Saturday, March 15, 2008

Inequity: Teacher Salaries in Texas

"The study found that in Austin, for example, teachers working in the city's highest-poverty elementary schools earn an average of $2,668 less per year than those teaching at schools with the fewest low-income students. If the Austin Independent School District spent the same amount per-teacher at these schools, that would amount to an additional $2 million every year in the district's high-poverty schools." From a report by EdTrust based in DC.

The data is based on the teachers experience or where they are on the pay ladder. The less experienced, or in D. McRae's case (in Fort Worth where I first taught) the emergency certified career changers are placed in the schools with the most vacancies. These schools tend to be where teachers don't stay because of the more challenging students, older texts or less support. There were a number of reasons people wouldn't stay at D. McRae, but the kids were great. There was little parent involvement, but I think that was because they had had a new principal every year. Finally when they had a good principal, Maria Sanchez, a few African-American teachers claimed she was racist and she was put on leave for a month. It was nuts! She left the year I did and went on to win principal of the year at a high school in Fort Worth. But I digress.

The moral of the story is, yes there is pay discrepancy. But as Sean pointed out, the report blames the district for not paying enough when it is really not having experienced teachers in the schools who may be at a higher pay scale. That is what the districts need to work on: Maybe give incentives to experienced teachers to work in a poorer performing school or put the emergency certified teachers in a high performing schools.

No comments: