Keeping up with Montgomery County Teachers
Yesterday’s Washington Examiner reported Maryland school districts are racing to keep-up with Montgomery County teacher salaries. Montgomery County is even higher in all five categories than the Arlington Public Schools. Let’s take a closer look. The Examiner reported:
“Montgomery County teachers earn the highest salaries in Maryland, but salaries have risen at the quickest pace in competing, nearby districts.”
Not only are Montgomery County’s teachers the highest paid in Maryland, they are also the highest paid in four of five salary categories (i.e., Step 1 + Bacherlor’s Degree; Average; Step 9 + Master’s Degree; and Maximum) on the Washington Area Boards of Education (WABE) guide. Only at Step 1 + Master’s Degree did Montgomery rank number two. Admittedly, along with the Manassas City schools, they also have an eight-hour work day, the only two of the nine WABE school districts to do so.
We don’t know how strongly the Arlington Public Schools compete for teachers with the Montgomery County public schools via a vis the Fairfax County public schools, but the WABE guide for FY 2010 (page 37) shows that APS ranks number two behind Montgomery County in three of the five pay categories. Comparing just Montgomery and Arlington counties of the nine schools districts:
- Step 1 + Bachelor’s Degree: Montgomery County is first at $46,410. APS is at $43,910 (#5).
- Average. Montgomery County is first at $76,483. APS is at $73,783 (#2).
- Step 1 + Master’s Degree: Montgomery County is second at $51,128. APS is at $48,412 (#6),
- Step 9 + Master’s Degree: Montgomery County is first at $67,723. APS is at $66,848 (#2).
- Maximum Salary: Montgomery County is at $103,634 (#1). APS is at $101,298 (#2).
Montgomery County also has the highest beginning hourly rate for instructional assistants at $17.01. The beginning hourly rate for APS is $13.96 (#7).
According to the Examiner, the starting salaries of Maryland teachers ranged from Montgomery County ($46,410) to Frederick County ($40,706), and included Baltimore City ($44,820) and Baltimore County ($42,000).
Some interesting numbers also come from the 2008-2009 Virginia Teacher Salary Survey, available at the Virginia Department of Education website. In Virginia, the budgeted average teacher salary for FY 2009 is $51.902.
The latest Virginia survey results also provide the average salary by school. For example, the average APS salary ranges for elementary schools ranges from from $63,826 in Arlington Science Focus to $74,119 in Long Branch Elementary. In the Fairfax County public schools, elementary school salaries ranges from $55,445 at Westbriar Elementary to $75,469 at Cameron Elementary.
The Superintendent of Arlington Public Schools is due to release his proposed FY 2011 budget on February 23, 2010. It should a fun budget year.