Teachers deserve solid pensions for public work

The Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) and Denver Public Schools (DPS) are currently negotiating salaries. DPS claims the raises they propose are the best in history offering up to $7,500 raises, on average, through the use of ProComp. DCTA members allege the raises come out of the future earning of experienced teachers. Regardless of which side is correct in this debate, teachers are the lowest paid professional class of workers as a simple analysis of other professions requiring at least an Associates or Bachelors degree proves. Every other profession rewards workers financially as they progress in knowledge and ability to produce. Most industries promote and provide increased wages based on demonstrated skills.

To teach in an American public school classroom, a teacher must have at least a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university. To stay in the classroom, teachers are required to continue to take and pay for classes to maintain their licenses.

To compare teachers’ wages to other professionals, I used Salary.com and tracked professions based on comparable education levels. I attempted to use DPS’ salary calculator for accurate information about today’s wages, but the calculator was not on the Internet. Instead, I used the ProComp calculator and came up with the wages for a 3-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree and an 8-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree. I did not analyze the increased wages a teacher would make if he or she paid for an advanced degree as this article shows the earning potential for knowledge workers with Associates and Bachelor’s degrees.

I also included in the analysis the “summer vacation” benefit teachers enjoy. To do this, I divided the annual salary by days worked. I selected to analyze the wages in terms of days rather than hours because it is obvious all knowledge professionals work longer hours than standard eight-hour shifts. A day is a day, up to 24 hours. So for the many teachers I know who put in 10 to 14 hour days planning, teaching, and then assessing their students, these hours are contained in a day.

Retirement packages vary greatly from profession to profession. The teacher pension, often cited as one of the primary reasons for fiscal troubles in the district, replaces Social Security. Teachers do not receive Social Security. Instead, they receive a pension from the district. All of the other professions I analyzed for this story contribute to Social Security and the companies they work for may or may not set up and contribute to pensions, 401K’s or other retirement vehicles. As these packages vary so greatly, I did not include them in this analysis. I used annual wages divided by days worked.

Teacher Salary: 3-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree who receives positive professional evaluation: $35,439.36. This same teacher who continues to receive positive professional evaluations but does not purchaser more education in the way of Professional Development Units or advanced degrees will make $39,707.52 after teaching for nine years, according to the ProComp calculator on the web as of August 18, 2008. A classroom teacher must plan lessons, manage up to 150 direct reports (students), create assessment documents, and provide communication to multiple stakeholders. For these professional services, a classroom teacher makes $195 a day and is offered 182 days of work each year. An 8-year teacher makes $225 a day with 182 days available for obtaining wages.

The following wages and descriptions come directly from Salary.com, a website used to obtain salaries for professions. I selected the mid-point in the salary range for this article.

Accountant I with 0-1 years experience- $44,0000 – Accountant III with 8 years – $65,000 – Prepares balance sheets, profit and loss statements, and other financial reports. Responsibilities also include analyzing trends, costs, revenues, financial commitments, and obligations incurred to predict future revenues and expenses. Reports organization’s finances to management, and offers suggestions about resource utilization, tax strategies, and assumptions underlying budget forecasts. May require a bachelor’s degree in area of specialty and 0-2 years of experience in the field or in a related area. Accountants start at a lower daily wage, but are paid for more days with $185 a day at year and 237 days of work available. By the sixth year of work, a competent accountant can expect $274 a day with 237 days of work available.

Project Manager – Construction – $86,000 – Oversees and directs construction management. Communicates directly with contractors/designers concerning project cost, staffing, and scheduling. Prepares project status reports and works to ensure plans adhere to contract specifications. Requires a bachelor’s degree in engineering with at least 7 years of experience in the field. Familiar with a variety of the field’s concepts, practices, and procedures. Relies on extensive experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals. $362 a day assuming 237 days of work available.

Staff Nurse – RN – $53,000 – Evaluates, plans, implements, and documents nursing care for an assigned patient population. Assists physician during examinations and procedures. Performs various patient tests and administers medications within the scope of practice of the registered nurse. Promotes patient’s independence by establishing patient care goals and teaching patient and family to understand condition, medications, and self-care skills. Requires an associate’s degree and is certified as a registered nurse. $223 a day assuming 237 days of work available.

All of the jobs, except teacher, pay into the Social Security system ensuring a retirement income for senior citizens. Many of these professions provide additional pension or other retirement packages to augment income to prevent retirees from experiencing malnutrition, disease and homelessness when they can no longer work. As the teachers bargain to maintain salary building to fund their pensions, the public should be aware of the financial realities facing the knowledge workers who choose to educate public school children.

Comments from school board members accusing teachers of being crazy for not enthusiastically embracing this current contract, do nothing to address the stark reality of education in the United States. The school board and the district should acknowledge the low wages they must pay teachers until society in general decides to adequately fund schools, demand more from themselves as parents and students, and to make the tough choices that other countries have made to fund the outcomes they desire.

By Elisa Cohen, August 20, 2008