Improving teacher salaries is necessary

It isn't about paying teachers what they "deserve" anymore.

Originally published in the Moultrie News.

Teachers want higher pay but so do other valuable workers, and whenever we raise salaries, teachers still ask for more. How much is enough, and will it even help the teaching crisis?

Many service workers (police officers come to mind) deserve higher salaries. Advocating for improved teacher pay doesn’t mean you’re against that. We should pay every hard worker a living wage.

To get the whole picture of salaries and the teaching crisis, consider South Carolina.

Last year, about 15% of SC teachers (8,000) left their jobs, a statistic that’s been rising. Replenishing the departures comes largely from brand-new teachers. But the number of teachers graduating college with the required educational degrees has been on a precipitous decline since 1972. That year, the U.S. awarded 200,000 such degrees. The projection for 2026 is less than 50,000 — about 10% of the national need.

We are bleeding teachers faster than they can be produced.

Will improved pay help? Well, the average college graduate with a bachelor’s degree makes about $65,000 annually, while the average SC teacher earns $53,470. Does that sound like a good return on your college investment?

This isn’t an issue of “greed” over “need.” Housing is a basic necessity, and costs have skyrocketed. As an example, I purchased my 1,300-square-foot home in 1993 for $67,500. Today, Zillow says it would cost $721,900. That’s a 970% increase in only 30 years, and it’s hardly an anomaly.

The housing crisis has intersected with the teaching crisis to form a horrific storm in which teachers are among those who cannot afford to live where we need them to serve.

Economics has the “30% Rule,” which says that you shouldn’t spend more than 30% of your gross monthly income on housing. The rule is so entrenched that mortgage lenders and landlords use it as a qualifying ratio in approving loans or rentals.

In Charleston County, the average cost of renting a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment is over $23,000 annually. The 30% Rule would require a yearly salary of $77,880. With a bachelor’s degree, you can earn that as a Charleston teacher … provided you have 35 years of experience.

Purchasing is a steeper climb. The average Charleston County home costs $505,000 at 6.55% interest. The 30% Rule would mandate a yearly salary of over $128,000. No public school teacher in Charleston will ever make that much. The most one can earn is $108,726, and that’s with a Ph.D. and 40 years of experience.

You might be thinking, “Don’t forget marriage! Two salaries are better than one.” True, but the housing crisis still wins. For two teachers, the 30% Rule requires an annual salary of $64,000 per person. Under the current scale, teachers with a bachelor’s would each need 22 years of experience to achieve that.

Your next thought might be, “Get off your butt and use your long vacation to get a second job.” That’s fair. Summer jobs can account for over 10% of a teacher’s income. To accommodate that, let’s turn the 30% Rule into a 40% Rule. Doing so would still require an annual salary of $96,000 to purchase and $58,000 to rent.

Okay, so the American dream of owning your own home may be out of reach for teachers, but renting minimal accommodations shouldn’t be. So to answer the question “How much is enough?” a $58,000 starting salary would be my response for Charleston. Other districts would vary depending on local housing costs.

Money, of course, is only part of the problem. The recent SC exit survey showed that school discipline was the top reason teachers quit, but political and educational leaders show even less enthusiasm about fixing disciplinary problems than raising salaries.

Still, only money can fix problems like this: a few weeks ago, a talented young teacher came into my room, her eyes red and runny. I asked why she was crying. She wasn’t. The school nurse told her she had conjunctivitis in both eyes. She needed medicine, but she couldn’t afford the $80 for a doctor’s visit and eye drops and still pay her monthly rent. Needless to say, she is not returning to the classroom next year.

Unfortunately, improving salaries is no longer about paying teachers what they deserve. It’s about paying them what they need to survive.

Read original column here.