By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
HB5/SB1 is the Public Education Changes bills that will provide New Mexico teachers with a small pay raise of about $4,000 per year for level one teachers. The bill was approved by the house with a 53-14 vote and a 37-0 vote in the Senate followed by the House concurring with the Senate amendments. It will now move on to the governor’s desk for her signature.
According to the bill a level one teacher will have a starting salary of $40,000 for a nine and one-half month contract. A level one teacher will be eligible for a level two classification after three years depending on their evaluation, otherwise the teacher will be required to remain at level one until they have taught for five years at which time if their evaluation is not satisfactory, they can be terminated. If the evaluations are good then they can move on to level two licensure.
A level two teacher who meets the essential competency required for that level will see a salary bump to $50,000 for a nine and one-half month contract. A teacher can be granted a level three licensure after three years as a level two teacher provided, they hold a post baccalaureate degree or national board for professional teaching standards certificate, as well as meeting other requirements for the higher level. The salary for a level three teacher will be $60,000 for a nine and one-half month contract.
Trinidad Public Schools start their level one teachers at a salary of $33,569 and advance their salary by just over $700 a year for each year of service while the Raton schools currently start their level one teachers out at $36,899 and advance their salary by $1.00 for each year of service according to school district’s approved salary schedule. The Amarillo Texas School District starts their first-year teachers out at $48,306 and increase their salary by $295 the first year with a graduated scale after that.
Raton Schools teacher’s contracts are based on a 183 work days per year with 174 days of that being instructional days. A level one teacher currently has a gross pay of $201.64 per day and will see that go up to $218.58. Out of that salary comes insurance and taxes, which includes state taxes. The senate and house bills dealing with taxes ended the legislative session in the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee so it is unknown if the state income tax increases proposed could drop that pay raise even more. The other question here is why do teachers pay state income tax when their salaries come from state income taxes paid by themselves and other state residents.
While this pay raise looks good many teachers will use their own money to purchase supplies for their classroom. They will also spend countless hours after school grading papers or preparing class work for one of their classes the next day, which doesn’t get calculated in that salary. Professional development, continuing education or other training that may be required during the summer is also not included in that salary.
The answer to the question, is it enough, will vary with each teacher as they wonder, is it worth it? When they look at some of the students that they deal with, the lack of discipline, the I don’t care from some students, the drama of teenagers or dealing with problems from home, and how to engage students who only want to play on their phones, is it really enough?
