Higher Funding Makes District Salaries More Competitive
Excitement among the district community as teacher and select staff pay increases in the 2023-24 school year.
By Riyana Siva
Excitement among the district community as teacher and select staff pay increases in the 2023-24 school year.
By Riyana Siva
In January, second-year English teacher Stephanie Harvey purchased a two-bedroom condominium, closer to Pioneer than her last residence. Including homeowners association dues and other fees, her monthly payments are approximately $4,500.
Four months later, she was excited to learn that she would be able to make her payments easier every month thanks to a significant raise agreed upon between the San José Unified School District and the San José Teachers Association, the union that represents over 1,500 SJUSD employees. With the increase, the base salary for new teachers increases from $59,149 to $69,535.
“I never saw actually (owning a home) happening for a long long time around here but our mortgage is a major step up from our rent and so now with this increase we can live in a better place for ourselves and actually sustain that and so I think we will be able to live a little bit more comfortably now,” Harvey said.
Between April 20-27, SJTA members voted to approve the raise, as part of a new Salary Formula Allocation Agreement. Of the 967 votes cast, 948 voted to approve the agreement.
Over the past decade, the average salary has increased by 42.7% and the starting teacher salary has increased by 44.9%.The salary increase applies to teachers, nurses, counselors, speech language pathologists, psychologists, instructional coaches and other certified employees of the district.
This three year salary contract is run through a salary formula every year by the district and SJTA. The salary formula looks at the revenue the district has and the amount of it that is dedicated to various needs, including employee compensation.
SJTA site representative and English teacher Ryan Alpers said the increase in pay is tied to the district becoming a “basic aid district,” meaning the funding is provided by local property taxes, which have been rising as student populations have dropped.
Harvey feels this increase helps SJUSD keep up with other local school districts. In comparison, the base salary for a new teacher in nearby the East Side Union High School District is just over $67,000.
“I think it is important for people to see that San José Unified is now kind of catching up to our surrounding other districts nearby, and we are trying to stay competitive with other districts, and I think it will be attractive to a lot of people incoming from either out of state or even just moving from district to district. I hope it continues and keeps turning upwards because inflation is only going to keep going,” said Harvey.
For other teachers the raise is going towards helping support their families through education.
“For me that raise translates into about four or five hundred dollars a month more in my paycheck, which is good because I have two children and one of them is in preschool and the preschool costs about $2,000 a month,” said Alpers.
Physics teacher and SJTA site representative Trevor Davis recognizes that although this is a step forward, teachers are still underpaid.
“A lot of those wealthy districts where teachers get paid significantly more, they have issues with even more anxiety and pressure on students than we have here,” said Davis. “But we have other challenges like working with low income students is a challenge, working with English learners is a challenge which they don’t have as much of in those wealthy districts.”
SJTA president Patrick Bernhardt sees that the teachers' salary increase is still too low for the cost of living in San Jose.
“(Salaries) have not been increasing as much as the cost of living in the rate of inflation, also teachers are generally having to take second jobs or third jobs in many cases, which is not the way it was when I became a teacher 20 years ago,” said Bernhardt.
Although this raise isn’t an extravagant amount, English teacher Andrew Kosel-Castañeda finds that the increase will be helpful and is a step in the right direction for this district.
“I think (the salary is) helping me save and possibly get a house around here or a condo,” said Kosel-Castañeda. “I wouldn't say that I can buy a mansion or anything but it definitely will help me in finding a bigger place where I can better support a family and myself.”
Four months later, she was excited to learn that she would be able to make her payments easier every month thanks to a significant raise agreed upon between the San José Unified School District and the San José Teachers Association, the union that represents over 1,500 SJUSD employees. With the increase, the base salary for new teachers increases from $59,149 to $69,535.
“I never saw actually (owning a home) happening for a long long time around here but our mortgage is a major step up from our rent and so now with this increase we can live in a better place for ourselves and actually sustain that and so I think we will be able to live a little bit more comfortably now,” Harvey said.
Between April 20-27, SJTA members voted to approve the raise, as part of a new Salary Formula Allocation Agreement. Of the 967 votes cast, 948 voted to approve the agreement.
Over the past decade, the average salary has increased by 42.7% and the starting teacher salary has increased by 44.9%.The salary increase applies to teachers, nurses, counselors, speech language pathologists, psychologists, instructional coaches and other certified employees of the district.
This three year salary contract is run through a salary formula every year by the district and SJTA. The salary formula looks at the revenue the district has and the amount of it that is dedicated to various needs, including employee compensation.
SJTA site representative and English teacher Ryan Alpers said the increase in pay is tied to the district becoming a “basic aid district,” meaning the funding is provided by local property taxes, which have been rising as student populations have dropped.
Harvey feels this increase helps SJUSD keep up with other local school districts. In comparison, the base salary for a new teacher in nearby the East Side Union High School District is just over $67,000.
“I think it is important for people to see that San José Unified is now kind of catching up to our surrounding other districts nearby, and we are trying to stay competitive with other districts, and I think it will be attractive to a lot of people incoming from either out of state or even just moving from district to district. I hope it continues and keeps turning upwards because inflation is only going to keep going,” said Harvey.
For other teachers the raise is going towards helping support their families through education.
“For me that raise translates into about four or five hundred dollars a month more in my paycheck, which is good because I have two children and one of them is in preschool and the preschool costs about $2,000 a month,” said Alpers.
Physics teacher and SJTA site representative Trevor Davis recognizes that although this is a step forward, teachers are still underpaid.
“A lot of those wealthy districts where teachers get paid significantly more, they have issues with even more anxiety and pressure on students than we have here,” said Davis. “But we have other challenges like working with low income students is a challenge, working with English learners is a challenge which they don’t have as much of in those wealthy districts.”
SJTA president Patrick Bernhardt sees that the teachers' salary increase is still too low for the cost of living in San Jose.
“(Salaries) have not been increasing as much as the cost of living in the rate of inflation, also teachers are generally having to take second jobs or third jobs in many cases, which is not the way it was when I became a teacher 20 years ago,” said Bernhardt.
Although this raise isn’t an extravagant amount, English teacher Andrew Kosel-Castañeda finds that the increase will be helpful and is a step in the right direction for this district.
“I think (the salary is) helping me save and possibly get a house around here or a condo,” said Kosel-Castañeda. “I wouldn't say that I can buy a mansion or anything but it definitely will help me in finding a bigger place where I can better support a family and myself.”