Addressing the Teacher Shortage
Addressing the Teacher Shortage: Professional Pay Scale, Credentialism and ROI
Part 1: “Salary Stagnation & Cost of Living”?
Have you ever started off writing “some” thoughts out about an issue, and find out that what you really have is a 3 part article on a much larger subject? Me either, at least until I decided to tackle this subject.? Originally I had started out thinking that this was going to go in a particular direction, primarily speaking about the issue of the “Teacher Shortage” and credentialism. However, this somehow brought me off 2 or 3 different exits and ended up way in the weeds. See what happened was: I was thinking about the issue of “teacher shortages'' and how it related to credentialism, but as I walked through the data (think a convoluted and polluted stream in the woods, next to a nuclear waste dump), I realized that there are so many significant issues in education right now that I no believe my original hypothesis was either too specific or too general. Fun stuff!
So the original premise that I was running with was: “The Effect of Credentialism versus a Better Professional Salary for Educators and how that affects the recruitment and retention of teaching staff in America”. I was also interested in how this affects the choice of university students choosing education as a viable field of study. And, I still believe that this case for a cause of the teacher shortage remains valid in many ways, however it seems to be so much more complicated and convoluted than just that single comparison.?
The original debate that has surrounded teaching, and specifically this subject, has largely revolved around the claim from teachers: “Teachers are not paid well enough in relation to the professional certifications and degrees we must attain to hold the job in the first place”.? Which is essentially heard as either: “We want more money because we too are professionals” , or like Rodney Dangerfield “We don’t get no respect”!. The countervailing argument is usually: “well may be so, but, you (teachers) get 3 months off in the Summer, and all those school breaks as well, so you have it made!” Which is an argument to say that teachers are actually paid in line with the amount of hours worked as other lateral level professionals requiring equal levels of? education and professional certifications (ie: Accountants, Lawyers, Pharmacists).? The truth is both arguments are ostensibly true as 2 things may be true at the same time: teachers are not as well paid as other licensed professionals even accounting for breaks and hours worked. Also, teachers do get a great deal of time off throughout the year. The 2 month break is actually a fallacy, as in most cases, teaching contracts run from start to finish of the school year, with usually a few days at the beginning and end - most school contracts are actually 186/7 day contracts. For a long time, though, we have chosen to have our salary paid out over the course of 12 months (24-26 pay periods) versus 20 (10 months). However, this also means that any prep, set up, ProD, or other “work” undertaken during the summers is 100% on “unpaid” time. In addition, many teachers would argue (FOR HOURS) about the amount of “after hours and off contract time” we put in, including before and after school, nights, and weekends in order to prep for classes, research, grade, answer emails and phone parents, plus all those “Back to School Nights”, dance and evening activity chaperoning, Parent Teacher Conferences, meet the parents, “Donuts with Dad”, or “Muffins with Moms” teachers do. (1)
All this aside though, this is not even the core relevancy to this story, or at least in theory.
Where this all began: In all my writings and stories I like to double check my thoughts and assumptions to ensure I’m either correct, or, at least attempting to correctly interpret the data. Additionally, if there is a question of veracity, I want to learn the actual answer rather than run with my assumptions. To this point, during the 2003/04 school year I went to teach in my hometown, at the High School I graduated from, actually replacing one of the people who inspired me to become a musician and music educator, my choir director Mr David DeAngelis (shout out!). At that time I got to work with my old high school guidance counselor, and while working together we got into a discussion about salaries, and he said “well if you think it’s bad now, back when I started in 1971 (!!) I was paid something like $7,400 per year”.?
To my then 33 year old ears, that seemed like a mere pittance - even for that time period, especially knowing what I was like as a student. Trust me it wasn’t worth it…..?
So, as I prepared for this article (now 3 part series), I decided to utilize his figures, 1st because it seemed like a good idea, to look back at 50 years of data for information, and 2nd, because I am now roughly at the same stage in my career - pushing into 30 years in education. So, it is true that in 1971, a younger teacher in RI would have been paid in the range of about $7,500 per contract year. In fact, throughout the United States in 1971, the average teacher (coast to coast, and year over year) was paid approximately $9,268 +/- (2). Now when looked through the lens of 2022, where cars are averaging in the $48,000 range, this seems a tiny salary. Especially when you see that in 2019/20 (the last year for which there is data), per the Bureau of Labor Statistics (3), the average teacher earned $63,645.?
