Education official seeks higher teacher salaries
BOISE – Idaho Education Association President Kathy Phelan toured the state this weekend lobbying legislators and rallying residents to support a resolution to raise teacher salaries over the next four years.
The Senate resolution would increase the beginning teacher salary to $35,000 and the average salary to $55,000 – up from $41,080 – by the 2008-09 school year.
“There was a time when it literally paid to be a teacher,” Phelan said. “Unfortunately that was 65 years ago.”
In 1940, teachers earned more than other employees with similar degrees, she said, but now Idaho teachers earn less than other Idaho residents with similar degrees. She said that during a recent seven-year period, Idaho teachers with a bachelor’s degree earned about $12,000 less per year than others in the state with the same degree.
The salary gap, which she called a “grand canyon” has caused more teachers to leave the teaching profession than those who have entered. One-third of all new teachers leave the job during their first three years, and half vacate the post before their fifth year, she said.
Idaho teachers are now in the bottom 20 in a national salary average. IEA Region 5 President Sue Skeen said her school district in Oneida County on the Idaho/Utah border has difficulty keeping young teachers when they can move to Utah, where they are typically paid more and receive better medical benefits.
Marsh Valley High School English teacher Bart Black, also the Marsh Valley Education Association President, said teachers in his district have not had a raise in 6 years, and his family is suffering because of it.
“We are going backward in the profession. I am looking at a different career because I can’t afford it,” Black said. “I have four kids of my own and I need to support my family.”
Phelan said many teachers have not received a raise in several years because the state Legislature has not increased Idaho’s salary allocation base since 2001.
She said a recent poll showed state residents realized teachers were underpaid, but many say the Legislature needs more prodding.
“We need to support education,” Skeen said. “We are fooling ourselves if we think we can have a world-class education and pay McDonald’s prices for it.”
The Senate Concurrent Resolution up for approval this year is estimated to cost about $180 million.
Phelan said one way the Legislature could pay for increased spending for education would be to renew the one-cent sales tax that is scheduled to sunset in June.
During her one-day tour Saturday, Phelan visited Coeur d’Alene, Lewiston, Idaho Falls, Pocatello and Twin Falls.