Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Teacher pay compared
My education writing colleague Megan Gidow at the Lebanon Western Star has an interesting story today about the difficulty suburban and rural school districts have attracting minority teachers. In Warren County, she reports, four of the eight school districts have no minority teachers at all.
A Central State professor in the story argues the problem is two-fold: minority teachers gravitate toward urban districts that have more minority students and urban districts tend to pay more.
The question is whether the pay side of that equation is true in the Miami Valley.
So I pulled the average salary from the Ohio Department of Education for Miami Valley school districts. Here’s how they stack up and here’s how the state’s 21 urban districts rank.
With Dayton going into a levy, it’s interesting to note its average teacher pay is in the upper half of the Miami Valley but somewhat low compared to some smaller other urban districts (although it ranks about the same as Toledo and well ahead of Akron, the two urban districts that are most similar to Dayton).
What surprises you from these lists?
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Teaching and Learning
Comments
By Mary
February 4, 2007 8:21 AM | Link to this
keith hyslop, based on the numbers I am seeing, I might have had a pay raise as a teacher and at least three more months off compared to my job as an aerospace engineer. Of course, I have also been retired 16 years so it might be hard for me to know what salaries really should be. The numbers are definitely higher than the retirement I live on. Not sure who you are referring to as rude, crude, and self-centered.By Scott Elliott
February 1, 2007 2:03 PM | Link to this
These numbers are straight mathematical averages — the salaries of all teachers in the district divided by the number of teachers. Like all averages, there are some teachers well above and some well below the number you see here.By keith hyslop
February 1, 2007 1:26 PM | Link to this
while average comparisons are fun to look at , they do not answer the question in the lead article. Perhaps if the variances in starting pay were examined, the reasons for fewer teachers in small & rural schools would become evident. To Mary, how much $ would you require to be with the rude crude and self centered, each and every day(and then there are the students). I am always amazed that people want the”future of America”taught by threadbare paupers!By Mary
February 1, 2007 11:38 AM | Link to this
What surprises me about this list is that news organizations do not publish this type of info more often so the public can judge for itself if teachers are underpaid. It seems to be harder to get this info from the states’s website than it used to be. Beginning teachers might still be hurting because longevity scarfs up the generous pay increases in most organizations. The list should also mention how much untaxed health care benefits are also kicked in by local taxpayers. From some old contracts I have from my district the medical insurance benefits alone run another $9,000 or more per family per year on top of salaries. Taxpayers pay 90% or more for education employees’ dental, medical, life insurance, etc. Another thing to keep in mind is the shorter work day and shorter work year - a huge benefit other professionals do not get. There are also supplemental contracts for teachers and coaches who put in some additional time. Then explain to me why the media and pundits keep claiming teachers are underpaid. Are they? I think the median “household” income in our area (I think that usually means two salaries) is in the $50,000 range. Maybe Scott can tell us those figures too.