This petition advocates for inflation adjusted minimum teacher salary tiers in California. Under this proposal, in tier 1, a 1st year teacher would make a minimum of $70,000 a year. In tier 2, a 3-5th year teacher would make a minimum of $80,000 a year. In tier 3, a more experienced teacher, or a teacher with at least 6 years of experience and a MA, would receive a minimum of $90,000 a year. 

In New Mexico, the Senate recently passed a bill raising minimum teacher salaries statewide. The bill sets 3 minimum salary tiers for teachers. At tier 1, a 1st year teacher will receive a minimum salary of $50,000. At tier 2, a 3-5th year teacher will receive a minimum salary of $60,000. At tier 3, more experienced teachers will receive a minimum salary of $70,000. From what I can gather, a teacher with 6 years of experience and a MA will receive a minimum salary of $70,000 in New Mexico. 

With that in mind, New Mexico is the 12th most affordable state in the United States. To compare, I live in California,  the 3rd most expensive state in the US (or 48th most affordable), and I make approximately $56,000 as a 5th year teacher with a MA degree, which is below New Mexico's 2nd tier. As a thought experiment, if I were to move to Albuquerque next school year my salary would increase by roughly $20,000 a year and my monthly rent would drop by 50%.

I strongly believe that California needs minimum salary tiers to attract talent, reduce attrition, and ensure that every student has access to high quality educators. Prior to the pandemic, there was already a teacher shortage in the United States. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) noted that four out of five schools in the 2015-2016 school year reported vacancies, with 36.2% of schools indicating that it was “very difficult” to fill vacancies, an increase from 19.7% in the 2011-2012 school year. Furthermore, individuals enrolled in teacher preparatory programs dropped by 37.8% in 2015-2016 compared with 2008-2009, signaling short supply in the future.  Amid the stress and toll of teaching in the pandemic, there was a 6.8% drop in teachers from Fall 2019 to Fall 2021 nationally. We're in a full blown teacher shortage nationally. Researchers cited several factors for the teacher shortage in the last decade, with low pay, compared to other professionals with similar education and experience, being one of the top reasons alongside lack of support and school climate. Higher salaries are necessary to retain staff and attract new talent to education.

The teacher wage gap explains a driving factor behind the teacher shortage. The EPI reported in 2015 that “public school teachers’ weekly wages were 17% lower than those of comparable workers - compared with just 1.8% lower in 1994." When adjusting for inflation, researchers found that pay did not increase for teachers at all from 1996-2018, whereas wages for other college graduates in the same timeframe increased by 20%. 

In California, the median teacher salary looks deceptively high compared with other states at $84,531 a year. However, there’s great variance in our state, and this poses an equity problem for students, with the ability for districts to attract and retain educators. As an anecdotal example, in my school district, an area that needs high quality talent given that we’re a majority low income school district with a high EL, migrant, and homeless student population, our salary schedule tops out at $85,473 after 24 years of service. We struggle to retain teachers, with some of our schools turning over 30% of staff a year. It’s incredibly hard to close the opportunity gap with such high attrition.

Given the existing teacher shortage is likely to get worse in California, I’m advocating for minimum, CPI adjusted tiered teacher salaries in our state. Ideally, tier 1 would be $70,000 minimum for a 1st year teacher, tier 2 would be $80,000 minimum for teachers with 3-5 years of experience, and tier 3 would be $90,000 minimum for more experienced teachers, or teachers with 6 years of experience and a MA. The tiers would adjust annually with inflation. This would still put us below New Mexico, given that California has a higher cost of living.

A quality education system is the most important facet of any society. To ensure the future success and livelihood of students and families, it’s imperative that we continue to attract and retain high quality talent in every corner of our state. Minimum teacher salary tiers would help solve our current crisis with our existing teacher shortage. Every single child deserves access to high quality educators and every school needs to be fully staffed for education to function properly.