Remember this number, we’ll come back to it in a little while.?
Now to add some context to this average: in 2021-22, using a combination of niche.com(4) and USA facts(.org)(5) I was able to find the following information: The highest average salary in the US for educators was New York ($79,845) followed by California ($78,711), and the lowest average was South Dakota ($42,600) and Mississippi ($42,902). In fact, utilizing the same source material, I learned that the average starting salary is $38,716 (+/-), with the highest being in Washington DC ($51,359) and the lowest in Montana ($30,606). Now these are 2021-22 averages, and there certainly current ISD/USD’s out there that are offering higher starting salaries in order to stave off the bleed of teachers in 2022. And of course, there are certainly others that are offering a higher or lower in order to create the state and regional “averages”. However, clearly, if it's a higher salary you want, you should head either East or West, but get out of the middle of the country!
Or should you?
Context: This is missing contextual, yet vitally important, information because these numbers don’t? take into any consideration the (then) current cost of living in any of these states. If you factor in the cost of living, things take a different direction entirely. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that in 2021 the cost of living is roughly $61,000 (6), when taking into account necessary bills (housing, transportation, food and taxes), durable goods, as well as, consumables and discretionary spending (the extras). This then is what the average American household will pay in order to “live” in the United States. If this is true the “average teacher’s salary” would leave you roughly $2,500 in discretionary spending.?
No Venti Soy Latte with a pump of Pumpkin Spice for you!?
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But is this true, that you want to be a teacher on the coast, rather than the middle of the country? When you dig in a little more, it becomes a little more complex.
In California the cost of living is 142% of the standard cost of living, meaning that in California you can expect to have roughly $86,620 in needs based spending every year, but the average teacher in CA is making $78,711. And, New York? Well NY as an average is 147% the standard cost of living ($90,000 +/-), and we know that this number is wildly skewed by the presence of Manhattan and Long Island versus the CoL in Pauling, NY. The same would be true about California: Los Angeles cost of living is much higher (24.5%) than in Sacramento. And again, the average teacher in NY can expect to make $79,854, so in NY you as a teacher can expect to have at least 2 jobs as you are going to be @ $11,000 in the hole. Unless you are a starting teacher, then you are going to be roughly $50,000 in the red, as they start teachers between $48,000 and $50,000!
As an aside, I did this same comparison with my current residence, just outside of the Houston Metro: If I moved from here to Los Angeles, and I had a $50,000 salary - in order to maintain my Standard of Living I would need to make $79,194. Similarly, in New York, NY (Manhattan), using the same source, I would need to jump from $50,000 to $135,224, so 2.7 times my current salary.?
By the way, Montana is just as bad, because their cost of living calculation is about 111% the SoL of the US, so you are making a lower teaching salary at +/- $55,000 but with a cost of living at +/- $68,000. Mississippi is also in the red by $8,000 on average, but their CoL calculator is the lowest at 83%.
Circling back to the original point: The current salary for teachers is lower than the cost of living in many places throughout the US, but at least they’ve gone up significantly since the 70’s.?
Right??
In a word, no.? Sorry to burst your bubble.
Returning to that original 1971 salary figure of +/- $9200 for a teaching contract. When adjusted for inflation and time, the real world buying power of that figure ($9200) in 2019/20 numbers is roughly $60,013(8). In other words, teacher’s salaries have largely stagnated through the last 50 years, rising only about $3,000 or so. In point of fact, the 2 highest grossing periods on average for teacher salaries in terms of “real world buying power” were: 2002-2004 (+/- $64,432- 64,532) and 2008-2010 (+/- $65,135-65,713). In fact, we are currently on a downswing in the US with regard to teaching salaries as viewed through real world purchasing power.?(9)
So is this the real reason people are fleeing the teaching profession? Maybe, maybe not.
But likely it is a portion of the reason(s).
The 2nd part of this thought experiment is:
"Addressing the Teacher Shortage: Professional Pay Scale, Credentialism and ROI: Professional pay and Credentialism"
Footnotes: Those parenthetical numbers are where in a previous version there were footnotes placed. As I have yet to figure out how to do the footnoting needed here for attribution of research and for the calculations of modern inflationary cost of living and economic values of money, below you will find the sources referenced: