BELLOWS FALLS — Contract negotiations are always a challenge for school boards. On one hand, we all want to honor teachers for their dedication and hard work. On the other, we have an obligation to taxpayers to work within the financial realities facing our families and our nation.
Recent years have been particularly hard economically; many, if not most, local citizens haven't seen a pay raise in years and many have lost jobs during the recession.
Across the country, workers have been forced to pay an increasing share of health benefits, and few, except the very wealthy, have seen any real increase in wages or benefits.
At the same time, Vermont teachers have continued to see annual pay increases of up to or above 5 percent each year, with average teacher salaries up over 50 percent in the last decade.
Boards approaching negotiations anywhere in Vermont this year know that taxpayers with worsening financial circumstances, no matter how much they value their teachers, cannot afford to pay for raises that are out of touch with the economic realities throughout our country.
This stance has nothing to do with respect for teachers or for education or caring about kids. We know every board member is committed to the well-being of every child and highly appreciative of the important work of our teachers.
Ultimately, the real issue is balancing fair teacher pay with the incomes of taxpayers in our communities. We all agree that teachers, with their educational background and important role in our children's lives, deserve greater pay than the “average worker.” Although we wish teaching was the highest-paid job in our country, we know that our education system must work within the limits of funding from our communities.
There was a time some years ago when teacher salaries clearly were inordinately low compared to compensation for other jobs. Decades of increases in funding for education have eradicated this injustice. Top-of-the-scale teachers in the Windham Northeast School Union (WNESU) now receive annual pay of over $64,000 along with the highest-quality health insurance available, retirement benefits, and a combined total of 18 paid sick and personal days each year for a 185-day-per-year contract.
Compare these conditions with the median household income in Windham County of $38,204 in 2010 (for jobs that often have 50 weeks of work and no paid days of leave). Yes, teachers deserve more than the average earner, but having the salary for an individual teacher to be nearly double that of the typical family in the region already seems to be a generous recognition of the value we hold for education.
In addition to this pay scale, teachers across the state enjoy a unique double-raise system unheard of in most jobs. Under existing WNESU contracts, teachers who are not at the top of the pay scale receive annual step increases of about $1,500 simply for another year of service.
On top of the step increases, teachers in the WNESU received 3 percent across-the-board increases in both 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, making the overall pay increase for individual teachers in each of these years in the range of 3 percent to 6.8 percent. This occurred during the most severe recession that the country has seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
It is unfortunate that the teachers' union portrays these negotiations as a reflection of the valuing of teachers and our schools.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
These negotiations are about respecting teachers and respecting taxpayers, uniting educators, parents, and all community members in doing the best for our children given the economic realities we all face together.