Did you know teachers are paid less than those who work in other professions requiring similar education and responsibilities. Here in Riverside, as well as across the nation, teachers are underpaid when compared to other professional occupations.

How does teacher pay compare? The following information comes from the National Association of Colleges and Employers:

Accounting: $44,564

Management trainee: $35,811

Teaching: $29,733

Consulting: $49,781

Sales: $37,130

Accounting public: $41,039

Financial Analysis: $45,596

Software design: $53,729

Registered nurse: $38,775

These salaries reflect beginning salaries as averaged over the nation. California salaries are higher in all categories due to the higher cost of living, but the fact remains, teachers are paid less than comparable occupations.

The Economic Policy Institute wrote a report in 2004 on “How Does a Teacher’s Salary Compare?” The major findings of the review and analysis include the following:

Recent research shows that teacher quality is key to student and school success.

A continuing issue is whether teacher pay is sufficient to attract and retain quality teachers: trends in relative teacher pay seem to coincide with trends in teacher quality over the long run.

Several types of analyses show that teachers earn significantly less than comparable workers, and this wage disadvantage has grown considerably over the last 10 years.

A comparison of teachers’ weekly wages to those of other workers with similar education and experience shows that, since 1979 teacher wages relative to those of other similar workers have dropped 13% among women, 12.5% among men, and 11.5% among both combined

A comparison of teachers’ wages to those of workers with comparable skill requirements, including accountants, reporters, registered nurses, computer programmers, clergy, personnel officers, and vocational counselors and inspectors, shows that teachers earned $116 less per week in 2002, a wage disadvantage of 12.2%. Because teachers worked more hours per week, the hourly wage disadvantage was an even larger 14.1%.

Teachers’ weekly wages have grown far more slowly than those for these comparable occupations; teacher wages have deteriorated about 14.8% since 1993 and by 12.0% since 1983 relative to comparable occupations.

The bottom line is, salaries for workers with at least four years of college are now over 50% higher than the average earnings of a teacher.

Low teacher pay comes at a high cost for schools and kids, who lose good teachers to better-paying professions. Some 20 percent of new public school teachers leave the profession by the end of the first year, and almost half leave within five years.. More than a third of teachers (37%) who do not plan to teach until retirement blame low pay. Pay-related turnover is especially high for minorities (50%), males (43%), and teachers under the age of 30 (47%).

Having highly qualified teachers is essential to student success — but who in the future will be lured into a profession with wages that start low and fail to keep pace with comparable careers? Is our District aware of these statistics and are they doing enough to recruit and retain the best teachers for our students? Is a low comparable salary ultimately going to hurt student success?