Editorial: When the clerk is a teacher

Wednesday, June 7, 2006 | 7:38 a.m.

Second jobs are necessities for many teachers, diverting their attention from students

At any gathering of local teachers, such as a faculty meeting or training workshop, anyone attending could look around and know that more than four out of every 10 are working a second job.

This is a worrisome situation, as most good teachers will say that the time they spend in front of their classes reflects only a portion of their duties and responsibilities. Many more hours are spent preparing lectures, meeting with parents, grading papers, studying for advanced degrees and working one-on-one with students.

Second jobs cannot help but compete for the precious time that a teacher needs to fully help students achieve their best.

Yet teachers cannot be blamed for seeking part-time work on weeknights and weekends. Starting teachers in the Clark County School District are now earning a base salary of $28,491. That starting salary will jump to $33,000 for the fall semester. Teachers with eight years of experience, and at least 32 credits toward a master's degree, are currently earning $43,554.

With even modest homes hard to find for less than $300,000, with groceries and other necessities being affected by inflation, and with Nevada's gasoline prices among the highest in the nation, teachers are naturally finding it nearly impossible to make ends meet on their full-time salaries alone.

That more than 40 percent of them are holding second jobs is a statistic revealed from a recent survey conducted by the School District. Eight thousand teachers, about half of the district's faculty, responded. The news about moonlighting did not surprise Superintendent Walt Rulffes, who recently encountered a teacher behind the counter of a local clothing store.

Nevada teachers are by no means exceptions when it comes to moonlighting. A recent survey of teachers in Texas, for example, found that 33 percent are moonlighting for an average of 11 hours a week. The Texas survey revealed something even more frightening - 46 percent of the teachers there are considering leaving the profession.

We hope the Nevada Legislature develops a long-range plan for increasing teacher salaries. With so many teachers' attention being diverted by the need to work second jobs, the prospect of our students achieving higher scores on standardized tests is not high. And the problem of shortages - as many as 1,000 teaching positions in the Clark County School District are likely to be unfilled this fall - will just get worse unless raises are provided.