Editorís note: This is the fourth article in a series about education issues, locally and nationally.Teachers in Colorado with a graduate degree and 10 years of experience make less than a truck driver in the state. In Oklahoma, teachers with 15 years of experience and a masterís degree make less than sheet metal workers. The Center for American Progress posted the information on its website July 23, 2014.Kerrie Dallman, president of the Colorado Education Association, said there has been chronic underfunding of the education system, especially in Colorado. Couple that with more than $1 billion in cuts to school funding and the increasing cost of benefits, and it is obvious that teachersí salaries continue to be negatively affected, she said.ìThe cost of benefits has been increasing for districts nationally,î Dallman said. ìA lot of those costs have been passed on to teachers in the form of premium increases, particularly for families; and, at the same time, salary has been fairly depressed. The problem comes when school districts lack adequate funding. Theyíre forced to make difficult choices.îWhen schools are forced to choose between offering a decent salary or desirable benefits, it creates an atmosphere of competition among districts, Dallman said. ìColoradoís average starting salary is around $32,000,î she said. ìWith 10 years of experience, the average moves to $36,500. In school districts like Westminster, teachers get a little over $40,000 as a starting salary, and there are other districts that start below $32,000.ìWhen teachersí salaries are so disparate across the state, it almost encourages teachers to move across districts in order to achieve a living salary to support their families.îKevin Vick, president of the Colorado Springs Education Association, said teachers have to decide how much health insurance they need, which can determine their district of choice. ìTeachers have had to pay more for that (insurance), even if the salary is a bit lower,î Vick said. ìConversely, if you donít need the benefits, people are looking at other districts for a higher salary.îDallman said she believes in providing professional-level pay for teachers and a good benefits package because it attracts and retains quality teachers. ìWhen you have turnover in a district, there is an additional cost of hiring and training the teachers being hired,î she said. ìSome estimates say that it costs between $7,000 and $17,000 to induct or train new hires.îOne group largely ignored when it comes to salary discussions is the education support professionals, Dallman said. ìOur para-educators in particular who work daily with our students are rarely paid what we would call a minimum wage,î she said. ìMany donít work full-time, so they may not be eligible for benefits. They use their paycheck to pay for their benefits. Our education support professionals are woefully underpaid and often receive very little professional development to help them grow in their careers.îDallman said that if districts focused their energy on training their ESPs and helped them attain their teaching licenses, they could have a much higher teacher retention rate. They would also be investing in people already working in the district, rather than spending money to bring in and train outside educators.Vick said another issue challenging teachers is having their salaries linked to student achievement. ìThatís problematic because you are now changing students into a commodity, and itís basic human nature to try to maximize what is going to get you the most money,î he said.Student achievement can be assessed in many ways, but Colorado in particular has chosen the route of state-mandated tests, Dallman said. ìThe big issue is school funding, and both parents and teachers agree that weíre spending way too much time testing kids; and all that testing comes at a cost,î she said. ìThat money could be used toward compensating teachers and ESPs. We are testing now beyond what is required by federal law.ìWe do recognize that some tests are important like ones that give immediate feedback about what students have learned and help teachers address gaps in their instruction. Right now, teachers are spending 30 percent of their instructional time either preparing kids for tests or administering tests.îDallman said the CEA regularly advocates for its members at the state Legislature. ìOur focus for this legislative session is to increase funding to public schools and to significantly decrease the amount of time students spend testing. In Colorado, we really need to increase funding for our public schools.îMichele Conroy, a retired teacher from Moffat County in Colorado, said the lack of funding in public schools has many teachers using their own money to buy supplies for their classrooms, which is unaffordable for some. ìWhen I was hired in Moffat County, teachers were given $800 per year to spend on supplies, organizational things, resources they needed in order to teach a certain concept,î she said. ìBy the time I left 23 years later, that had decreased it to $250 per year. That $800 wasnít enough, but we made it work; but itís hard to prioritize from having $800 to having only $250.îConroy said she doesnít blame the district for the lack of funding but rather the educational system. ìTeachers across the district and, I assume, across the state are having to dip into their own pockets to provide the resources they need,î she said.At one point, Conroy said she looked at receipts she had kept over a three-year period from items she had purchased for her classroom. ìI didnít really know how much I was spending,î she said. ìOver those three years, the average was $1,300 per year. When I looked at that, I was astounded because essentially I was spending my cost of living increases. I wasnít getting ahead.It was allowing me to provide more for my students, but it wasnít helping me or my family. I donít begrudge that; it was just surprising.ìThe bottom line is that teachers know what good instruction is and will do what it takes to help their students enjoy and love learning.îìThereís always a standard saying for teachers that they donít get into teaching for the money; itís a calling,î Vick said. ìThat being said, when they go into that profession, they should be able to expect a professional level of pay.î
