ANDERSON — As K-12 teachers in schools across the state are demanding better pay, there is an emerging class of teachers that already is far behind.
According to a recently released report by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Indiana’s preschool teachers earn an average of about $9.62 an hour as compared to $28.26 an hour for elementary school teachers. This average includes day care workers who don’t work in licensed public preschool centers.
Bev Groover, principal at Elwood Elementary School’s Fran and Ernie Reichart Early Learning Center, said even though her preschool teachers are required to have child development associate certification, which is below an associate degree, their pay doesn’t really reflect that.
“It is not the best pay,” she said. “Knowing the obligations that a preschool teacher has is huge. The closer we could get to teacher pay, that would be great.”
Madison was one of the counties the Indiana Legislature added in 2017 to the On My Way Pre-K early childhood education pilot. The program now has been expanded to the entire state.
On My Way Pre-K pairs families who meet income eligibility guidelines with private and public programs that have earned certification from the state.
Groover said she’s required to schedule her preschool teachers for less than 30 hours per week so the district does not have to provide benefits. That makes it difficult to attract and retain preschool teachers, especially on second shift from 2 to 6 p.m.
“That makes it very difficult for everyone, especially when you’re open 6 to 6 year-round,” she said.
However, Scott Deetz, superintendent at Madison-Grant Unified School Corp., said he hasn’t had a problem with attracting and retaining preschool teachers because his district offers what he believes is a competitive compensation package. In addition to wages that are more than what typically is offered at a private day care, his district’s preschool teachers receive benefits and are off the same weeks as the licensed teachers.
“Our pre-K teachers do get paid more than an educational assistant or an aide in the classroom,” he said. “Our pre-K teachers get all the professional development opportunities that are available in a regular school setting.”
Because his preschool teachers usually are non-licensed, Deetz said, they are treated from a human resources standpoint similarly to other support staff, such as those working in food service and transportation and as aides.
Though licensed preschool teachers are rare outside the realm of special education, Anderson Community Schools made the commitment about four years ago to ensure all its lead teachers at Southview Preschool Center are licensed.
“All of our teachers are licensed teachers, so they are paid like all of our other teachers in our corporation,” assistant superintendent Jan Koeniger said.
That decision was made before the state offered On My Way Pre-K, Koeniger added.
“We were kind of ahead of the game because we already had licensed teachers in place,” she said. “Anderson Community Schools decided that was in the best interest of our children.”
An industry dominated by women
A preschool workforce report released in 2016 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Education stressed that low compensation undermines quality of education.
According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, most states offer preschool programs, but only Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee require salary equity for all lead teachers, regardless of the educational setting.
In part, the lower wages may be due to preschools being a pink collar ghetto, an industry dominated by women. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimated workers in jobs done primarily by women earn about 66% of what those in jobs done primarily by men receive, even when they obtain special credentials and obtain higher levels of learning.
The National Survey of Early Care and Education reports 97% of center-based early childhood teaching staff are women.
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