Pay? Meh.
Santa Barbara is one of the most expensive zip codes in the United States. But public school teacher salaries don’t reflect that. Teachers are paid around $65,000 on average here.
How can someone earning $65,000/year ever expect to purchase a home or even live a happy life in a place like Santa Barbara where a home is in the millions and renting a condo can be nearly $5,000/month? It’s not just a Santa Barbara problem. Most of California’s teachers face an impossible dilemma: perform a dutiful and honorable job & accept a low quality of life or quit the profession in pursuit of something more lucrative.
Prop 13 is to blame, in part. In the 1980s California voters passed Proposition 13 which capped property taxes in our state. The result was a boon to landowners but devastating to local governments, which rely on local taxes (and usually primarily property taxes) to fund things like education, police, and other community needs.
The implications of Prop 13 are far and wide but especially damaging to education. Less property tax revenue means less money for our students. Even though California is the fourth largest global economy, we rank 19th in per pupil spending in America. That doesn’t add up.
Something needs to change. Teachers are the building block of a prosperous society. They teach our children values, civics, morals, and fundamental knowledge about the world. Often, they take on roles as pseudo-caretakers and babysitters or career counselors or coaches. If the latest “mini strike” by our teachers here showed us anything, it’s how often teachers go above and beyond in their duties as educators.
They deserve more pay, especially in California.
The way we get it to them is by raising revenue. Specifically, revenue just for teachers. How? Well, here in Santa Barbara it could be as simple as passing a city-wide tax increase of the sales tax by 0.5 percent (half of a cent). That would raise approximately $14 million annually. If we designate it specifically for the 1,000 or so teachers in our district, that’s a permanent raise of $14,000 in perpetuity. Is it enough to purchase a mcmansion in the Riviera? No. But is it a meaningful start? Yes.
We can’t rely on the goodwill of teachers to keep them in the profession long term. They need to be paid more, period. And with Prop 13 hamstringing local budgets, communities need to think outside the box. Implementing a modest local tax increase to directly support our teachers is a sustainable, logical, and effective way to get our educators the money they need to survive in our state.
