Why SHOULD we pay teachers well?
There’s been a lot of talk centered on teacher compensation.  “Teachers make way too much money.  Teachers have Cadillac benefits.  (Personally with the Cadillac brand in the dumps, I think that should be changed to Mercedes benefits or Lexus benefits.)  Teachers get too much sick pay.  Teachers get…”
Can you hear it? Listen closely because whenever anyone utters these phrases you can hear teachers getting their hackles up. What’s a hackle anyway?  And then almost without fail the following phrases are uttered, yelled with pride…and with predictability.
      1.  But we work more than just school hours.
      2.  But we don’t just sit around during the summers.
      3.  But the grading, dear god the grading.
      4.  Just ask my family how much they see me.  My own children have to register for my class just to see me.
      5.  But…but…but
And every argument is so refutable, so relatable to almost every other working person that these arguments don’t just fall flat, they anger.  They are swatted away with, at best, derision and at worst sanctimonious anger. Â
Does this mean I think that teachers are overpaid? Not necessarily.  Many teachers are grossly underpaid, but there are districts where teachers are compensated well for the job they execute.  So what’s my point?
My point is that teachers, like any other profession, need to better articulate their value proposition. Why should teachers get raises, step raises, decent benefits? Â Teachers should be able to effectively and vociferously justify their compensation. Teachers have to help people understand why they are worth what they are worth.
So what is a teacher’s value proposition?  Or stated another way, what benefits do teachers bring to those who foot the bill?
1.  Property values – If taxpayers want stable, or increasing, property values than good schools matter.  Do a google search for school quality effects on property values. Here’s one site for your perusal. http://sites.duke.edu/urbaneconomics/?p=712  The connection is striking.  Better yet, just look around your own city.  Where are the highest home values?  Which homes fared the best during the great recession.  If you want higher property values, you need good schools.  If you want good schools, you need a compensation plan that attracts the best candidates.  Teachers make sure you have an understanding of the basic economic correlation between housing prices and your talents.
2.  Do you want your children to have good teachers?  And if you don't have children in the school system, refer back to number 1.  Content mastery is only the  one skill necessary to be a good teacher.  If you want your child to thrive in school and beyond, you want your child’s teacher to:
      a.  Know the content
      b.  Be a good communicator
      c.  Be able to relate to children on their level
      d.  while not being condescending,
      e.  Be able to stretch your child,
      f.  without breaking them
      g.  Be able to communicate with parents about the good, and the not so good
      h.  Be a mentor
      i.  Be a protector
      j.  Prop your child up when they need it,
      k.  and bring them down a peg when they need that too
      l.   Be able to hear sometimes horrible, frightening, heart braking stories from students, and know the right way to respond.
      m.  Manage a classroom filled with disparate people who might speak different languages, are developing at a different pace, who might have special needs, and who have different expectations of themselves and the teacher.
      n.  A whole lot of other stuff!
Well guess what, those teachers don’t grow on trees.  Contrary to some who think, “those who can’t, teach”, those who can’t don’t teach! (Sorry language arts teachers for the triple negative.)  Like any other profession the talent follows the money. Are some of the skills listed above needed in other jobs?  Of course, but not many jobs require your specific skill set that works with your specific market.  Teachers don’t talk about the things you do, talk about the skills that you possess.  Talk about skills that set you apart in the marketplace.  Talk about the skills that are unique to what you do. Those skills are valuable.
 3.  Does having a better teacher in a school impact learning within that school?  What is the ROI of having better teachers in the classroom?  As mentioned above, better teachers will, generally, work in better paying districts.  Here is a study that shows the economic impact for students who are taught by better teachers.  http://hanushek.stanford.edu/publications/valuing-teachers-how-much-good-teacher-worth There are many other studies linking better teachers with higher outcomes in the short, and long, term.  Teachers should be versed in these studies and the long-term economic impact you have on your community.
 4.  It’s no secret that teachers entering the field aren’t always the best academia has to offer.  Studies show that those entering the teaching field have lower college entrance exam scores and lower performance, on average, while pursuing their degrees.  One study showed that in 2008 -2009 average SAT scores for 1st year teachers was only in the 50th percentile.  That is not to say that the field doesn’t have extremely talented and competent teachers, but compared to other higher profile, higher paying jobs the teaching profession sometimes attracts a different caliber of talent.  Teachers should ask what might happen, (and it already is happening as the economy comes out of the great recession) if lower compensation further diminishes the talent pool.
 I don’t know how much compensation is enough or how much compensation is too much.  I do know that teachers have tremendous value and need to do a much better job communicating their value.  The list above is not comprehensive, but it’s a lot better than, “I spend the summer getting ready for next year!”
 And if all else fails, invite the naysayers to spend a day in your classroom.  They will likely run screaming from your room while reaching into their wallets to fling any cash they have at you.
