EDITORIAL – Pa. needs to respect its educators, with cash

Western Pennsylvania teachers are getting shortchanged, at least in comparison with… Western Pennsylvania teachers are getting shortchanged, at least in comparison with superintendents.

A study conducted by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review of 93 school districts in six counties showed that in the past five years, while teachers received an average of 7.1 percent pay increase, superintendents received almost twice that, with pay increases averaging at 14 percent.

This is slightly behind statewide average pay raises, which were an average of 8.9 percent for teachers and 14.7 for superintendents. And, for teachers, it’s below the cost of living increase in Pittsburgh, which was 9 percent.

There’s no question that these jobs are hard. Teaching requires being in close confines with restless children and hormone-charged teens, and trying to impart knowledge that many of them are unwilling to accept. Superintending involves dealing with teachers, parents and mind-numbing bureaucracy. (Though some supers might need a reality check. The Associated Press had a tidbit from a retired Pennsylvania superintendent complaining about waking up at 4 a.m. for a snow watch. Not to impugn this noble effort– it’s been a while since most college students have seen that side of 4 a.m. — but don’t most teachers wake up that early every day?)

And, of course, that wonderfully underfunded piece of educational legislation, the No Child Left Behind Act, made everyone’s job that much harder.

In terms of educational quality, Pennsylvania makes a solid C, according to Education Week. And while our national rankings are in the top 10 in teacher pay and a Smart State analysis conducted by Morgan Quitno Press, a research firm, we’re in the bottom 10 in terms of disparities between how much our richest and poorest schools get in state and local revenues.

Rather than argue the merits of increasing salaries attracting qualified superintendents, who will then fix ailing districts, or increasing teacher salaries attracting better teachers to fix schools, why not link teacher and superintendent salaries?

Shaler Area already does this. If we adopted this system, rather than rewarding supers of failing districts, we’d link their salaries to those of the teachers. Many companies set their CEOs’ salaries as a function of their lowest-paid workers. Doing the same for teachers and superintendents would insure that teachers were being paid their due, enticing more people into the profession.

There’s a shortage of qualified, enthusiastic teachers and superintendents nationwide. Rather than trying to steal other professionals with salary increases, why not treat educators, as a profession, with more respect?