A Welcome Back for Teachers: Big Raises

Hundreds of teachers in at least 10 Orange County school districts are getting double-digit raises this year, thanks to new cash from the state and a growing teacher shortage that is forcing districts to fight for qualified instructors.

The raises handed out in Orange County mirror a trend across California, but teachers here are seeing particularly large increases, said Dale Martin, a spokeswoman for the California Teachers’ Assn.

The reason for the raises is simple. This year, the state gave the largest cost-of-living increase to school districts in more than 15 years and encouraged them to pass the money on to teachers to compensate for the smaller pay increases of the recessionary 1990s. Those hovered at 1% to 3% in most districts and some teachers even received pay cuts.

Many superintendents also say they have an added incentive to give out such raises. Without them, it will be impossible to find qualified teachers because of a statewide shortage that is expected to worsen.

More than a third of Orange County’s 27 districts have already handed out raises of 10% or more, compared with three in Riverside and San Bernardino counties and four in Los Angeles County. The massive Los Angeles Unified School District has not yet settled its contract with teachers, but the district has offered a package they say amounts to a 20% increase over three years.

Because many districts, such as Saddleback Unified and Orange Unified, are still in contract negotiations, union officials say they expect that more Orange County districts will jump on the double-digit bandwagon.

“Like any job market, you’d better pay as much or better than others, otherwise you lose your best people,” said Peter Hartman, superintendent of Saddleback Unified School District. Hartman said he is working to find a way to match raises given in other districts. Teachers in Saddleback start at about $34,000, lower than in many county districts.

Maureen Dougherty, 34, a 10-year veteran at Jefferson Elementary in Santa Ana whose salary jumped from $48,000 to $55,000, said this year’s raise means she will finally be able to buy a house. Dougherty used to moonlight as a clerk in a sporting goods store on weekends to pay for graduate courses. She had to give it up because she found her schedule was too exhausting.

Teachers at her school don’t get their first paycheck until the end of the month, but Dougherty said she is looking forward to opening that envelope: “I’m going to be really happy.”

An attempt to hold on to good teachers is part of what prompted officials in the Anaheim City School District to give teachers a 10% raise this year, said Ann Beavers, assistant superintendent for Human Resources.

Beavers said Anaheim officials noticed in August that many districts in Orange County already had awarded raises of more than 10% because teachers’ unions had “pass through” clauses in their contracts entitling them to the cost-of-living increase.

“We were afraid of losing teachers,” Beavers said. To keep up, Anaheim will boost salaries for first-year, credentialed teachers to $40,310, a $4,000 increase over last year and one of the highest in the county. A teacher with 10 years experience can earn up to $68,724.

Anaheim was able to pay for raises out of the state’s cost-of-living increase, and still maintain a 5% budget reserve.

But Beavers said other programs, such as special education and libraries, did not see big increases this year. With districts putting most of the extra money into raises, improving those programs will have to wait.

Other districts, such as Newport-Mesa, which awarded a 9% increase this year, had to make cuts in programs to pay for raises, but believed it was necessary to keep salaries competitive, said Mike Fine, assistant superintendent for business services.

“You can’t fix a problem as serious as teachers’ salaries all in one year,” said Frank Wells, executive director of the Santa Ana Educators Assn. Santa Ana teachers received a 12.4% raise this year, the highest in the county so far. “But this has done a lot to build morale. This increase is far greater than anything I’ve ever seen.”