Utah is losing highly qualified teachers and our children are the ones who ultimately pay the price.
The teacher shortage is not new and is not unique to Utah. It is an issue we cannot keep pretending we don’t know how to fix. We owe it to our children to increase funding to public education. New resources will allow the state and individual districts the flexibility to raise Utah teachers’ salaries and make the profession more attractive.
While the national average public school teacher salary for 2016 was $59,660, Utah’s average teacher salary was a mere $46,042, leaving us at a disappointing fifth from the bottom in national rankings (NEA and edbuild.org). Low salaries combined with increasing pressures have led to our current teacher shortage and left students with a less stable educational experience.
As a mother and teacher, I have spent thousands of my own dollars on classroom supplies, as well as hundreds in helping my children’s teachers furnish their classrooms with tissue, hand sanitizer, books, crayons … the list goes on. I am not aware of another profession in which employees must purchase their own desk chairs, pay to make copies, provide fans for rooms that reach 90 degrees or more during the warmer months or the myriad of other purchases the vast majority of teachers in this state must make to create healthy environments for learning.
Increased spending on education, and in particular an increase in teacher salary, is a notion supported by Gov. Gary Herbert and is essential to reversing the shortage and providing our children with the education they deserve. How do we make teaching an attractive or worthwhile option if we refuse to offer a wage that is commensurate with a teacher’s education level, continual training, and the hours they put in? (Teachers work a national average of 50 hours per week and, no, we do not have paid summers off.)
As Utah legislators move toward final approval of the education budget, they must carefully consider how their decisions impact our students.
An increase in teacher salary will send the message that Utah teachers are valued, that our children need them, and that our communities are grateful for what they do. Approximately two-thirds of Utahns feel more funding, via an increase in taxes, is needed for Utah public schools (utahpolicy.com).
We all depend on a well-educated populace in order for our economy to flourish, but we cannot continue to ignore teacher salary, in combination with the increasing demands of the career, if we wish to produce graduates who are prepared to fully contribute to bettering our society.
Teaching is a profession that requires years of training and preparation, as well as ongoing education and training. It is time to recognize teachers as the professionals they are and to compensate them accordingly. The well-being of our state depends on it and, above all, our children deserve the best teachers and highest quality education they can get.
We need to remind our legislators of the old adage, “You get what you pay for.” Utah, we owe it to our children to stand up and fight to make the teaching profession more attractive by increasing teacher salaries.
Chera Fernelius is a mother of two junior high students and one elementary student and an English teacher at Farmington Junior High School in the Davis School District.