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Source: Ventura County Star, Calif.迷你倉Nov. 08--Teacher Petra Somar works 11 hours a day, most of it on her feet.It's not just teaching, planning and grading papers for a class of 35 sixth-graders that consume her time at Oak View's Sunset School.She advises the student council, coaches students in academic contests, brainstorms with other teachers and chaperones school dances. At home, she might scour the Internet for grants to pay for art supplies or text a colleague with an idea late at night."It never stops," Somar said as she hauled volleyball nets for a physical education class on a recent chilly morning.Somar, 28, expects to make $50,160 this year, plus a stipend of $250 to produce and distribute the yearbook.That's nearly low enough to qualify her for low-income housing, assuming she lives alone in pricey Ventura County. Her pay falls about $12,000 below the median income of the area.So what should she and other teachers make?The argument over that question has been going on for decades but is likely to be aired anew this year as unions seek to push up salaries with school funding promising to return to normal levels.(See also: Teacher salaries across Ventura County)STATE NEAR TOPOn average, Ventura County teachers earned $68,157 -- slightly under the state average of $68,531 -- in 2011-12, the latest year reported by the California Department of Education. Beginning teachers generally start in the low- to mid-$40,000s. Educators at the top of the scale can command salaries in the mid-$70,000 to low-$80,000 range.California ranks fifth in teacher salaries among the states and Washington, D.C., according to the latest estimates by the National Education Association. Trailing a few Northeastern states that spend heavily for education, California's pay is about $13,000 above the national average.School districts have been able to do that with large class sizes in a state that sparsely funds education, county Superintendent of Schools Stan Mantooth said.California ranked 39th in per-student funding among the states and Washington, D.C. -- at $9,053 -- in 2011-12. The nation averaged $10,834.Mantooth said teachers aren't paid enough, adding that he believes teaching would be the highest-paid profession in a perfect society."There wouldn't be any other professions without it," he said.Still, he said, there are limits at a time when 60 to 65 percent of school district budgets go to educators' salaries and benefits.It's difficult to make comparison with other jobs because teachers are paid for 185 work days and the full-time U.S. worker for roughly 240. But surveys suggest teacher pay is competitive with other "helping" professions on an hourly basis.Estimates show the average pay for Ventura County teachers runs close to $32 to $35 an hour. The figure is based on state salary surveys and a workweek of 53 hours, the level reported in a recent national survey of teachers.If a teacher works unpaid for another 10 days before school starts, getting his or her classroom and lessons ready and raising the work year to 195 days, the rate declines to $31 to $33 an hour.(How to help: Giving to Ventura County public school programs)(Mobile device readers: Tap here to see the salary table.)ABOVE SOCIAL WORKERSThat puts teachers above Ventura County social workers at $29 an hour but under registered nurses at $38, based on averages from a survey conducted in 2012 by the state Employment Development Department. They are well below software engineers at $46 an hour and lawyers at $75 an hour.But people who are relatively new to teaching lag workers in other key public-service jobs. Somar, who holds a master's degree and has almost five years of experience, makes $25 an hour, assuming she works 55 hours a week.A rookie Ventura County sheriff's deputy makes $29 an hour and a firefighter with one year's experience about $27 an hour, not including overtime. A county prosecutor who just passed the bar could start at about $30 an hour.Those workers face different dangers and demands than teachers, but some educators argue the pay should be comparable."We need the best and the brightest," said Robert Fraisse, a specialist in educational leadership at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.Fraisse argues for a major boost in both pay and expectations for teachers at a time when California faces a looming teacher shortage. Enrollments in teacher education programs have fallen by 33 percent as jobs have dried up, but Fraisse said the market is beginning to turn and the state needs to be ready."You would get such a surge of qualified applicants that would serve us well for decades to come," Fraisse said.(Learn more: Opposing viewpoints on teachers' salaries)MERIT PAY?Only some teachers are underpaid, according to Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. The group is dedicated to protecting Proposition 13, which reduced property taxes.He said the association is not opposed to raises for teachers, but to the fact that every teacher gets one."There are teachers who ought to get $200,000 a year and there are teachers who should get fired today," Coupal said.The Jarvis group supports merit pay, an unpopular idea with many educators, who say it would undermine collaboration and be difficult to administer fairly.A public-opinion poll taken in June showed support for increasing teacher salaries has stalled. Just 37 percent favored anmini storageincrease, according to the national survey administered by the Education Next journal.Like other teachers, Somar said she didn't go into the field for the money. But she thinks teachers deserve bigger paychecks.Chip Fraser, president of the Ventura Unified Education Association, said he will be making just that argument in contract talks."We'd like to ask for as much as the market will bear," said the chief of the union representing more than 800 teachers in the Ventura Unified School District. "I think everybody understands teachers have not had a raise in several years."Teachers in most Ventura County school districts have not received across-the-board raises since 2007-08, he said. Consumer prices have increased by 10 percent in Southern California over that period, according to the California Economic Forecast.Unions are seeking those increases in addition to the raises teachers get for experience and advanced degrees. Teachers get another $1,500 to $3,000 for every year of experience until they reach the top of the pay range at the 12th year or later. After that, they may get a scheduled raise every three to five years.Public school teachers also receive better health benefits than workers in many private sector jobs. They generally have low out-of-pocket costs, and many districts in Ventura County provide retiree health insurance. Teachers generally do not participate in Social Security, instead paying into and drawing pensions from the state teacher retirement system.PICTURE MURKYIt's not clear yet how much can be spent on bigger paychecks and how much will go for new programs under the state's new funding formula for schools. Initiated by Gov. Jerry Brown, that formula centers on local control and extra help for the neediest students.Mantooth expects school boards to be cautiously open to raises, but he doesn't expect a windfall. He said the money will come in slowly, perhaps taking eight years to return to the level that preceded the state's fiscal crisis.Good pay is one factor tied to student achievement, but not the only one, according to a 2011 study from the Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan research institute. Successful states improved pay while also raising teachers' knowledge and skills and lowering the rate at which beginning teachers were floundering and quitting.The study's authors, Frank Adamson and Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University, found a wide discrepancy in teacher salaries in California school districts. Although the state has a reputation for comparable funding across districts, the authors found much higher salaries in affluent counties in the Bay Area than in small, rural counties such as Humboldt and Mendocino. (View the study here.)In Ventura County, the pay range among most school districts is relatively similar, but there are outliers. The Hueneme School District ranks as the longtime front-runner, with districts in Fillmore and Ojai near the bottom.Hueneme Superintendent Jerry Dannenberg said the district's average salary of $79,535 reflects both the school board's priorities and the experience of the teaching force.About 70 percent of the staff in the K-8 district is at the top of the pay range, which increases the average paycheck beyond the norm, he said.Hueneme, however, also offers the best salary for new teachers. A beginner can command $49,000 in the district serving Port Hueneme and part of Oxnard, well above the salaries paid by most other districts in Ventura County.(Mobile device readers: Tap here to see the map.)TRADE-OFFS CITEDThe trade-offs for those salaries are big schools and fewer administrators. The district runs schools of 1,000 or more students, meaning less has to be spent on custodians, secretaries and office managers, Dannenberg said.In contrast, teachers in the Fillmore Unified School District average $61,340, which officials tied to an effort to keep class sizes smaller. Beginning pay in the district is relatively competitive at $41,070.Assistant Superintendent Deo Persaud said he suspects wealthier districts have more money to spend than Fillmore because they get private money from parents and foundations.The Ojai Unified School District averages $63,177 and has the lowest beginning salary for credentialed teachers in the county, at $38,560.Enrollment has been sliding for years in the cash-strapped district, and officials are still in the midst of restoring student instruction days lost in the state cutbacks.Superintendent Hank Bangser said Ojai Unified hired about a dozen teachers this year. He's sure some people don't apply because of the pay but said others are willing to overlook that because they like the culture and working relationships in the district. A better-than-average benefits package also helps, he said.In Oak View, which is part of Ventura Unified, Somar said she takes home $3,100 a month -- not enough to rent a nice apartment in Ventura and pay off her student loans, make a car payment and retire her credit card debt of $3,000. So she's living with her grandmother rent-free for now."It's frustrating, and there's nothing out there right now," she said. "There's nothing for rent that is reasonable living and reasonably priced."MEET THE SCHOOL WATCH TEAM: Click hereCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.) Visit Ventura County Star (Camarillo, Calif.) at .vcstar.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存