Editorial: And in our schools …

Tuesday, June 10, 2003 | 9:19 a.m.

In a national salary survey released last summer by the American Federation of Teachers, Nevada teachers placed 15th overall. Not bad. But first-year teachers with the Clark County School District ranked near the bottom.

The Sun's Emily Richmond reported Sunday that 263 of the 1,300 teachers who left the district last year did so after their first year. Also startling: 50 percent of the district's teachers -- compared with 12 percent nationally -- have five or fewer years of experience.

A low starting salary of $26,847 is a factor for such high turnover, which experts agree takes a big toll on student achievement. With the state budget already too strained to improve this salary, budget cuts as proposed by many Republican legislators would only make the situation in our schools even worse -- when the primary mission of the Legislature this session was to make things better.

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