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Teacher salaries major piece of school budget |
Salaries and benefits for the
more than 300 teachers in the district represent 78 percent of the
budget
The younger kids are back in school. The older kids, also known as
young adults, graduated from college in June. Some chose to become
teachers. So what does that mean for their wallets? It depends a lot
on their education and how long they will stay in the profession.
More than 78 percent of the Newberg School District general fund is
spent on salaries and benefits, according to the school district. In
dollars that amounts to more than $31.97 million for the 2007-2008
fiscal year.
The district offers seven pay scales, depending on a teacher’s
level of education. Each scale offers a series of steps: 12 for
teachers who hold a bachelor’s degree, 16 for those holding masters
degree with an extra 45 credit hours of training or a bachelor’s
degrees with an extra 120 credit hours of training.
The differing scales and steps are the result of bargaining between
the district and the teacher’s union. Contracts normally run from
one to three years. The current contract has expired and the union
and district are negotiating a new contract while teachers work
under the terms of the previous agreement.
A rookie teacher with a bachelor’s degree earns $31,985; those with
a master’s degree earn $35,182. The maximum a new teacher will earn
is $36,782 if they hold a master’s degree plus 45 credit hours of
training or a bachelor’s degree plus 120 of training.
Meanwhile a teacher starting in McMinnville would be paid $32,100
with a bachelor’s degree, $37,301 if possessing a master’s degree,
and $38,809 with a master’s degree and an additional 45 credit
hours.
Those teachers with bachelor’s degrees top out in Newberg at
$47,696 after 12 years, master degree holders at $58,508 after 15
years, and those with the additional 45 credit hours at $63,425
after 16 years.
McMinnville bachelor’s degree holders top out at $46,468 after 12
years, master’s at $58,505 after 15 years and master’s plus 45 at
63,449 after 16 years.
The district keeps track of employees not as real people, but as
full-time equivalent (FTE). A majority of the FTE in the district,
210.71 out of 286.6, hold master degrees. Of those, more then
one-third have reached the last step on their pay scale.
While holding more advanced degrees mean more income it takes a
while for it to pencil out. One year of graduate studies at Oregon
State University costs approximately $10,500. For a beginning
teacher this means almost four years on the job before the increased
salary adds up to that which they are spending.
This of course does not account for the year of income the
bachelor’s degree holder earned while the master student was in
school. At that point it will take almost 12 years for him or her to
catch up.
What do others make?
Teachers salaries are only part of the income equation. As in any
field, teachers require supervision and those managers have to be
compensated as well.
Newberg High School went from having one principal and three
assistant principals to five principals and no assistants. Assistant
Superintendent Sandra Lawson said that they were able to afford
adding a manager’s position at the high school by not replacing the
physical plant director position. Lawson said that the District
Superintendent Paula Radich, Director of Business Services Claire
Hertz and herself split the duties of the plant supervisor in order
to free funds for the fifth principal.
The district also lowered the pay slightly in the first five steps
of the six-step scale for principals. The principals of Yellow and
Silver schools, Filip Hristic and Carol Campbell, are on step one
and earn $88,601 each. Green school principal Karen Pugsley is on
step two and earns $90,086. Dan Malone, the head of blue school is
on step 4, earning him $95,413. Leading red school and the salary
scale is Rayburn Mitchell on step 5, earning $97,798.
Radich, responsible for a $62 million budget, earns $115,039;
Lawson earns $102,408. |
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From
Sept. 19, 2007, Newberg Graphic
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