Teachers want a proper salary too.

Throughout our school years, especially junior high and high school, many students spend more time with our teachers than with our parents or family. Teachers are almost like family to us and like any family member, we want our teachers to be happy and well.  

The average salary of a teacher is between $48,405 and $42,982 a year depending on their seniority. When you calculate that teachers work nearly 11 hours a day, that is only about $18.00 an hour. Teachers are worth a lot more than that 

“Encouraging teachers is a must. Teachers are leaving the field. Due to shortages, Utah at one time said you didn’t have to license to teach, only a major in the field. you wanted to teach. This had some terrible results but there were a few positives. Legislators have given teachers the impression ANYONE could teach But this is not so. Legislators control the classrooms in some aspects, pay, class size, and the number of teaching hours. Teachers have not been recognized for dedicating many hours outside of their classrooms. This is why so many teachers leave, especially in the state of Utah,” says Celest Gardner a former teacher in Ogden.  

Teachers dedicate so much time to their work it can stress them out a bit. They don’t realize when signing up to be a teacher how little the pay is verses the time spent working. Legislators know they don’t offer teachers much pay so they try to help by giving them benefits.  

“If teachers where paid more, hopefully others would recognize that the profession is serious.  We have to attend meetings and trainings and recertify just like other professionals.  Hopefully it would also entice others to want to teach. Sometimes the teaching profession is looked down on because it’s thought ‘those that can’t do, teach’”, says Mrs. Jones a current teacher at Davis high.  

If teachers where paid more, they could get a little bit more respect. There wouldn’t be such a high demand for teachers because more people would want to be a teacher. It’s hard when teachers are looked down on because they are teaching future generations.  

Teachers work as hard as other professionals but don’t get paid anywhere near enough as the others. It’s painful to see good teachers get paid barely enough to survive with their family and just keep on working to make enough. 

With every good positive there might a bad downside for example higher pay. Some people could take advantage of the higher pay. It could cause some issues that wouldn’t benefit the students at all.  

“Unqualified teachers – or more of them.  More teachers coming just for the pay rather than the purpose of actually teaching.  An influx of competitors may make it more difficult to get a job just anywhere,” explains Mrs. Jones.  

Sadly, this could happen and many students would struggle with learning. People who want to be teachers would have a harder time to find the job they want. Even with this, giving teachers a higher paying job could help both students and teachers. This is needed, especially in Utah where the current teacher pay is the lowest of all states.