching salary: $31,750, plus his stipends for extra duties: $1,588 as a track assistant and $1,270 for coaching junior high track. He earns $4,337 for an extended contract for vocational agriculture. The total: $38,945. Career ladder’s effect: Teachers with up to three years’ experience will make between $32,700 and $33,822 next year.

Claudia Creek Teaches: French at Twin Falls and Canyon Ridge high schools. Experience: 32 years, all in the Twin Falls School District. Education: Master’s degree plus 45 credits. Creek earned her master’s in 2003. First-year teaching salary: $12,500 in 1982. Current salary: $50,741 for teaching plus $1,115 in extra-duty pay as department chairwoman. Career ladder’s effect: Creek hasn’t analyzed what she’ll make under the career ladder. “The problem with me is that I don’t know how much longer I will be teaching.” Salaries will range from $35,498 to $47,603 next fiscal year for teachers on the professional rung. By the end of five years, the state-funded maximum salary will be $50,000. The Twin Falls School District has subsidized teacher salaries for years and is negotiating with the teachers union over pay for next year.

Laurie Howard Teaches: Math and physical education at Castleford Middle/ High School; also is athletic director. Experience: 28 years, all in Castleford. Education: Bachelor’s degree plus 70 credits. First-year teaching salary: She doesn’t have a record of her first-year pay in 1986, but she made $15,500 her second year. Current salary: $48,125 for teaching plus $2,417 as athletic director. Athletic director pay “hasn’t changed much in quite a few years,” Howard said. “It’s pretty tough to ask for a raise for our extracurriculars.” Career ladder’s effect: Castleford’s teacher contract negotiation teams decided teachers who would have received a pay cut under the career ladder will be held at their current salaries next year. If Castleford hadn’t allocated that extra money, Howard’s pay would have dropped to $45,705 next school year. The career ladder will gradually increase her pay to $50,000 by the 2019-20 school year; Castleford negotiations have not yet addressed extra pay beyond next year.

STEPHEN REISS, TIMES-NEWS

Sixth-grade social studies teacher Nathan Anderson leads a class at Vera C. O’Leary Middle School on May 6 in Twin Falls.

Career Ladder Helps Recruitment but Does Little for Retention, Educators Say JULIE WOOTTON jwootton@magicvalley.com

TWIN FALLS • Liz Schroeder started her teaching career in Nevada making $38,000 a year but took a pay cut of more than $6,000 when she moved to Jerome six years ago. Under Idaho’s career ladder law that takes effect July 1, new teachers can move up the pay scale faster. But Schroeder and others say the system won’t do enough for experienced teachers. “We need to have a better balance to retain those who have been working hard for so many years,” said Schroeder,

Documents Read the career ladder bill and information about how much it will cost Idaho, at Magicvalley.com.

who teaches fourth grade at Jerome’s Summit Elementary School. “I think the state has lost sight of that.” The new law combats Idaho’s growing problem with teacher recruitment but doesn’t help retention, said Wiley Dobbs, superintendent of the Twin Falls

School District. Contract negotiations are underway this spring in his district and others around the Magic Valley to determine how much each district will subsidize the minimum salaries funded by the state. Disappointed by a career ladder that fell short of their hopes, experienced teachers want districts to kick in enough money to avoid pay cuts. The career ladder says the state will pay a maximum of $50,000 toward an experienced teacher’s salary after a five-year implementation period.

Mark Sant Teaches: Social studies and Spanish at Shoshone Middle/High School. Experience: 22 years, all in Shoshone. Education: Bachelor’s degree from Idaho State University and master’s degree in educational leadership from University of Idaho. After earning his master’s 10 years ago, Sant decided to stick with teaching for now — instead of becoming a school administrator — because he enjoys it. First-year teaching salary: $17,500. Current salary: $49,283, plus extra-duty pay of $2,582 for coaching the middle school boys’ and girls’ basketball teams. Career ladder’s effect: It will depend on how much the Shoshone School District supplements teacher salaries. Shoshone has always paid teachers more than the state reimburses, Sant said. If that weren’t the case, his pay would be between $35,498 and $47,603 next year under the career ladder. “The biggest thing with it I’ve seen is that it’s all up to the districts with how much they’ll supplement it,” he said.

Please see TEACHERS, A6

Explore Digital Teacher Pay Database A database of teacher salaries launches Sunday at Magicvalley.com/teacherpay. The Times-News chose five Magic Valley school districts and requested salary information. The database includes three of the largest in our region — Twin Falls, Cassia County and Jerome — plus two of the smallest — Castleford and Murtaugh. The database allows you to search by school district and grade level (elementary, middle or high school). You can see how factors such as years of experience and education make a difference in educators’ paychecks. The Times-News opted not to include individuals’ names in the database, though that information is part of the public record and districts provided names along with the salary data we requested. Here’s a taste of the detailed information you can find in the database: • Highest-paid teacher in Twin Falls: A business teacher at Twin Falls High School with 29 years of experience makes $64,483 — $50,741 for his base salary, plus $13,742 in extraduty pay. He has either a master’s degree plus 45 credits or a bachelor’s degree plus 90 credits, according to the school district.

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Search the Data Find our searchable database of teacher salaries, featured at the top of Magicvalley.com today.

