Utah Schools Slash Teacher Benefits

By Amy Seigel, 3-20-06

Tell me again why we can’t recruit or keep qualified teachers in our public school? Oh yes, now I remember. It has something to do with low salaries, the rigorous demands of No Child Left Behind, and things like this.

The Deseret News reports that new state accounting standards are forcing school districts to make changes to employee benefits to insure that the districts will have enough money to go around when it comes time to pay up. For districts whose obligations exceed their revenues, these new standards will lead to big changes in post-retirement benefits. Under the new plan, guaranteed benefits of six years paid insurance will be replaced with cash payments in today’s dollars, along with a 3.06 percent reduction in overall benefits for every year less than 25 spent teaching in the district.

For Steve Bickmore, a 25-year veteran of the Jordan School District, these changes mean finding an alternate place to conclude his career as an English teacher. Other teachers, like Bickmore, who may have viewed these post-retirement benefit packages as some consolation for the district’s exceptionally low pay scale (Utah ranks 38th in the nation for average teacher salary, and 42nd in the nation for average beginning teacher salary), will now be forced to reexamine whether the altruistic benefits of teaching are sufficient compensation for meager wages and continually dwindling benefits. According to the Deseret News, some 733 teachers are expected to retire this year in order to preserve their current insurance benefits, and it seems likely that the district will face an uphill battle in trying to recruit new, equally well-qualified teachers to replace them.

Of course, none of this should be remotely surprising considering that Utah ranks lowest (50th out of 50) in per pupil revenue raised for public education, as well as per pupil spending on public education. And although Utah once ranked near the top of the nation in student achievement, it seems absurd to assume that this trend can continue in the face of such disregard for the cost of good education. In fact, Utah is one of only two states to show a discouraging trend in SAT verbal and math scores over a 10-year period. From 1994 to 2004, both math and verbal SAT scores in Utah dropped 17 points; Montana, the only other state with a 10-year downward trend, had only a 3-point change. In every other state, SAT scores increased over that 10 year period, in some cases by as much as 36 points. Clearly, there are multiple factors involved here, and SAT scores are by no means the best or only way to measure student achievement, but for a state that prides itself on the quality of its public education, these trends should be disturbing, even downright embarrassing. But with per pupil spending at an all-time low, it seems unlikely that Utah will see change in these trends anytime soon.

This reluctance to spend money, even in a year of budget surplus, is further indicated by the statistics surrounding professional development for teachers. Only 18% of Utah teachers receive high quality professional development—a number that places Utah near the bottom of the list once again (only Hawaii and North Dakota reported lower percentages).

And while some Utah school districts may take the advice of the Utah Education Association and take their time in making changes to their existing retirement systems, the current upheaval in Jordan is a sure sign of things to come. The bottom line is that if we want good teachers for our children, we should consider making whatever sacrifices are necessary in other areas and paying them a fair wage, or at the very least, not pulling a bait and switch with their retirement benefits. It is unconscionable that a state with a $1 billion dollar budget surplus should be looking to cut costs at the level of teacher benefits. Like everything else in the world, if you want something good, you generally have to pay for it—why should education be any different? If we want these disturbing trends and unflattering statistics to change, it might be a good idea to consider making changes that will bring more qualified teachers into the Utah public school system, not send them running.
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