Study: Teacher pay competitive in many parts of state

OLYMPIA — Teachers are among the best-paid college-educated workers in many parts of Washington, but educators in the Kennewick, Bremerton and Seattle labor markets are not keeping up with people in other occupations, a new analysis of Washington wages shows.

The analysis was presented Monday to a task force formed by the Legislature to figure out how to improve the way the state pays for education. Teacher salaries are the biggest total expense for K-12 schools.

One idea floating around the Legislature would set teacher salaries according to the geographic location where educators work. The state currently has a statewide salary schedule, but the Legislature lets school districts raise extra money for teachers' non-classroom time through local levies.

The report was presented by Lori L. Taylor, an assistant professor at Texas A&M University who has done similar research for the National Center for Education Statistics. It found that some Washington districts that pay teachers the most are still not competitive with other professions' salaries.

For example, the districts in and around Seattle pay the highest teacher salaries, but other people with college degrees also get paid more in Seattle, Bellevue and Everett. School districts feel they have to offer better teacher salaries to keep qualified teachers from leaving the profession to take better-paying jobs at employers such as Microsoft or Boeing.

The same holds true in Bremerton and the Kennewick metropolitan area, which includes Richland. That is because professional jobs for the federal government near Hanford and Bremerton pay better than an average teacher's salary, and because Bremerton is also just a ferry ride away from the best-paying school districts in the Seattle metropolitan area.

The difference in wages for college graduates from the most expensive labor market — Seattle — to the least expensive labor markets in rural Eastern Washington is nearly 28 percent.

Across the state, the average teacher's salary was about $54,000 in 2007. The average salary for other college graduates was $67,257.

But teachers work only an average of 10 months a year, so the report translates the average salary for other workers to a 10-month equivalent so they can compare apples to apples. If other college-educated workers worked the same 10-month schedule, their salaries would average $56,048, which is closer to the teacher average of $54,000.

Taylor found an even greater difference between math-and science-teacher salaries and pay for people who work in math or science fields — $54,568 vs. $76,199. This disparity is seen across the state but is especially acute in Western Washington and the Tri-Cities area.

Salaries for classified staff — teacher aides, school nurses, librarians, etc. — do not follow a geographic pattern but do fall behind comparable salaries for high-school graduates, the report said.

State Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, said Taylor's report was just what lawmakers needed to move toward geographic pay for teachers.

"It's going to be a difficult discussion," Hunter said, but he expressed confidence that the Legislature would be able to make the transition in the end.

The state teachers union supports the idea of regional salaries based on costs of living, Mary Lindquist, president of the Washington Education Association, said last week.