Canyons School District Proposes Pay Raises For All Teachers, Would Make Starting Pay $50K
Apr 24, 2019, 6:59 PM | Updated: 7:01 pm
SANDY, Utah — Teachers in the Canyons School District could soon see a big pay bump.
The district has proposed raises of $7,665 for each teacher. That would make starting pay in the district $50,000.
Jeff Haney, spokesperson for Canyons School District, said they, like other districts across the state, have had to compete for teachers amid a shortage.
“On the average over the last five years, we’ve had to find 280 new teachers to fill available slots. In this era of a national teaching shortage, it’s been difficult to find those people to come to Canyons School District and want to stay,” Haney said.
According to Envision Utah, 42% of teachers in Utah quit in their first five years. Haney says a lot of them leave for financial reasons.
“What we want to do is elevate the profession to convince college students that this is a viable profession that they can go into and not have to work two or three jobs so they can chase their passion of being a classroom teacher,” Haney said.
The raises would be paid for through a tax increase. Haney said the average homeowner in the Canyons School District would see a $140 annual income tax increase.
The Canyons Board of Education will decide whether or not to approve the raise. They will decide after hearing public input at a truth-in-taxation meeting in August.
