Improving Teacher/Staff Pay
Teachers, and the school staff that support them are the lifeblood of our education system. While school supplies and educational aides such as computers have their place, the most important factor in our students’ educational success is the hiring and retention of great teachers and staff.
These are the topics I wish to speak to regarding the improvement of teacher and staff pay:
- Why People Matter Most
- Tying Pay Increases to Performance
- Making Teacher/Staff Pay a Budgetary Priority
Why People Matter Most
Every single student in our school district is a human being. While each student learns in a slightly different and unique manner, it shouldn’t be surprising that students learn best from other human beings. Providing proper educational facilities, instructional materials, and learning aides are all important elements to a quality education, but they pale in comparison to the need for great teachers and staff. People matter most!
Some people don’t fully appreciate the importance of great educators and school staff. Perhaps they subscribe to the old myth that “Those who can – do, and those who can’t – teach.” Or perhaps they believe that a combination of Artificial Intelligence and some computer technology can replace the role of human beings in the education of our youth. Both assumptions are completely wrong. There are plenty of subject-matter experts out there with doctoral degrees who would have no clue on how to teach children basic arithmetic. The best teachers not only need to know the subject matter they are teaching, but also must be good motivators, child psychologists, and possess enough creativity to develop new teaching methods when the old ones aren’t working for a child. The best staff don’t just do their specified job description well but are inspired to “go the extra mile” because they truly care about students.
Finally, we don’t have to look too far back in history to know that computers are not good substitutes for educational professionals. Back during the COVID-19 crisis, we closed the doors to our schools and relied on virtual learning. We traded teachers for computer screens. And by all accounts it was a disaster! The vast majority of students did extremely poorly, and their academic progress was almost completely stymied.
Tying Pay Increases to Performance
While almost all teachers and educational staff have good intentions, not all are great at what they do. It would be fiscally irresponsible to simply give them all a big raise. The NC General Assembly usually negotiates teacher pay and makes it part of the state budget. Usually, they will set a pay scale that is simply based on degrees and the number of years of service. Local school districts like ours can supplement that base pay with additional monies from the county budget. These supplements are also usually based on static factors like degrees and years of service.
I don’t believe that relying on these types of static factors is the best way to assess teacher and staff performance and pay. As outlined in my plan for Individualized Education, the easiest and best way to assess teacher and staff performance is to evaluate how well the students they are responsible for did in achieving their individualized educational goals. Their performance, when measured in this manner, should dictate how much of a pay increase is warranted. Once I am elected to the New Hanover County Board of Education, I will push the school board to adopt generous pay performance incentives for teachers and staff that are truly performing well.
Making Teacher/Staff Pay a Budgetary Priority
My father was a middle and high school English teacher who taught mostly in public schools. My mother was a full-time stay-at-home housekeeper and Mom. By no means was our family wealthy, but based on that single teacher income we were comfortable, and by no means poor. My parents owned our house, they easily paid the bills, and there was enough money to provide my two siblings and I with a decent and fun childhood. These days most two-income working-class families are struggling financially just to get by.
This woeful financial situation is just getting worse, especially here in New Hanover County. Salaries have gone up, but nowhere near enough to account for the astronomical inflation that plagues our country. In addition, the price of housing in New Hanover County has, and is continuing to increase dramatically. Home prices, coupled with crippling mortgage rates, make it practically impossible for most of the families of our school district’s teachers and staff to purchase a home in New Hanover County. Rental prices are equally crippling.
Our teachers and staff did not get into education to become wealthy. Their generous hearts and love of children inspired them to make a choice and take up their professions. Nonetheless, they shouldn’t have to live in near poverty because of that choice. At some point, even the most dedicated educators will end up leaving their profession for financial reasons unless we do something. Once I am elected to the New Hanover County Board of Education, I vow that I will.
My Rationale
Some people might accuse me of not being fiscally responsible because I am advocating for increases to teacher and staff pay. I disagree. I believe there is plenty of wasteful spending going in our school district that far exceeds the improvements in pay that I am proposing. Those spending cuts must come first. Unless or until those spending cuts are made, I will NOT be advocating for these performance-based pay increases.
I see money paid to well performing teachers and staff as not just a necessity, but as a wise investment in our school system and in the future of our students’ educational success. It comes down to a question of priorities. And you can count on me to always prioritize teachers and staff over frivolities and nice-to-have, but non-essential expenditures.
Got Questions?
Perhaps you have another angle on my proposed improvements to teacher and staff pay. I would love to hear them and so please Contact Us. I will always make time to listen to voters!
