ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 24, 1997 TAG: 9702240077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
The state and regional teachers of the year said they appreciate the General Assembly's decision to give teachers a 4 percent raise after years of paltry pay increases that fell short of inflation.
The Virginia Education Association's top priority for the 1997 General Assembly was to increase state funding for teachers, and top teachers said news of the success will help with teacher recruitment.
But the teachers of the year in Virginia said they rarely think about their salaries and believe few people in their profession leave for better-paying jobs.
``I don't know too many teachers we actually have lost because they are underpaid,'' said Dan Kent, a social studies instructor at Loudoun County High School who is the regional and the state teacher of the year. ``I wouldn't trade my job for anything, and most teachers would tell you that.''
Once in a while, at the end of a particularly long and tiring day in school, Gwen Sibert imagines what life would have been like if she had chosen to be a corporate chemist rather than a chemistry teacher.
She'd be making about $68,000 a year rather than $40,000 as a teacher with a master's degree and 28 years of classroom experience. She would take less work home at night and have more weekends off.
``Sometimes I wonder, I really wonder,'' she said during a break at Roanoke Valley Governor's School for Science and Technology.
But she always gets back to the reason for her career path: ``I just like the kids.''
Kent came to the capitol to be honored with a resolution Wednesday, the same day the General Assembly's budget conferees agreed on the pay raise that will cost the state $19.6 million.
As usual, he was thinking about his students in the audience.
``The kids were excited, and that makes it more rewarding,'' Kent said.
But Kent said it's difficult for college students to imagine the intangible rewards when they are considering whether to enter the teaching profession.
``Until you work in the classroom, you don't understand that joy,'' Kent said. ``I have problems with people entering the profession because of the money, but the monetary incentive is one of the few incentives we have.''
During the next six years, Kent said, there will be a surge in the number of teachers reaching retirement age in Virginia.
``We could see almost a 50 percent turnover,'' he said. ``We must attract more teachers, or we're going to be in sorry shape.''
On average, teachers in Virginia are paid $24,774 to start, $28,237 if they have taught 10 years and $30,811 if they have taught 15 years.
Teachers had been slated to get 2 percent raises in the second year of the 1996-98 budget. But in budget amendments adopted over the weekend, the General Assembly decided to use $19.6 million of the $300 million surplus to double teacher raises as of Jan.1.
Since 1990, the gap between the national and state pay averages has widened. Virginia teachers have fallen from 18th to 26th in the pay rankings. When inflation is considered, Virginia teachers are making 7.6 percent less now than at the beginning of the decade because salary increases have not kept up with the cost of living.
There also have been steady increases in the costs of medical insurance and the costs of taking college courses that are required to keep them up to date in their field of study.
Faye Rollings-Carter, a German teacher at Midlothian High School, said teachers also have to act as nurses and security officers from time to time. ``Job requirements have increased rapidly, and the pay has not,'' she said.
Some of the regional teachers of the year said the 4 percent pay raise is insignificant.
But Sally Moorer, a second-grade teacher at Marion Primary School, said the pay issue has helped draw their community together. There are more business professionals and other volunteers coming to the Marion school system to help out, she said. ``Over the last couple of years, our community support and involvement has blossomed.''
Other top teachers, however, said the pay increase is an important step.
``We often have more contact with an individual child than parents do, on an hourly basis,'' Rollings-Carter said. ``If we are that important to young people, it should be very important to have the best people. You've got to pay for what you want.''
Michelle Guy, who will make about $26,000 in her 10th year at Tabb Middle School in Yorktown, said the state funding increase for teacher pay is overdue.
``Teachers are in education for the love of children,'' she said, ``but it's certainly nice to be compensated for your hard work.''
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB