Since WCASD has increased their budget by $100 million over 10 years, and administrators' salaries have increased by 22 percent over five years, one would expect that teachers' salaries would also be rising to keep pace.
In 2012 (see page 45) a first year teacher earned a starting salary of $46,000.
In 2022 (see page 39) a first year teacher earned a starting salary of $51,670.
In a 10 year time period, a teacher's starting salary increased just $5670 while the overall district budget increased by $100,000,000.
Hmmm, something seems a little off here.
Let's look at a different part of the salary scale.
In 2013 (page 46) a teacher with 10 years of experience (line 10) who also has a master's degree (MS) earned $62,000.
In 2023 (page page 40) a teacher with 10 years of experience (line 10) who also has a master's degree (MS) earned $72,734.
In the above case, a teacher is earning approximately $10,000 more over a 10 year time period. To state it differently: while the district budget increased an average of $10 million per year for 10 years, the average teacher's salary increased by an average of $1000 per year for 10 years.
How is this ok?!
Consider this example where the head custodian is making as much as a teacher with a master's degree who has 10 years of teaching experience. The issue here is NOT about whether or not the custodian deserves to earn as much as a teacher. The issue is that our district is raising taxes exponentially but is not paying their teachers commensurately.
But why? Why are teachers not making more money? The WCAEA union negotiates the contract between the district and the teachers. Why isn’t the union doing a better job negotiating?
Teachers must ask themselves:
What am I getting in exchange for the union dues that I pay?
Is the union representing me and if so then shouldn't that be reflected in the contract that the union is negotiating on my behalf?
Do I have to continue paying union dues?
Stay tuned for a post on this next week!
