"Retiring from the Sun Prairie school district" is consistently the single greatest search performed on the SP-EYE website. We get e-mails requesting for updates. People want to know. Subsequently, we try to update this data at least annually. It's time. We have collected retirement data over the past 4 years. Our databank now includes 33 teachers, 12 AFSCME Local 60 members, and 2 administrators. This year we had 7 teachers (SPEA) retire. Of course, a $6,000 "golden handshake" incentive was offered to any teachers who filed retirement paperwork (effective June 2010) prior to October 15, 2009.
Retirement Statistics
The mean salary at retirement for teachers in Sun Prairie is $69,500; the mean $69,900; and the mode $70,000. Statisticians will tell you that for most data sets of at least 20 points, when the mean, median, and mode are all equal, it indicates a very consistent data set. In fact we applied Grubbs' outlier test, and n one of the data points was statistically identified to be an outlier. The range of salaries at retirement is $52,400 to $80,800.
The average teacher retires at 59 1/2 years old, has worked as a teacher for 32.4 years, and has a Master's degree. In our dataset, 77% of teachers retiring have earned their Master's degree. In addition to their average salary of $69,500, they also earn, on average, $27,100 in fringe benefits. Adjusted for 190 contracted work day, the hourly pay for a teacher at retirement is $45.72 (per hour). That number is obtained by dividing the retirement salary by 190 contacted days, and then by 8, for the number of salaried hours per workday.
Contracts: 260 vs. 190 days
For most occupations, the annualized standard is to work 2080 hours. 2080 hours divided by 8 hours per workday, translates to 260 "contract" days. Of course, some of these days will become paid vacation days. Where did the 260 days come from? 365 days in a year - 104 for the 2 weekend days that occur in each of the 52 weeks. That leaves us with (52) 40 hour work weeks. Teachers are only contracted for 190 days. That translates to 180 school days plus 5 days one either end of the school year to set up and take down.
"When I started in the district, I was paid only $10,000 per year"
We did get approached by one reader to address the fact that many of the more tenured teachers, may indeed be earning upwards of $70,000 today (at retirement), but these same staff were only paid as little as $10,000 per year at hire. Using the 190 contracted 8-hour days, that translates to about $6.57 per hour!
The reader is correct...but that average starting salary was pretty much what the rest of the world earned 30+ years ago. In fact, Mr. Average Retiring Teacher, who has worked for 32 years, with a starting salary of $10,000 actually earned an average annual raise of 6.25%! State workers receive an average raise of 2%, with many biennial contracts calling for NO raises.
When we talk about salary equity, the Consumer Price Index frequently comes into play. Frequently it is argues that teacher raises don't even keep up with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). In fact, since 1940, the AVERAGE rate of inflation has been 4.48%. Therefore, teachers HAVE been ahead of the CPI. State workers have not.
State worker parallel
For a real life example, consider the situation of a state worker we'll call Notch...Notch Johnson. Notch started working for the state in 1973 as a Senior Scientist at a salary of.....drum roll.....$4.50 per hour. At the standard 260 x 8-hour days, that translates to a whopping $9,360 per year. ...and Notch thought he was rich! 36, years later,however, in 2009, Notch retired as a "Section Chief" at a salary of $75,200. Pretty equivalent, eh?
In fact, Notch's average annual salary increase only comes out to 5.95%. That's 5% less that the average annual increase (6.25%) experienced by teachers in Sun Prairie.
1978 Price Points for reference
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average: 805
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 11.75%
Average Cost of new house $54,800.00
Average Household Income per year $17,000.00
Minimum Wage: $2.65 per hour
Average Monthly Rent $260.00
New Car: $6,379
Cost of a gallon of Gas 63 cents
Dozen Eggs 48 Cents
Bread: 34 cents per loaf
Postage Stamp: 15 cents
Postage Stamp: 15 cents
Teachers work more hours/days that the 190 8-hour contract
The other argument which invariably surfaces is that teacher devote a great deal of their time for free...working beyond their 8-hour days and working on non-contracted days.
We agree...teachers (most, anyway) do work more than 8 hours a day, and often work on days when they are not required to be in school. But, ya know what? So do many folks in other occupations. In fact, the term "salaried employee" to the rest of the working world means, "We pay you X amount as salary; you do what it takes to get the job done". Many a relationship has been strained by folks who work nights and weekends to "get the job done" and keep that salary. Therefore, we think this argument should be considered a push.
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We're not expecting a lot of love from the teacher's union on this post....but we're not in this game to please the union...or anyone else for that matter. At the heart of this blog is the desire to present straight-forward factual information. Spin-free. We're not taking any sides, because there is no war. We just want to make sure that people have the facts.
And the facts are that teachers in Sun Prairie are retiring at a pretty decent salary...more than most occupations. What other occupation do you know that earns an average salary increase of 6.25% over 32 years? Or gets paid over $45 per hour?
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