Utah teacher salaries

How often have you heard that Utah's public school teachers get paid less than their peers in almost every other state? That has been repeated so often that many people accept its truth without questioning. But it isn't true.

The Utah Foundation, a non-partisan research group, issued a report last week that laid out, in dry facts and figures, the truth about teacher salaries. Utah ranks in the middle of the pack among the Mountain States with which it typically has to compete for workers.

The foundation compared the salary levels of teachers with similar years of experience and education. Because Utah's workforce skews young, this provides a much more realistic view of the situation. Beginning teachers in Utah earned a base salary of $30,100 in 2007-08, which tied with Colorado for the second lowest in the region. Montana came in dead last at $24,700. At the top end of the scale, Utah's highest paid teachers averaged $48,400 per year, which was sixth in the region. Utah ranked fifth in the region in terms of teachers with bachelor's degrees with 10 years of experience.

The report contains a wealth of information, some encouraging and some concerning. The national trend has been to increase the pay of beginning teachers more than experienced ones, and Utah is no exception. This is evidence of how public officials seem more concerned about recruiting young people to the profession than about retaining them. But more than half the districts in Utah offer incentive pay to teach in fields where a shortage exists, and many Utah districts offer extra pay for earning various certifications or acquiring extra training. A sampling of eight districts in the region found Salt Lake City School District with the highest beginning salaries, far ahead of last-place Boise.

In short, teacher salary comparisons are complicated matters, but Utah is far from offering the least pay in the nation. The state is not at a distinct disadvantage when competing for new teachers among other Mountain states. It could, however, stand to offer more to those with the highest levels of training and experience.

Even with this better-than-expected report, it must be noted that teaching does not rank among the highest-paid professions available to young students seeking a career — neither in Utah nor anywhere else. That fact will continue to spark debates as it has for many decades. A big part of the reason, however, has to do with the lack of much meaningful competition within states. The more equal choices consumers have for a product, the more the providers of that product will compete to higher the best people. For too many years, public school teachers have been hemmed in by a monopolistic structure and by union rules that treat all teachers the same, discouraging better pay for merit.

The trend nationally seems to be moving away from that structure, which ultimately will be good for public school salaries.