PORT TOWNSEND — Teacher salaries in the Port Townsend School District must be high enough to provide enough to live within district boundaries and draw teachers from other more affluent districts, speakers told School Board members.
“We just passed a bond issue for millions of dollars where 70 percent of the people said that education was important,” said Doug Ross, a district parent, at Monday night’s meeting.
“It’s hard for me to understand how we can fill the million-dollar schools with great teachers when you don’t have the tools to offer competitive packages.”
About 60 people attended the board meeting, with 15 people advocating increased teacher pay during the public comment segment.
Negotiations concerning teacher compensation are currently in progress and will be complete in time to be included in the 2016-17 budget, to be addressed at the July 11 regular meeting, according to Finance Director Amy Khile.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Gael Stuart Building, 1610 Blaine St.
Neither side will discuss salary specifics or specify the amount of pay that is a living wage.
Teachers are requesting enough pay to live in Port Townsend at a level that can attract new teachers to the district.
“We will make a concentrated effort to make reductions where we can — cash reserves, materials and supplies — in order to offer a compensation package that is acceptable to our district’s teachers,” said David Engle, the district superintendent.
According to the website Teacher Salary Info, the average teacher salary in the state is $54,033.
The average in Port Townsend is $48,872, it said.
The website said Port Townsend teacher salaries range from $23,940 for preschool to $73,890 for a tenured high school teacher.
Bremerton salaries range from $31,349 to $78,831, respectively.
The Port Angeles range is from $24,671 to $74,665.
Port Townsend High School language arts teacher Chris Pierson, a union representative, said it isn’t all about pay.
The allocation of Time, Responsibility, Incentive (TRI) time, pay that teachers receive for partial compensation for work they are already doing to develop, maintain and enrich student programs, has become an important point, he said.
Compared to similarly sized districts, Port Townsend’s maximum TRI allocation is $4,771, compared to $9,318 for South Whidbey and $10,468 for Mount Baker.
Several speakers used real-world metaphors to make their points.
“I live in a 20-year home, and it is time to do a number of things,” said Blue Heron science teacher Roger Mills.
“I need to refinish the cabinets in the kitchen and I need a new roof. Like the district, I have a limited amount of money to accomplish this.”
The roof is the most important, he said; without it, nothing else gets done.
“As a homeowner, you don’t go out and buy the most expensive roofing; you want the roofing that does the job and keeps the rain out,” he said.
“We need to have a roof here that is the teachers because no matter what the district wants to get done, the teachers will be doing it.”
Port Townsend business owner and college-level teacher Debbie Sonandre put the process in a baking perspective.
“You are the ones who decide how many eggs and how much frosting goes into the cake,” she told the board.
“I teach at the college level and would like that cake to still be developing when it comes to me.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
