High pay ranking doesn’t impress school officials

Monday, July 14, 2003 | 9:56 a.m.

A new survey may have ranked Nevada 15th in the nation for average teacher salaries, but starting pay in Clark County still isn't enough to recruit -- or keep -- quality educators, officials with the Clark County School District said this morning.

The salary survey, released Friday by the American Federation of Teachers, listed Nevada's average salary at $44,621 for the 2001-02 school year. Nationally the average teacher salary was $44,367.

The starting pay for teachers in the Silver State was $28,734, more than $2,000 less than the national average, according to the survey.

"We're way behind in what we can offer," said George Ann Rice, associate superintendent for human resources for the School District.

"Salary is one of the first things potential employees want to know about, and it's often a deciding factor in whether they'll take the job or not," said Rice, whose office hires about 1,600 teachers each year.

It takes teachers 10 years and a master's degree to reach an annual salary of $43,463, Rice said. Teachers who earn a doctorate and work 14 years can earn $54,768.

Rice said she was still hopeful lawmakers would approve a $2,000 signing bonus for new teachers. Phone calls come in to the district daily from people who have been offered contracts but want to know whether the bonus is going to be a reality, Rice said.

"All we can do is ask them to be patient and bear with us," Rice said.

The AFT survey did not release data by school district. Mary Ella Holloway, president of the Clark County Education Association, said the statewide results are skewed because of the significant difference in salaries in each of the state's 17 school districts.

In Elko, for example, starting salaries for teachers are about $37,000, Holloway said. In Clark County about half of the 14,000 teachers have less than five years' experience and earn $36,000 or less, Holloway said.