On May 13, teachers from Pueblo City Schools District 60 ended a five-day strike after winning a 2 percent cost-of-living pay increase. With teachersí salaries in the spotlight across the country, news outlets, including The New Falcon Herald, have been curious to see where the states stack up.According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the estimated average salary for K-12 teachers nationwide was $58,064 in 2016-2017, while the National Education Association states the average was $58,353.Brett Ridgway, chief business officer for El Paso County School District 49, said those numbers might seem high, but for D 49, they are mostly accurate. Out of the almost 920 teachers in the district, there are significantly more people with 10 years or more of teaching experience, which ratchets up the average salary to about $50,000, he said. That number does not include administrative salaries, Ridgway said.According to the NEA, the average estimated salary in Colorado for K-12 teachers in 2017 was $46,506. The Colorado Department of Education places the average pay for teachers in Colorado a bit higher at $52,728 per year, according to a KKTV Channel 11 investigative report by Katie Pelton. The report, released April 12, noted that CDE statistics showed the average pay for teachers in El Paso County at $43,000. District 49 landed a bit below the middle of El Paso County schools at an average of $42,857. KKTV also researched numerous school district documents for their report.Ridgway said the discrepancy, regardless of the varying stats, between D 49 and the rest of the state can be tracked to the influx of new teachers into Colorado.ìThe growth in our state has meant that a lot of teachers have been hired into our system; and, in general, those are going to be younger teachers,î he said. ìThe state is not just attracting (teachers who earn) the national average; we are filling open positions based on the supply we have available, which is usually recent graduates.îBase pay for a new teacher in D 49 is $36,000 and the number gets higher with every year of experience, he said.According to an article posted on The Washington Postís website March 5, Colorado saw a 15 percent decline in average teacher salaries from 1969-2017.ìAdding that much staff at that lower cost rate is going to naturally shift the average down,î Ridgway said. ìIt just means the mix of newer teachers on staff is higher, causing that change. In D 49, there has never been a pay cut. There has been a (pay) freeze but there has never been anyone taking a pay cut or being asked to take one.îD 49 has retained many of the teachers who have more than five years of experience ñ 696 out of 920 ñ which puts the districtís average salary in a higher range, Ridgway said. ìThe numbers are pretty evenly distributed, which means there is no bubble that could burst, like having 200 teachers being lost to retirement at one time.îOn another note, the KKTV investigation revealed higher salaries for top administrators; ì15 superintendents in El Paso County are earning a combined $2.4 million, plus more than $13 million for other high-level execs, not including principals. These are people like the deputy superintendent of personnel support services, chief education officers and chief financial officers.î
