UTAH TEACHERS MISS OUT ON HOLIDAYS, VACATIONS

Provo teacher: "Everyone said the pay was bad, but I didn't realize that you get a wage for 180 days - no holidays, no (paid) vacations. If a teacher is ill or injured for longer than sick days covered, they lose 1/180th of their yearly wage each day. It amounts to being laid off every holiday, every summer."

Ask a teacher what he or she thinks about teachers' salaries and you'll probably hear that they're terrible.That's what the Deseret News was told after asking teachers to rank the seriousness of problems facing Utah education. Utah teachers responded that low teacher salaries, along with large class sizes, were the most serious problems facing the state's educational system.

In the national report of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Utah teachers gave a similar report. When asked if their salaries had increased or decreased in the past five years, more than half - 57 percent - said their salaries were lower and 34 percent said they hadn't changed. Only 10 percent said that they had increased.

Their response put Utah teachers in 49th place, ahead only of West Virginia.

Nationally, 59 percent of teachers said their salaries had increased, 26 percent said no change and 15 percent said they had decreased.

Salt Lake teacher: "I love teaching, but I do need to feed my family. I need a suitable salary. I know of no other field of endeavor where the worker must provide his own ongoing training, prepare on unpaid time and buy so many supplies out of his own pocket."

Is the teacher right? Are we underpaying Utah teachers or are their salaries "good enough?" How does their pay compare to that of other Utah workers?

Given the nature of the nine-month teacher contract and other working conditions, the answer isn't neat and simple, but comparisons are possible.

According to figures supplied by the Utah Education Association, the average Utah teacher's salary is $23,374. The average starting salary is $15,300. This school year will be the third year without a pay raise for most Utah teachers.

Only one district - Millard - agreed to give teachers a significant pay boost. Their new contract calls for a 4.5 percent increase, but under the terms of the contract 2.5 percent of that will be taken away if the tax-limitation measures pass.

The average teacher salary is based on an average 184-day contract and does not include extra pay for the five to six career-ladder days outside of the basic contract, athletic stipends, extended-day contracts or year-round contracts.