Paying Teachers What They Deserve

On June 16, members of the Massachusetts Association of Teachers and the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers will rally on Boston Common. According to the Massachusetts Association of Teachers' Web site, the teachers will be turning out in favor of "smaller class sizes, safe and healthy schools, alternative programs for disruptive students, more early childhood education and mentor programs for new teachers." Although the rally's goals are certainly laudable, the organizations conspicuously ignore the one measure that could truly improve public schools: raising teachers' salaries so that they are comparable with those of similar professions.

There are three main reasons behind this conscious omission. First, most people don't believe that raising teachers' salaries would attract better teachers. The adage "those who can, do; those who can't, teach" has been too firmly ingrained upon the public consciousness. The sentiment has developed that those who choose to teach do so only because they could not get a better job. Current teachers fear raising salaries to attract talent would imply that they are somehow inferior and deserve to be replaced.

Second, calls for higher salaries for teachers are often met by claims that teachers' salaries are adequate because teachers do not work as much as other professionals. Third, an increase in teachers' salaries would necessarily mean an increase in taxes that the people are simply unwilling to pay. Such fears and arguments have largely prevented teachers from speaking out in favor of higher salaries, but this does not mean the argument in favor of raising teachers' salaries should be abandoned; rather, it should be revitalized.

As an aspiring public school teacher, I know firsthand that raising teachers' salaries will attract better teachers, that teachers work just as much or more than professionals who are paid much more, and that raising teachers' salaries only requires the redirection of funds already earmarked for education to those areas that will cause the greatest improvements in public school education.

Although the lack of respect afforded to teachers certainly does not encourage college graduates to become teachers, the relatively low salary does much more to discourage them. Most of my high school classmates were amazed that I was going to Harvard and that I was "just" going to be a high school history teacher. They wondered how I could live with the lack of respect most teachers receive. However, most Harvard students are perfectly willing to enter a profession that is not particularly respected by the general public; witness the number of us who become lawyers and politicians.

Societal respect, although important, only goes so far. Money goes further. I have often told other Harvard students about my volunteer teaching endeavors or my desire to become a public school teacher, and received the response of: "Gee, I'd love to teach but I have to pay off my student loans," or, perhaps more bluntly: "Yeah, I'd like to teach, but I actually want to make some money." When it costs over $32,000 per year to go to Harvard, the average starting salary of a teacher in Massachusetts with a bachelor's degree is $26,000, and the average starting salary in fields other than teaching with a bachelor's degree is $35,000, it isn't hard to see why most Harvard graduates follow the money.

Or worse yet, people who want to become teachers go to less expensive and less academically rigorous college. One promising graduate of my high school declared that she chose to attend Framingham State College due to the low salary she would receive as a teacher when she graduated. The solution is to raise teachers' salaries so that they reflect both the education needed to be a good teachers and the vital importance of educating our children. Higher salaries will encourage more college graduates to become teachers, which will expand the applicant pool, increase competition for teaching positions and allow school districts to hire the most qualified people.

The number one criticism against raising teachers' salaries is that teachers are paid well for the time they work: only 30 hours a week in school for only about 37 weeks of the year. In reality, teachers spend time before and after school with students, correcting papers, preparing for class, attending meetings and workshops and continuing their own education in order to provide their students with a better education--most teachers work 50 to 60 hours a week or more during the school year. Even when averaged over the entire year, teachers actually work hours comparable to those of other professionals who are paid much more.

Another argument against raising teacher's salaries is simply that taxpayers do not want to be taxed more in order to pay teachers higher salaries. Such an argument can be used in any debate over increased government spending and the benefits of raising teacher salaries justify its cost. Massachusetts has already declared its commitment to education by spending millions upon millions of dollars; the problem is not finding the money to pay teachers more, but ensuring that funds are channeled into the areas where they can make the most difference. For example, Lowell High School has recently undergone a $40 million renovation, presumably to improve secondary education in Lowell. Regardless of the fact that the renovation actually impeded education during construction, this money would have been better spent raising teachers' salaries.

There are approximately 250 teachers at Lowell High School; $40 million could have increased each teacher's salary by $10,000 for 16 years, or more modestly, by $5,000 for 32 years. This increase in salaries would have attracted more capable, better educated teachers and improved the education students receive far better than a library with high ceilings or hundreds of computers. Raising teachers' salaries does not require an increase in taxes, nor does it require cutting back on state-sponsored programs other than education; it simply requires that we intelligently assess where the money we do spend on education should end up.

As many teachers in Massachusetts are rapidly approaching retirement, it is particularly vital that the teachers who are hired within the next few years be the best teachers possible, as they will likely be educating our children for years to come. Teachers and their organizations should reaffirm their support of higher teacher salaries. Our children deserve the best public schools possible, and the most effective way to provide them is to attract the best teachers possible by raising teachers' salaries. April R. Gleason is a first-year in Holworthy Hall.