The Michigan Education Association (MEA) story about Wayne-Westland schools’ stagnant salaries pushing teachers out of the profession doesn’t tell the whole story, according to Michigan Capitol Confidential.
The MEA spoke with janitor Tov Pauling in February, who said that "[before] this last contract, our (support staff) employees hadn’t had a raise in about 11 years. And the young teachers were hurting…stuck on step one for several years, they were leaving. They went into other careers, or they left for other districts that were paying more.”
Wayne-Westland school district fits the profile of a district in financial distress, with decreasing enrollment and growing pension expenses. Much of what Pauling told MEA is contradicted by the school salary figures from the state of Michigan, Michigan Capitol Confidential reports.
The amount that the district must contribute to the state-run school employee pension skyrocketed from $9.1 million annually in 2011 to $20.6 million in 2019. But, state salary records show that while some have hit a plateau in pay, new teachers are not stuck at the bottom of the union’s scale for years.
Michigan Capitol Confidential wrote that a resource room teacher who made $34,315 in 2017-18 saw her pay increase to $42,145 in 2018-19. That’s a $7,830 increase in one year, or a 23% increase. Another teacher, who started in the 2017-2018 academic year, made $41,662 in her first year and saw her salary increase to $39,325 in her second year.
The union contract shows that the starting salary for Wayne-Westland teachers was $40,000 in 2019-2020, and the average teacher’s salary was $57,775 in 2018-2019. The top of the pay scale for 2019-2020 is $86,500.
Teachers can also take on extra responsibilities and earn a bit more money for those activities. Their pay rates depend on credentials, time on the job, and other factors. When teachers reach the top of the union pay scale, that’s when their pay tends to stagnate.
Michigan Capitol Confidential wrote that for teachers who have worked more than 15 years, there are few additional pay increases available.
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