Starting salaries for teachers in Howard County rose slightly with the approval of next year?s budget, but the county?s union president said the increase is not enough.
Teacher salaries should be higher since Howard County is the No. 1 performing system in the state, said Ann DeLacy, president of Howard County Education Association, the teachers? union.
“We have a large number of [teachers] turning over constantly,” she said.
For a teacher with a bachelor?s degree, the starting salary next year will be more than $40,000, a modest increase over the previous salary of nearly $39,000.
The school system?s $551.5 million operating budget for fiscal 2007 includes $900,000 to pay for the starting salary increase.
In addition, all teachers will receive an across-the-board raise of 3.5 percent in next year?s budget, said David White, budget director for the school system.
The salary hike for starting teachers places the Howard County Public School System fourth among the top five systems in the state for the highest starting teacher salary, said Sydney Cousin, school superintendent.
“We?ve gone from being ranked eighth to fourth in the state,” said Cousin at the Thursday school board meeting.
He said the system is now sixth in the state with a salary of more than $44,000 for a teacher on Step 5 ? a level based on seniority ? of its two-year agreement with the teachers? union.
“That?s excellent news,” said School Board Chairman Joshua Kaufman. “We?ve had a successful collaboration [with HCEA].”
DeLacy said Howard County needs to increase the salaries of support personnel workers such as secretaries and nurses.
