At a glance:
- Maine has a shortage of educators due to wages that are not competitive
- Maine educators make less on average than peers with similar levels of education and experience
- Staffing shortages are widespread — in some school districts, the number of teachers and ed techs quitting has doubled in the most recent school year
- LD 974 and LD 1064 would address these issues by increasing pay for educators
Maine’s teachers and education staff are increasingly overworked and underpaid. According to a report earlier this year from the Maine Education Association — the union representing educators in most Maine schools — some districts are facing acute shortages of teachers and key support staff, largely because they are offering wages that are not competitive with the private sector. This is consistent with the experiences of educators interviewed in MECEP’s State of Working Maine 2023 who reported working for low pay in increasingly difficult conditions.
Maine legislators are considering two bills which would address the staffing problem by increasing pay:
- LD 1064 would increase the minimum starting salary for teachers to $50,000 a year by 2027
- LD 974 would raise the pay for support staff
Longstanding pay gap for Maine educators
Educators in Maine have long faced a pay gap between occupations requiring similar qualifications and experience. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), in 2022 teachers in Maine made 23.2 percent less on average than their peers with similar levels of education and experience. EPI’s national-level analysis shows this pay gap has grown consistently larger over the last two decades. This chronic undervaluing of teaching has brought the profession to crisis levels, and there is reason to think the problem is particularly acute today with private-sector wages rising quickly during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to data from the Maine Department of Education, average wages for key education staff positions — which were already low in many cases — increased more slowly than wages in the private sector, further increasing the earnings gap and discouraging people from working in public education. In fact, the average salary for classroom teachers has increased more slowly than inflation, representing a 7 percent real-terms pay cut between the 2018-19 school year and the 2022-23 school year. Other positions such as education technicians (also known as ed techs, who work in classrooms supporting teachers) and facilities workers faced smaller real-terms cuts, but at a time when private sector wages for workers without a college degree rose significantly. School bus drivers, who have been in extremely short supply for years, saw real-terms wage growth over this period, but still way below average private sector wage growth for non-college workers.
Widespread educator staffing shortages
The MEA report highlights the impact inadequate wages are having in some districts, where the number of teachers and ed techs quitting (excluding retirements) has doubled in the most recent school year, compared to 2015/16. As a result, there are acute shortages in some districts. MEA found 63 openings for ed tech positions in Lewiston, where the starting wage for an entry level position is just $16.40 per hour. In State of Working Maine 2023, Lewiston 4th grade teacher Kennedy reports:
I went into this year optimistic that things were going to be better [after COVID-19]. But then came the staffing crisis. Our school is so understaffed that we are constantly underwater. We have huge classes. I have 25 students, and 75 percent of them have significant needs. We started the year short teachers in 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. Our special education department is short teachers, too. Our 3rd and 4th grades have no ed techs at all. We have one counselor for all 700 students. People are so overworked and so exhausted all the time. This could be the year that breaks me. What are we going to do when there are no teachers left and nobody wants to do this job anymore?
The situation is particularly dire for some school districts with less revenue where ed techs are paid barely more than the minimum wage. MEA reports at the beginning of the 2023/24 school year, 22 districts in the state were paying hourly rates below $14.15 per hour — the new 2024 minimum wage — for some support staff. At the same time, fewer Mainers than ever are earning minimum wage, as many entry-level positions in retail, fast food, and hospitality, are paying higher wages in a strong labor market. Even experienced support staff with many years of service can be underpaid. Kim, an ed tech from Oxford County reported she makes $19.83 per hour while some of her students — who don’t even have a high school diploma yet — make $20 an hour at Walmart.
Legislation can boost wages for teachers and support staff
LD 974 and LD 1064 would address these pay gaps — and therefore the staffing shortages — by aligning minimum salaries closer to those in the private sector.
- LD 974 would require ed techs to be paid at least 150 percent of the statewide minimum wage and other support staff to be paid at least 125 percent of the statewide minimum wage. For ed techs, this would be the equivalent of a starting hourly wage of $21.23 per hour in 2024. For other staff, the starting hourly pay would be $17.69 per hour. By comparison, the median hourly equivalent wage for private-sector workers with at least a high school diploma but without a bachelor’s degree in 2023 was just under $22 per hour in 2023.1
- LD 1064 would increase the minimum teacher salary from the current $40,000 in stages up to $50,000 per year by the 2027/28 school year. After adjusting for anticipated inflation through 2027, this would move the minimum salary for teachers to approximately the median wage for private-sector workers in Maine with a bachelor’s degree in that year.2
If lawmakers wish for Maine to continue to have a skilled and dedicated workforce for educating the next generation of Mainers, they need to accept the reality that these workers must be paid appropriately. LD 974 and LD 1064 provide the means to do just that.
Notes:
[1] Based on MECEP analysis of US Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Outgoing Rotation Group data for 2023 (12-month pooled data), via the Integrated Public Use Microdata System (IPUMS). Hourly earnings for private sector workers with at least a high school diploma but no bachelor’s degree in 2023.
[2] Based on MECEP analysis of US Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Outgoing Rotation Group data for 2023 (12-month pooled data), via the Integrated Public Use Microdata System (IPUMS). Inferred earnings for private sector workers with a bachelor’s degree in 2023. Wages were increased to 2027 numbers using estimates for CPI in the Congressional Budget Office Economic Outlook as of February 2024. Assuming teachers’ inferred hourly earnings are based on a 40-hour work week for 35 weeks per year, their hourly equivalent wage at $50,000 would be $35.70 per hour. The median hourly wage for all private-sector workers with a bachelor’s degree in 2027 is anticipated to be $36.00 per hour.
