Union Claims Experienced Teachers Make Less Than $30K; They Don't
Benton Harbor teacher pay below average, but apparently not low enough for union rhetoric
An article in the magazine of the state’s largest teachers union holds up the troubled Benton Harbor school district to illustrate its claims that Republicans in the state Capitol have not spent enough on public schools. Also, that emergency managers appointed by the state to rescue this and other fiscally failed school districts have been ineffective.
The article in the Michigan Education Association’s monthly publication Voice claimed, “A teacher who started in the district 10 years ago still makes beginners’ pay of less than $30,000 a year. …”
ForTheRecord says: Michigan Capitol Confidential obtained teacher pay records from Benton Harbor Area Schools in a Freedom of Information Act request. The lowest annual salary listed in the documents covering the district’s 106 teachers was $34,000 a year in 2015-16.
The average teacher salary in the district was $43,473 in 2014-15, the latest year salary information is available from the state. That’s far below the state average of $61,978.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
Flint teachers skip school as student proficiency hits single digits
Michigan Teacher Shortage Turns 102 Years Old
More Teachers, Fewer Students, But Teacher Shortage Story