TEACHERS ARE PERFORMING: NOW PAY THEM!
Nebraska students rank 5th nationally in academic achievement —
thanks to our quality teachers
Lincoln, Jan. 12, 2001 — The state must step to the plate this legislative session to provide state funds for increasing teacher pay or our students will suffer, according to the president of the Nebraska State Education Association. Nebraska ranks 44th in the nation in average salary for K-12 teachers, but is consistently ranked in the Top 10 in all measures of student academic achievement, with the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council ranking the Cornhusker State 5th in overall student achievement.
"The report card is in. Nebraska teachers are performing and performing well. It is time we paid them a competitive wage," said Duane Obermier, NSEA president. "We are losing our quality teachers to other states and professions that pay more. That means our students will suffer."
Obermier was reacting to Gov. Mike Johanns' State of the State Address, in which the Governor said he did not support the Teacher Salary Task Force recommendation for Teacher Incentive Pay. The plan would pay teachers an additional $2,000 to $5,000 annually, depending on professional development as measured through additional colleges courses, degrees and years of teaching experience.
"The Teacher Incentive Pay is the key recommendation of the Task Force," Obermier said. "To ignore or dismiss that recommendation misses the core of the problem: We must move toward more competitive teacher salaries if we are to recruit and retain the best and the brightest to the teaching profession and classrooms in Nebraska."
Obermier said he appreciates the Governor's support for three of the Task Force recommendations: loan forgiveness, National Board Certification bonuses and funding for mentoring programs.
"But the Governor's solution is like trying to drive a golf ball with a putter. It simply is not enough," Obermier said. "Teachers are leaving our state and the profession. Remember that a 20-member Task Force gathered and studied data on the teacher shortage and teacher salary issue and took hours and hours of testimony from Nebraskans across the state. That data and testimony convinced the Task Force to make significant recommendations around increasing teacher pay to
a competitive level. Those recommendations should not be summarily dismissed, but rather seriously considered, and we believe, adopted."
Obermier also noted that the recommendations include a performance pay component, and that the NSEA supports that recommendation.
"The Governor talks about ‘raising the bar,'" Obermier said. "If he is referring to student achievement, I would remind him that Nebraska students are already in the Top 10. But we are in the Bottom 10 in teacher salaries. That is the bar that must be raised."
Obermier said that Nebraska has some of the most rigorous and high standards in the nation for those wanting to be teachers. "That is one reason so many states are recruiting our teacher college grads," he said. "We train top-quality teachers at our colleges and universities, then refuse to pay them a wage that will keep them in Nebraska!"
Obermier said strong public support for the teacher pay plan will help keep lawmakers and the Governor focused on solving the problem this session.
"The public understands that teachers are the heart of education — and the public supports increasing teacher pay. Both an Omaha World Herald poll and a survey commissioned by the NSEA shows more than 75 percent of those asked support a pay hike for teachers.
"And let there be no doubt, the 25,000 members of the NSEA, the teachers of my grandchildren, your children and your grandchildren, will continue to make our voices heard because we care about children and quality education in this state."
