MAC: How Teachers’ Salaries Increased

Did you know …

According to the Massachusetts Department of Education, the average teacher in Massachusetts earned $72,176 in 2013. Last year, Canton teachers averaged $74,259, which ranks only 102 highest in the state. The highest average salaries in Massachusetts are at Concord-Carlisle at $95,947, followed by Lincoln-Sudbury at $94,087, Sherborn at $91,848, Dover at $89,600, and Wayland at $89,009. On the south shore, Scituate tops the list at $83,744, followed by Milton at $79,176, Blue Hills at $79,174, and Silver Lake at $77,234. Canton’s neighboring town of Sharon is at $75,387; Stoughton is at $73,683, and Randolph is at $69,425.

So teachers do pretty well in Massachusetts. Being educated instructors, they learned early on how to get raises — first by reviewing what other cities and towns in the area pay their teachers and then creating a list that places their pay at or near the bottom. Then they use that list to show how underpaid they are and how they deserve an increase to place them near the top of the list.

Of course, the school committees also use that same list to justify the raises they generously have given the teachers over the years. The towns could also call other cities and towns and create their own, separate list placing the particular town at the top of the list and use it as a bargaining chip to give smaller raises. It is apparent, judging by the average state salary of $72,176, that individual school committees probably never bothered to create or use such a second list; and in the end, they give in to the wage demands of the union to avoid labor chaos. Now the teachers, who for years were underpaid, are at the high end of the scale and doing very well. To be fair, the same can also be said of all the other town employees’ unions — police, fire, DPW, etc.

It has been said by many that an added incentive to become a teacher is July and August. Many, if not most, teachers work less than 180 days a year; but on the other hand, teachers today have increased pressure from the high stakes MCAS exams and demands on teachers that have nothing to do with academic curriculum, such as bullying prevention or other non-schooling issues. MAC agrees that the majority of teachers deserve a good, living wage, but our teachers are not underpaid.