Schools in crisis

For kids’ sake, pay teachers more

Arkansas is falling further behind. Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, and Mississippi now all have higher starting salaries for educators. Ask yourself: If you could get nearly $10,000 more a year for the same job, would you move? Or would you give up the profession altogether?

Make no mistake, hundreds of Arkansas educators are asking themselves those same questions. I’m a public school teacher entering my 19th year in the classroom next month.

I have seen so many of my colleagues, ones with such talent and promise, ones that students adored, leave the profession because they could make more money doing something else.

This is happening in every school district in the state. A school in the Delta just went to four days a week because they don’t have enough teachers to fill their classrooms.

We start our teachers out at $36,000 a year—the lowest in the entire South. This salary is at or below the poverty line for some, meaning that if the educator has a child in school, they qualify for free or reduced lunch.

And sadly, this isn’t unique to just teachers—we underpay nearly all employees in the school ecosystem. Our bus drivers can make more as truckers, our cafeteria workers could make more at restaurants, and our custodial staff could make more in private industry. These are the people that are responsible for getting our students to school safely, for ensuring that our students have food to eat, and for cleaning our facilities (something covid-19 reminded us was vital to staying open). In our state, these professions pay so little that the workers qualify for federal assistance.

So one way or another, we are spending public money to make ends meet.

We have the money to pay educators and staff regionally competitive wages. It’s a lie to say we don’t. After all, our legislators seem to have no issue raising their pay session after session (they currently make $42,428 a year, plus $55 per diems for their part-time work).

Why would the people we place in charge of our children deserve any less than a part-time lawmaker? I can’t accept that “our hands are tied” or the “votes aren’t there” when it comes to raising educator pay—and neither should you.

Our children need more than cowardice from our governor and the lawmakers who remain unwilling to even take a stand on this issue. This is their job: to spend our tax dollars on the areas with the greatest public need. We know the issue. Our education system is underfunded and short-staffed, and we know the solution: Use our historic $1.6 billion surplus to raise our educator pay.

Last week the Legislature did move on this issue. However, it deserves no credit for its smoke-and-mirrors approach. Their sole action was to recommend districts use federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to give one-time bonuses to teachers and classified staff. Districts can only do this if the money isn’t already appropriated, and in many cases it has been.

This isn’t a solution; it’s an attempt to save face without taking any profound, lasting action. They are robbing Peter to pay Paul.

When I enter my classroom next month to set up for the school year, there will be things I need that aren’t there, like supplies that I will inevitably buy with my own money. We educators do so for a simple reason: We want the best environment and resources to teach the children of Arkansas.

Our students have lost so much ground due to constant disruptions in their education thanks to the pandemic. We are at a crisis point in our state’s education system, and our children are at risk of falling behind. The governor knows this. It’s why he started this teacher-pay discussion to begin with.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Legislature was so concerned with masks and other regulatory practices in our schools. Yet, here on such a huge issue that affects our students and families more than masks, they are silent and unwilling to act.

Ask yourself why.

I served in Iraq, and I know what public service looks like and what self-service looks like. It’s clear to me that some legislators are unwilling to act in the public good unless they benefit politically.

This argument can be summed up simply: Do you want our state’s students, our next generation of workers and leaders, to have the best learning environment or not?

Arkansas does not have to remain at the bottom of the list for teacher and staff pay or at the bottom of national rankings for education. We have what could be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in our educators—and we would still have over $1 billion left in surplus funds.