Nathan Anderson

• Lowest-paid in Twin Falls: Four parttime employees in the Twin Falls district make $15,875: a kindergarten teacher at Oregon Trail Elementary School, a language arts teacher at Canyon Ridge High School and two math teachers at Canyon Ridge. They range from no previous experience to six years. Each has at least a bachelor’s degree. • Pay ranges: In the Jerome School District, total pay ranges from $26,022 for a part-time high school guidance counselor to $62,280 for a math teacher and vice principal. In Castleford, the range is $16,194 for a parttime art teacher and bus driver, to $53,093 for a high school social studies teacher and vice principal. • Groupings at pay levels: In Jerome, 62 teachers receive the minimum base salary of $31,750. Ten teachers have a $51,698 base salary.

Teaches: Sixth-grade social studies at Vera C. O’Leary Middle School in Twin Falls. Experience: Four years. Education: Bachelor’s degree. Anderson is enrolled in an online master’s degree program. But as he earns credits, the pay increase will be minimal, he said. “It’s really hard when you aren’t benefited for doing it.” Plus, college credits are expensive, Anderson said, and he has taken some classes just for enrichment. “A lot of teachers take classes anyway to get better but can’t afford to pay for the credits.” First-year teaching salary: $31,220. Current salary: $31,750. Career ladder’s effect: He will make a couple of thousand dollars more next year, according to numbers in the new law.

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STEPHEN REISS PHOTOS, TIMES-NEWS

Castleford High School math teacher Laurie Howard, seen here in her classroom between periods May 8, adds $2,417 to her salary by serving as athletic director.

Teachers

He’d also like to see pay enhanced. “We’re competing with states around us.”

Continued from A1

“We’re already paying top teachers that much,” said Chris James, fiscal manager for the Cassia County School District. “For them, it doesn’t provide as much incentive.” The maximum salary under the career ladder is nearly $3,000 higher than the state currently allocates: $47,002. But many districts still won’t get enough from the state to cover current salaries for longtime employees. “It does come up short at the top end as compared with what we’re paying currently,” Dobbs said. That means districts must decide whether to use operational funds to boost teacher pay beyond the state allocation. Many districts — including Twin Falls, Jerome and Cassia County — already subsidize teacher salaries. The Murtaugh district agreed to pay $20,000 to subsidize salaries for experienced teachers next year, Superintendent Michele Capps said. Cassia County teachers should see an increase in wages next year, James said. The Jerome district has no intention of giving teachers a pay cut, Superintendent Dale Layne said. Those decisions mean skimping elsewhere. Operational money must be spread among many areas, such as salaries, power bills and textbooks. “We certainly have more needs in the district than what we have been able to fund over the last few years,” Dobbs said.

What’s to Come ‌‌

The career ladder meets

neighboring states, but with others in the Magic Valley. “We certainly don’t want to be in a position where we’re the lowest paying district,” Layne said, but his district also can’t go “way above and beyond.” Twin Falls school officials are determined to offer the second highest pay in the region, Dobbs said, behind only Blaine County. But it’s still a struggle to find teachers. “The pool of applicants has really diminished,” he said. “We’re hopeful we’re going to be able to have the applicants needed to fill those positions with highly qualified teachers.” Schools already are hiring more employees without teaching experience on provisional certificates. And more teachers in the baby boomer generation are retiring. “But the end of it, we’re not going to have anyone left to teach in the classrooms,” Anderson said. He wonders: Will the cost of living outpace the career ladder’s pay increases? “We’re putting off our future for the next five years,” he said. He and his wife have a 2-year-old son and expect another child in June. Anderson enjoys teaching and finds children inspiring. But the career ladder, he said, is too little too late.

Competing for Teachers‌‌

Awards and photographs hang on the wall of teacher and athletic director Laurie Howard’s classroom at Castleford High School. a statewide need to better attract and retain teachers, said Debbie Critchfield, spokeswoman for the Cassia County School District and a member of the Idaho Board of Education. “I think that the political will was there this last legislative session, unlike what we’ve seen in previous years,” she said. Idaho teachers entering the profession often had stagnant wages for four to eight years. The career ladder “gets rid of the triangle of death,” James said. “It moves them up the salary schedule a

lot faster.” This year, the minimum salary of Idaho’s newest classroom teachers is $31,750. Next year, residency teachers — those with up to three years of experience — will make $32,700 to $33,822 unless their districts pay more. Professional teachers — those with more than three years of experience — will make at least $35,498 to $47,603. Education and years of experience determine where an individual falls in the range. Once the career ladder is fully implemented in five years, state-funded pay

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will increase to $37,000 to $39,000 for beginning teachers, and $42,500 to $50,000 for experienced teachers. Idaho legislators appropriated an extra $33.5 million for teacher salaries to fund the career ladder next year. Each year, they’ll vote on allocating money. The career ladder will cost an estimated $125 million over five years. If the state’s economy stays strong, Dobbs wants to see the career ladder become fully funded in fewer than five years.

The career ladder won’t fix everything in the first year or keep teachers from going to surrounding states, Layne said. “Hopefully, the bleeding stops a little bit sometime.” The average state-allocated starting pay for classroom teachers in Idaho was $31,159 in 2012-13, according to the National Education Association. That fell short of $43,269 in Wyoming, $36,335 in Washington, $35,358 in Nevada, $33,549 in Oregon and $33,081 in Utah. “Picking up the pace when you’re a lap behind in the race isn’t going to catch you up,” said Nathan Anderson, a fourth-year social studies teacher in Twin Falls, and Idaho needs to jump ahead of neighboring states. Some of Anderson’s family members teach in Wyoming and joke how many qualified teachers are coming from Idaho. Laurie Howard, a longtime teacher and athletic director in Castleford, has friends who moved out of Idaho to make more money before they retire. School districts have to compete not only with

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