Pay raise won’t fix Iowa’s teacher shortage

Iowa teachers get pay raises over the next two years. Starting minimum pay increases to $50,000 and raises to $62,000 for teachers with 12 years of experience.

The long-deserved pay raise makes Iowa competitive in terms of teacher salaries. It’s an overdue investment in Iowa education and Iowa teachers.

Indeed, Iowa struggles to fill open teaching positions. A search on IowaWorks.gov shows almost 4,000 open jobs.

But there’s more to employee satisfaction than higher pay. Much of the current public education climate is shaped by politics. And that climate is chilling.

• Inadequate funding year over year, forcing school districts to make ever deeper budget cuts

• “School vouchers” that redirect your taxpayer dollars from public schools to private (mostly religious) schools

• Out-of-touch, non-fact-based curriculum mandates

• A mechanism for any citizen to ban any book for everyone

• Prohibitions on teaching gender identity and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion topics

• A law that forces teachers to out transgender students

• A bill defining “grooming behavior” in relationship to teachers when “groomer” is a hateful slur synonymous with “pedophile”

• Centralized control in Des Moines over regional Area Education Agencies, stripping AEAs of their local authority

Teachers are trained to teach. Most legislators are not. It’s time we trust teachers to do their jobs!

Higher pay may incentivize some teachers to come to or stay in Iowa. But who wants to work where their profession is under constant governmental attack?

This pay raise won't fix Iowa's teacher shortage.

Gordie Felger

Hiawatha