Commentary: Senator Mimi Stewart (D-17-Bernallilo) pre-filed a bill to address New Mexico’s current teacher crisis by investing in our most experienced teachers to keep them in our children’s classrooms. Senate Bill 14 will increase the wages of experienced teachers who have not received a wage increase in over seven years.
“Experienced teachers are essential for the success of schools in New Mexico,” said Senator Stewart. “They provide mentorship to new teachers entering the classroom and create continuity in schools for both students and their parents.”
Educators understand that schools must have a healthy mix of both experienced and new teachers to be successful. Unfortunately, almost seven years of stagnant wages is making it exceedingly difficult to keep New Mexico’s most experienced teachers in our classrooms. Many of those teachers are leaving the state or entering new professions where they can be adequately compensated for their work.
The Public Education Department (PED) has not taken action to keep proficient educators in New Mexico’s classrooms. Because of PED’s inaction and refusal to pay a competitive wage to skilled educational professionals, the state is in danger of becoming reliant on educators with limited experience.
“Failure to appropriate raises has resulted in an alarming number of teaching vacancies statewide with over 450 of those positions still left unfilled,” said Senator Stewart. “This bill can stem the ‘brain drain’ from our classrooms and provide a more consistent learning environment for our students.”
The legislation not only remedies the lack of meaningful investments in our veteran teachers, but it also incrementally raises the pay we provide to all educators to retain our high-quality teachers. Senate Bill 14 would increase pay for Level One licensed teachers to $40,000, Level Two licensed teachers to $50,000 and Level Three licensed teachers to $60,000 by the 2019-2020 school year. It is important to do what is necessary to keep first-rate educators in our public schools so we can improve the educational outcomes of our education system and make New Mexico more attractive for economic investment.