Teacher Compensation

Provo has historically been behind most school districts in Utah regarding teacher pay. This does not reflect our community values. Our teachers pour their hearts and souls into serving our children, and we can do better in compensating them for their dedication. 

In 2020, as a board we took a big step to improve by raising our starting salaries from just over 40,000 to 45,500. We are not as far behind other districts as we once were, but we are still losing good teachers to our neighboring districts. And post-Covid we are having a hard time filling positions for our support staff. Currently, most fast food restaurants pay more than we do, and we are losing good aides because of the pay differences. We need to keep up with the market. I'd like to continue to focus on increasing pay for both our teachers and our support staff.

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Professionals

My philosophy is that we should give teachers the training and support they need to be effective in the classroom, then step back and let them do so. It takes a lot of skill to manage a classroom and to meet the needs of a wide variety of students. Both the district and community members should respect teachers for the professionals that they are.