Opinion
Teaching Profession Opinion

Teachers Are at a Breaking Point. And It’s Not Just About Pay

The rising cost of health insurance puts a financial strain on educators
By Rebecca Kolins Givan & Pamela Whitefield — April 16, 2018 2 min read
BRIC ARCHIVE
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Stagnating wages and skyrocketing health-care costs are pushing America’s public school employees to their breaking point. After the recent strike in West Virginia, teachers in Kentucky and Oklahoma staged their own walkouts this month. Now, Arizona educators skeptical of their governor’s conciliatory pledge to hike wages are considering similar protests.

Why is this happening? And why now?

The teacher pay penalty is part of the problem. While low wages in this female-dominated profession are not a new phenomenon, the earnings gap between teachers and other workers with the same level of education has grown significantly wider. According to data analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute, public school teachers’ weekly wages were 17 percent lower than the wages of comparable workers in 2015. The gap was under 2 percent in 1994.

But wages are only part of the compensation story.

When we take away affordable health insurance and do not rebalance total compensation through salary, the profession loses its appeal."

Many teachers enter the profession with a tacit (and sometimes explicit) agreement to accept a lower salary in exchange for better benefits, particularly affordable health care. The proportion of the salary-benefit split varies, but it is generally greater for educators than for other professionals. In analyzing Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the Economic Policy Institute also found that teachers—both public and private—received 11.2 percent of their compensation in the form of insurance benefits in 2015. For other comparable professionals, that number was 8.7 percent—not nearly a great enough difference to offset the growing compensation gap for teachers.

This agreement to trade higher wages for more expansive benefits has clearly eroded. Health insurance premiums, particularly for family plans, are soaring. Some teachers have reported paying more than a thousand dollars a month to insure themselves and their families. The average premium for a family plan is now more than $7,000 per year for teachers. That’s roughly $1,200 more than other state and local employees pay.

Our recent survey of educators in Vermont revealed the scope of this financial strain. Although Vermont boasts a high-quality K-12 education system, its teachers are struggling with flat wages and rising health insurance premiums, deductibles, prescription costs, and other out-of-pocket expenses. Among the roughly 1,000 respondents, more than half of Vermont’s educators told us they are working additional jobs—on weekends, during the summer, or both—to make ends meet.

The social contract is broken. When we take away affordable health insurance and do not rebalance total compensation through salary, the profession loses its appeal. Teachers may be lured to higher-paying states or marginally better-paying jobs, which require fewer unpaid hours and for which they do not have to spend their own money on supplies.

The result, as we have seen in West Virginia and now in Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arizona, is overcrowded classrooms, a lack of certified teachers, and the decline of public education.

This could be only the beginning.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the April 25, 2018 edition of Education Week as Teacher Pay Isn’t the Whole Story

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Science Webinar
Making Science Stick: The Engaging Power of Hands-On Learning
How can you make science class the highlight of your students’ day while
achieving learning outcomes? Find out in this session.
Content provided by LEGO Education
Teaching Profession Webinar Key Insights to Elevate and Inspire Today’s Teachers
Join this free half day virtual event to energize your teaching and cultivate a positive learning experience for students.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Achievement Webinar
Student Success Strategies: Flexibility, Recovery & More
Join us for Student Success Strategies to explore flexibility, credit recovery & more. Learn how districts keep students on track.
Content provided by Pearson

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching Profession Q&A What Top Teachers Want from their Principals, Work-Life Balance, and More
Finalists for Teacher of the Year weigh in on how the field is changing and supports educators need.
7 min read
Illustration of teacher multitasking.
CreativaImages/Getty
Teaching Profession The National Teacher of the Year Finalists Spotlight Literacy's Power
The four 2025 Teacher of the Year finalists highlight literacy’s power to engage students and shape lifelong readers.
7 min read
The 2025 National Teacher of the Year Finalists, from left: Ashlie Crosson, Janet Damon, and Jazzmyne Townsend. Mikaela Saelua, of American Samoa, is the fourth finalist.
The 2025 National Teacher of the Year Finalists, from left: Ashlie Crosson, Janet Damon, and Jazzmyne Townsend. Mikaela Saelua, of American Samoa, is the fourth finalist.
Courtesy photos
Teaching Profession How Can Schools Get More Men to Be Teachers? Look to Nursing for What Works
More men are becoming nurses—offering some lessons for K-12 education.
6 min read
Male teacher figures winding their way down a career path to the entrance of a school.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week + iStock/Getty Images
Teaching Profession Three Tips to Help Mentors Work Better With Teachers
A great mentor can help novice teachers progress in their first year and prevent burnout. Here's how to boost their relationships.
3 min read
Illustration of a diverse group of 7 professionals helping one another climb a succession of large bars with some using a ladder.
iStock/Getty