Fox Seeks Pay Raises For Teachers Schools Chief Asks Legislature For $19 Million For Salary Hikes

Idaho schools are losing teachers to states that offer higher wages, Idaho schools Superintendent Anne Fox said Tuesday.

She’s pushing for a 3 percent pay increase that would boost the salaries of teachers, administrators and classified staff. That’s a $591-a-year increase for first-year teachers.

Fox is asking lawmakers to approve spending $19 million that Gov. Phil Batt excluded from his budget.

Batt asked for a $10.9 million increase from last year’s budget to compensate for increased student enrollment, but excluded the raise Fox is lobbying for.

“It’s hard to keep people,” Fox told the Senate Education Committee.

The average salary would rise from $19,715 to $20,306. Now, the average Idaho teacher’s salary is almost $7,000 less than the national average.

The state hasn’t increased the lump sum it is required by law to give to school districts for teachers’ pay in several years, Fox said.

The stagnant wage makes it extremely difficult for new teachers to repay college loans that often total $15,000 and increases the attraction of teaching jobs in other states, Fox said.

“Picture beginning teachers surviving on that and paying back their student loans,” she said.

Fox outlined for the committee her budget request, which asks for $747.3 million to operate Idaho public schools in the 1998 fiscal year. The request is 6 percent higher than what the agency received for 1997. Batt asked for a smaller increase of 5.2 percent.

Fox also wants more money to pay for programs that help gifted students and those with limited English language skills.

Batt didn’t support funding for any specific request, but set aside $29 million in discretionary funds.

Senate Education Chairman Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, told Fox his committee has little influence on the final budget. A joint House-Senate committee reviews all the state departments’ budget requests.

However, Schroeder said the panel was successful in getting student enhancement funding in past years for programs such as reading improvement and mentors.

Jim Shackelford, executive director of the Idaho Education Association, told lawmakers that too many state dollars are going toward prisons instead of Idaho’s 245,000 students.

“We understand the difficulty the Legislature finds itself in, but it’s our job to emphasize the needs of public school teachers,” Shackelford said.

It would cost $87 million to raise the average Idaho teacher’s salary to the national average, he said trying to emphasize the need for more state money.

He added that it would cost $58 million to reach the goal of five computers in every state classroom. Only 10 percent of Idaho classrooms have five computers, according to an IEA technology survey.

, DataTimes