That report also shows that the cost of living adjustments to which the School Committee and the teachers association have agreed in recent years are the lowest among our peers. In fact, the average cost of living increase our teachers have received since Fiscal Year 2008 is 1.46%.
If Shrewsbury were overpaying its teachers, this would show up in the bottom line. Overall, in FY 2013 Shrewsbury spent $774 less per pupil in the category “classroom and specialist
teachers”, which means that Shrewsbury spent $4.5 million less on teachers than an average Massachusetts district.
Those who suggest that Shrewsbury pays its teachers too much are using the average teacher salary statistic to justify their erroneous conclusion. This is a misuse of that statistic, because using the average does not indicate the actual rate of pay, nor does it show how much teachers are actually paid, individually or in total. For example, in Fiscal Year 2013, Shrewsbury teachers' average salary went up by 3.25%; however, the district made cuts to teaching positions that year, and there were actually 15 fewer teaching positions resulting in Shrewsbury paying almost half a million fewer dollars than the previous year. The average salary increased because almost 20 teachers who retired were not replaced with new teachers earning a lower salary, skewing the average salary higher despite the fact that the district spent more than $450,000 less than the previous year.
So, are teacher salaries sustainable? There is no doubt that teacher salaries are the largest single part of the town's budget, which is mostly due to the fact that educating 6,000-plus students requires a large number of teachers. The reality is that other communities of Shrewsbury’s economic means are able to support an investment in public education that provides reasonable numbers of teachers without having to repeatedly increase their tax levy. The addition of more teachers in Shrewsbury to fix our class size problem is sustainable; for example, the 74.4 full time equivalent staff (most of whom are teachers) who would be added through a supplemental budget in FY15 will cost about $3.74 million to bring on board, but the incremental cost of step and cost of living salary adjustments to keep these staff the following year will only be about $166,000. While it is clear that our district needs to invest in more teachers, the cost of those teachers who will be added under the supplemental budget plan is sustainable.
The graphic at the top of this post demonstrates that Shrewsbury's bottom line cost for teachers is far below the state average, and this will remain the case even if sorely needed additional teachers are hired if the operational override passes on June 3. If someone tries to tell you that teacher salaries in Shrewsbury are too high or unaffordable, you know that the facts say otherwise. Teachers in Shrewsbury are paid reasonably and fairly, and they provide tremendous value to our community.
