State Wants Minimal Salaries for Teachers...

If you are a superintendent of one of our local school districts, Springfield is probably a dirty word.

Now lawmakers want a minimum salary of $40-thousand dollars a year for teachers. There’s nobody paying a 40K base salary to incoming teachers in Wayne County now, as far as I can tell. Insiders say the bill will become law.

Proponents of the minimum salary for teachers think it will drive more people into education.  It probably will. This measure follows the increase of the minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour a few months ago. So everybody working at the school will get be getting raises. To be clear, both minimum wage measures are going to be phased in.

As always, mandates from Springfield are unfunded.  And, as always, the northern part of the state has a different financial reality than those of us south of Springfield. This legislation will either force higher property taxes or necessitate layoffs, cut programs or increase classroom sizes.  It might also be a way to drive consolidation.

So let me take a moment to say that generally I believe educators are underpaid., Their jobs are vital and they deserve our respect. But, I think these matters should be handled by the people we elect to represent us on local school boards. They know best

If a rookie teacher must make $40-thouand, everybody else along the seniority chart will get a commensurate bump.

….Which is probably not a problem in Joliet. It probably is in Geff.