[Vision2020] Idaho Teachers Among Nation's Lowest Paid

[J Ford]

Median wages, according to Idaho Job Serivce, is $25,911 
(http://lmi.idaho.gov/cgi/dataanalysis/incomeReport.asp?menuchoice=income)

Some people can live off that - others can't.  Should it be expected that we 
do?

J  ;)




>From: "Pat Kraut" <pkraut at moscow.com>
>To: "vision2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Idaho Teachers Among Nation's Lowest Paid
>Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 12:42:57 -0700
>
>I have lived in Idaho a long time and know the $29 thou would go a long 
>way.
>Especially if its a two income household. I would ask what is the median
>income of Idaho residents? I think this is another very misleading NEA
>argument. Thre are more ways to understand the differences that just that
>Idaho pays less.
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
>To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 6:40 AM
>Subject: [Vision2020] Idaho Teachers Among Nation's Lowest Paid
>
>
> >From today's (October 11, 2005) Spokesman review -
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>
>Idaho teachers among nation's lowest paid
>Low salary structure makes state 'training ground'
>
>Anne Wallace Allen
>Associated Press
>
>October 11, 2005
>
>BOISE - Idaho teachers are some of the lowest-paid in the nation, according
>to a report from a teachers union.
>
>Idaho ranked 32nd in the nation for its annual teacher salaries, and 44th 
>in
>the nation for starting teacher salaries, according to the American
>Federation of Teachers. Idaho was also one of 28 states where the increase
>in average teacher salary was lower than the national rate of inflation.
>
>"Teachers are underpaid," said John Davis, chairman of the University of
>Idaho's College of Education in Moscow. "We lose people because salaries in
>teaching are not commensurate with comparable professions."
>
>Idaho teachers made starting salaries of just under $25,908 in the 
>2003-2004
>school year, the year on which the AFT report was based. That amount hasn't
>changed since then, though Idaho schools Superintendent Marilyn Howard
>proposed in September a budget that would raise teacher salaries for the
>first time in five years.
>
>The national average in 2003-2004 for starting teacher salaries was 
>$31,704.
>
>Experienced teachers in Idaho had an average salary of $40,111 in that
>school year; the national average was $46,597.
>
>Connecticut had the highest average teacher salary, at $56,516, while South
>Dakota had the lowest at $33,236, said the AFT, which represents school
>staff and government employees. The group said in a statement that Alaska's
>beginning teacher salary was the highest, at $40,027, and Wisconsin's was
>the lowest, at $23,952.
>
>Howard proposed a $1 billion education budget for the fiscal year that
>begins in July. It includes $47.5 million for the payment that Idaho sends
>to school districts to pay for teacher and staff salaries and benefits - an
>increase of 5.2 percent over the current year's spending.
>
>The Legislature will vote on that spending plan next winter.
>
>Education policy-makers in Idaho have long said that good teachers often
>leave to take jobs in neighboring states with higher pay.
>
>"If your salary structure is sufficiently low overall, then what happens is
>you are a training ground for teachers who then leave," said state Sen. 
>Gary
>Schroeder, R-Moscow and a former chairman of the Senate Education 
>Committee.
>"California and Las Vegas come up to Idaho recruiting."
>
>California's average salary for experienced teachers is one of the highest
>in the country, at $56,444; Nevada's is $43,211.
>
>Davis, a former middle-school teacher in Utah, noted that the salaries 
>cover
>a nine-month period, not a 12-month period, but added that they are still
>low compared to other professions, and the matter comes up frequently for
>discussion in his department.
>
>"My students talk about it," he said. "Would they like to earn more? Yes.
>But they want to be teachers. They know that it's not high pay, and yet
>they're here getting their degrees in it."
>
>---------
>
>At a glance
>Teacher salaries
>Average salary for experienced teachers
>
>for the 2003-2004 school year:
>
>.Idaho: $40,111
>
>.California: $56,444
>
>.Nevada: $43,211
>
>.Connecticut: $56,516
>
>.South Dakota: $33,236
>
>.National average: $46,597
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Take care, Moscow.
>
>Tom Hansen
>Moscow, Idaho
>
>Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will
>stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving
>path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so
>far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.
>
>-Sir Winston Churchill
>
>
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>
>_____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

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