No teacher left behind

Do you remember where you learned how to tell time? How to count money? How to avoid bullies? How to ask for help? So many of our skills, both cognitive and social, we learned in school from a teacher. Who among us does not remember at least one teacher who has made a lifelong difference in our lives? Many young children dream about becoming teachers when they grow up, because of how much they admire the teachers in their lives who have loved them, encouraged them, and challenged them to be all that they can be.

Education is the foundation of any society. Along with parents, teachers share the responsibility for raising the youngest members of our society. With each new year, the demands on our teachers increase.

They are expected to uphold constantly changing state and federally mandated criteria, help their students achieve better test scores, and ensure that no child is left behind.

Minimum pay for public school teachers in Maine has not been addressed since 1987 when the minimum salary was increased by state law to $15,500.

Here we are, 19 years later, the minimum wage for teachers is still at this shocking low amount. Much has changed in the past 19 years, including the cost of living, the expectations of teachers’ qualifications, as well as demands on teachers.

Most teachers work 10-12 hours per day with extra hours on weekends preparing, reading homework, grading, in addition to taking classes on their own to maintain their certification. If you take this minimum salary, divide it by an average number of hours teachers work in their workweek, their hourly wage comes out to $4 an hour.

Teachers also spend an average of $1,000 out of their own pocket each school year buying materials and supplies. Many argue that teachers “get their summers off.” Please, next time you run into a schoolteacher, ask him or her how they spend the summer break. Most teachers will respond that they spend a wesek or two recovering from the year, and then devote at least a month to preparing new curriculums or taking courses, and approximately two more weeks setting up the classrooms and going to workshops. The teachers, who are not so lucky to have this time to refurbish their skills and curriculums, are consumed by a second seasonal job.

Our qualified, dedicated teachers have worked hard to graduate from a four-year college. In Maine, this costs at least $40,000.

How can we justify this expenditure when their starting pay will be equal to or less than a student who does not go on to higher education and works for minimum pay? Recently, we had the opportunity to speak with a veteran teacher who told us that as a single parent, she qualified for the free and reduced lunch program based upon her income level as a teacher.

Now, years later, this same teacher would like to support her daughter’s desire to attend college. In order to do this, this veteran teacher needs to work a second job on weekends. This is after being in the profession for more than twenty years. Is this the message that we want to convey from Maine to the rest of the country?

Almost every day in the paper, we read about the Maine “brain drain.” Qualified, smart, educated new graduates are leaving their home state for better pay in other parts of the country. Why do we imagine that new graduates will want to settle for a $20,000 starting salary when their friends with computer science degrees are starting at twice that amount? Where are our priorities?

Sen. Elizabeth Mitchell of Kennebec County is sponsoring LD 1381, “An Act to Update Teachers’ Minimum Salaries.” Initiated during the last session, this bill was referred to the Educational and Cultural Affairs Committee and has sat in committee for almost one year, with no discussion or hearing scheduled. The beauty of LD 1381 is that it enjoys the support of both Democrats and Republican Legislators, including Gov. Baldacci. This only makes sense. How could education be anything but nonpartisan?

We congratulate those school districts in Hancock and Penobscot County who have recently voted to recognize teachers’ efforts by an increase in pay. Sadly, teaching salaries throughout Maine are not consistent, which only widens the gap between the northern and southern areas of the state.

Every teacher should have a starting salary that is competitive with other professions in Maine and their professional counterparts in other states. In Maine, we value our “hard work ethic.”

Teachers provide an example of this work ethic. We need to value their contribution to society. We need to empower teachers just as they empower our youth and children with the tools to become successful in life. Please, give our teachers the much-needed boost that they deserve. Urge your representatives to vote yes on LD 1381!

Jane Freeman, Roz Kreilkamp and Mary-Ann Williams are graduate students at The School of Social Work at the University of Maine.