THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 7, 1996 TAG: 9601070073
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 126 lines
To pay his bills and raise a son, elementary school teacher Milton Pierce has worked part-time jobs after school and on weekends for most of his 20-year career, including stints as a convenience store clerk.
Pierce, 49, a single parent who last year earned $35,723 teaching third-graders at Crossroads Elementary in Norfolk, says his regular salary just is not enough.
``When you talk about making an $800-a-month home payment, a car payment, keeping food on the table and having a few nice things, it's pretty tough,'' Pierce said.
And things could get tougher, Pierce and other public school teachers across Virginia fear.
Teachers, facing an increasing number of demands and under the gun to improve student achievement, worry they are getting shortchanged in the 1996-98 budget proposed by Gov. George F. Allen.
As the General Assembly prepares to convene Wednesday, teacher salaries are shaping up as one of the session's key education issues.
Under Allen's plan, teachers would not get any state dollars for a pay raise during the first year of his two-year budget. Allen calls for $33.9 million to fund the state's share of a 3 percent salary hike in December 1997. Teachers contend that would average out to less than a 2 percent annual raise because it comes midyear.
``I think it's laughable, because it only will affect six months of this 24-month budget,'' said Gail Cunningham, executive director of the Portsmouth Education Association, an organization representing teachers. ``It's clearly only going to put Virginia lower in its ranking with surrounding states on teacher salaries.''
Officials with the Virginia Education Association said they will seek 5 percent raises during each year of the budget.
Virginia's average teacher salary of $33,753 in 1994-95, according to the National Education Association, was about $3,000 below the national average and ranked 26th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Teachers in the commonwealth actually have lost ground since 1990, when the gap between the state and national average salary was $423, according to figures compiled by the NEA. Over the past six years, teacher raises have hovered at 2 percent and 3 percent in Virginia - barely keeping pace with inflation.
Barbara Messina, 55, an elementary teacher in Portsmouth, said she took a pay cut of about $9,000 when she relocated from New York in 1972. Now Messina, a 29-year veteran with a master's degree, earns about $37,000.
In New York, ranked third in average teacher salaries, a teacher with Messina's experience makes about $60,000, she said.
Teachers often are criticized for seeking more money, but they say many people have no idea what the job entails.
``They stay late, take work home and are constantly doing things to improve the education of their children,'' said Carolyn Williams, a 26-year veteran and Suffolk's teacher of the year last year. ``It seems like more and more demands are being placed on us each year and we are being held accountable for so much more.''
As local education budgets have grown tighter in recent years, more teachers say they are spending their own money for classroom supplies, from staples and paper to books. Messina estimates she will spend about $500 this year.
Teachers say they work more hours than suggested by the 10-month school year or the time spent teaching classes. Messina arrives at school by 7:30 a.m. and rarely gets home before 5 or 6 p.m., she says. Her evenings are often spent on the phone with parents, grading papers or planning for class.
During the summer, Messina spends at least two weeks preparing for the upcoming year - with no pay - and often takes courses to maintain her teaching certificate.
``If we got paid hourly we'd probably be at the minimum wage,'' Messina said. For educators, the pay debate is as much about providing a quality education as it is a pocketbook issue. It's becoming harder to attract the best college graduates into teaching because other careers pay better, they say.
Ultimately, kids lose out.
``Teacher salaries tie in with how we value the education of our children,'' said Vickie Hendley, president of the Virginia Beach Education Association. ``If we want our children to be the best educated population in the world, you want the best and the brightest to be in the teaching profession.''
Pierce, who makes $13 an hour for teaching kids at their homes four afternoons a week, said he wouldn't enter the field if he were just beginning his career.
``The work is hard, it is very demanding and teachers don't feel like they're appreciated,'' he said. ``You don't get the support from home that we need, and kids are harder to discipline. I spend so much time on discipline just so I can be an effective teacher.'' MEMO: SALARY COMPARISONS
In 1989-90, the state's average teacher salary ranked 18th
nationwide. In 1994-95, Virginia's average teacher salary of $33,753
ranked 26th among 50 states and the District of Columbia. Connecticut
was first at $50,045. South Dakota was last at $25,994. The national
average was $36,874.
Average teacher salaries among school districts in Virginia vary
dramatically. In 1993-94, the latest year for which figures are
available, average salaries ranged from a high of $44,759 in Falls
Church to a low of $23,840 in Highland Falls - a difference of more than
$21,000.
In 1993-94, the average pay of teachers working in the five school
districts of South Hampton Roads ranked in the top half of 133 districts
statewide. The state average then was $33,010.
Norfolk, 10th, at $34,635
Chesapeake, 15th, at $33,669
Virginia Beach, 23rd, at $32,841
Portsmouth, 50th, at $$31,042
Suffolk, 51st, at $30,921
Educators argue that many of the brightest college graduates are
choosing more lucrative careers. Below, the average pay for beginning
teachers in Virginia in 1994-95 is compared to other professions:
Computer science: $32,238
Mathematics: $30,531
Management information systems: $29,500
Economics/Finance: $27,827
Accounting: $27,773
Chemistry: $27,580
Marketing: $26,773
Business: $25,998
Teacher: $23,822
Source: National Education Association, Virginia Education
Association, Virginia Department of Education
KEYWORDS: SALARIES VIRGINIA SCHOOLS TEACHERS by CNB