Category Archives: Teacher Pay

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Investing in Teachers: It’s Not a Dream in Washington State

But Tennessee teachers face a low-pay nightmare

Tennessee teachers are some of the lowest-paid in the nation – and among the lowest-paid in the Southeast.

In fact, only 25% of Tennessee teachers earn more than $60,000/year.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

In fact, in Washington State, it’s not.

I took a look at teacher pay in Olympia – starting teachers there can expect to earn $60,000 with a bachelor’s degree. Pay goes up to $120,000 depending on years of experience and education level.

In other words, it doesn’t have to be this way.

As I’ve written before, Tennessee continues to make policy choices indicating that the priorities of Gov. Bill Lee and his legislative allies are NOT investing in public education or public school educators.

The state spent $500 million to help build a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans.

The state in this past legislative session passed a $1.6 billion corporate tax break.

Past legislators have eliminated the Inheritance Tax and the Hall Tax on investment income.

For just a little more of what state taxpayers (at the behest of Lee and lawmakers) gifted the Titans, we could give all teachers a 20% raise.

Making that an ongoing commitment would be simple: Just repeal the ridiculous corporate tax giveaway the legislature just passed.

Tennessee policymakers could make investing in schools a priority – but they persist in choosing not to.

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42%

Stress and demands of teaching make the job not “worth it”

Teacher pay and support are not keeping up with the demands of the job, according to a recent report.

But also, challenges addressing student mental health. Challenges addressing cell phone use. Challenges addressing the behavioral and mental health challenges created by cell phone use.

The share of teachers who say the stress and disappointment of the job are “worth it” has fallen to 42%, which is 21 points lower than other college-educated workers, according to a poll by Rand, a nonprofit think tank. As recently as 2018, over 70% of teachers said the stress was worth it.

That’s a pretty rapid decline – and one that has accelerated post-COVID.

Policymakers aren’t exactly rushing in with solutions, either.

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16%

That’s the percentage of teachers who would encourage someone else to enter the profession

A recent story indicates that the long-running and persistent teacher shortage is not improving.

In fact, one recent survey of teachers found this disturbing stat:

Today, only 16% of teachers said they’d recommend the profession to others

This comes just two years after a survey of teachers that indicated most don’t want their own children to enter the teaching profession:

Just 37% of respondents in the national, random-sample survey would want a child of theirs to become a public school teacher in their community.

This pair of data points paints a disturbing story: Teachers are overwhelmed and no longer see the job as one they’d wish on someone else.

In fact, not only are teachers actively leaving the profession, but school systems are also seeing a shortage of qualified applicants to replace them.

Teachers cite two primary reasons for the crisis: lack of support and low pay.

The Teacher Shortage Crisis is Here

Policymakers in Tennessee and across the nation have been warned about this problem for years. And have done and continue to do little to address it.

It’s a policy choice. And it says making investments in public schools – and by extension, the kids who attend them – is not worth it.

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The Power of Teacher Strikes

Research says strikes DO lead to increased compensation

In a state like Tennessee, where policymakers continue stagnant investment in teacher compensation, the question arises: How can educators achieve improved pay?

The answer: Strikes!

Yes, state law forbids teacher strikes, but there are ways around such a prohibition (as striking teachers demonstrated in states like West Virginia and Oklahoma).

Peter Greene takes a look at research on the impact of teacher strikes:

In “The Causes and Consequences of U.S. Teacher Strikes” from the National Bureau of Economic Research, authors Melissa Arnold Lyon (SUNY Albany), Matthew A. Kraft (Brown University), and Matthew P. Steinberg (Accelerate) “revisit the question of how strikes affect wages, working conditions, and productivity in the context of the U.S. K-12 public education sector.”

The findings:

Strikes were most often about compensation, and the researchers find that the strikes did produce positive effects, with pay increases following in the post-strike years, regardless of the length of the contract agreement.

image of signs saying "strike"

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Who Will Teach?

Tennessee teacher shortage persists as pay remains low

While current reports suggest that the shortage of teachers in Tennessee is improving a bit, the reality is a significant number of classrooms will start the year without a full-time, permanent teacher.

Again.

NewsChannel5 reports on this year’s situation:

Tennessee is still facing a teacher shortage.

That means some classrooms may not have a teacher to start the school year. As of the middle of July, 875 positions still haven’t been filled.

In 2022, I tracked 1,000 teacher jobs still open. That number has decreased this year.

Pay increases seem to be helping. However, it should be noted the state can and should do more.

It’d be interesting to see what would happen if Tennessee moved starting teacher pay to $60,000 – a number we could afford and which would put the state at among the highest in teacher pay in the Southeast.

Teacher Shortage Crisis Continues

Tennessee policymakers have chosen instead to invest $500 million in a new Tennessee Titans stadium and to give out billions in corporate tax breaks.

In fact, before Bill Lee leaves office, his spending priorities could very well create a budget deficit.

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Payroll Math in Nashville

It doesn’t seem to add up

TC Weber takes a look at a payroll anomaly (or mixup or mistake or communication error) that meant the first summer paycheck for Nashville teachers was about 20% short.

Talk about ruining summer plans.

Last week, many of Nashville’s teachers and support staff who have extended their paychecks throughout the summer got a surprise. Paychecks were roughly 20% shorter than expected.

Metro Nashville Public Schools pays all certificated staff on a 22-week pay schedule, equivalent to the length of the school year. As a courtesy to teachers who wish to maintain a paycheck throughout the summer, they can sign up to be paid in 26 installments.

This is accomplished by MNPS deducting a portion of each paycheck, after taxes, and dividing it between four summer paychecks – two in June and two in July. For some reason, according to MNPS, this year has 27 paychecks, requiring 5 paychecks in the summer.  Two in June, two in July, and one in August. That’s some fancy math turning 26 biweekly opportunities into 27.

As TC notes, all years have 52 weeks – which makes (or should make) for 26 checks.

He further notes that blaming the “mixup” on a communication error is not ok.

If teachers and staff didn’t get the message, the error is on the sender.

It’s particularly distressing in an era of teacher shortages and in a state with persistently low teacher compensation.

A Solid F
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Pay Boost Coming for Sumner Schools

Teachers, staff to see raises based on School Board’s budget

While the State of Tennessee continues to move slowly when it comes to investment in teacher compensation, local districts are stepping up.

Sumner County is the latest to announce planned pay raises for its teachers and staff.

Sumner County Schools approved an additional $28,950,000 in its budget to increase pay for all of its employees, according to an email sent to parents and the community. The school board has approved the following raises:

– Increasing classified staff pay to a minimum of $16 per hour.

– Increasing new teacher pay to $47,800, an average raise amount of $3,023 for experienced teachers.

The School Board passed the proposal by a 9-1 vote, with the lone dissenting vote noting he hoped to move starting pay up to $50,000 and ask the County Commission for additional funds for raises.

The proposal will now go through the budget approval process at the Sumner County Commission.

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A Solid F

Tennessee continues to fail when it comes to school funding

In spite of a new school funding formula AND Gov. Bill Lee’s promise to make Tennessee one of the top places to teach in America, the state continues to lag near the bottom in the nation in both per pupil spending AND teacher salary.

A new report reveals that average teacher pay in the state ranks Tennessee 44th in the nation – and among the lowest in the Southeast. Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia all pay their teachers more than Tennessee does.

National Education Association report on school funding

When it comes to per pupil spending, Tennessee is also in familiar territory: Near the bottom.

National Education Association report on school funding

This is just like . . . every other year.

TN School Funding Report Card: 1 D, 2 Fs
F
F for Effort

Of course, Lee and his allies are fond of claiming everything is fine – that they’re doing a great job of funding schools. A few years back, I examined that claim up close and that takedown still applies:

Do We Really Have to Do This?

Here’s some perspective from that 2021 article:

So, the TN House GOP is all excited about spending $616 million plus over TEN years, while the state is sitting on a $3.1 billion surplus this year alone! That means we could spend $616 million in teacher salaries THIS YEAR and still have more than $2.4 billion LEFT to spend. Read that again. Republicans are bragging about taking an entire decade to allocate in total what is available THIS year and could be funded while still leaving $2.4 billion for other priorities.

When it comes to school funding, Tennessee stands at a solid “F” and our policymakers seem to be just fine with that.

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Pay Bump on the Way in Memphis

Minimum salary moved to $50K, all teachers will see pay increase

Districts across Tennessee are making moves to increase teacher compensation in the face of a growing shortage of applicants and long lists of open positions.

Chalkbeat reports that Memphis-Shelby County will move starting teacher pay to a minimum of $50,000 a year and bump pay for all teachers – raises that could amount to $4000 or more for most teachers.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools is raising its minimum teacher salary to $50,811 under a new agreement with its two teachers unions, delivering on their salary goals despite a $150 million budget shortfall next year.

Teachers, administrators, and board members, meanwhile, cheered the agreement, which raises the district’s starting salary by 8% for teachers with undergraduate degrees and ensures that veteran teachers receive raises once they have hit the top of the district’s 19-step salary scale.

The move comes even as lawmakers rejected providing additional state funds to assist school districts in raising teacher pay.

Vouchers vs. Teachers
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Vouchers vs. Teachers

Lawmakers reject additional investment in teacher pay

Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee rejected a move that would have invested the $140 million+ allocated for Gov. Lee’s voucher scheme into an increase in teacher pay.

Sen. London Lamar proposed the budget amendment – suggesting moving money from a voucher plan that is unlikely to gain approval this session into additional investment in public schools.

Throwin’ It All Away

“This amendment would take the K-12 education funding set aside for Gov. Lee’s school voucher program and reassign it to the K-12 student funding formula,” said Sen. Lamar. “There are so many needs our public school system has that this voucher money could be used for — one of which being teacher raises.”

The proposal failed on a party-line vote, with all nine Republicans on Senate Finance opposing the move.

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