09.16.2009 4:27 pm
Here’s why we published teachers’ salaries
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
STLtoday.com published Missouri educators’ salaries today and some people are hopping mad about it. They want to know why were are posting salaries and violating teachers’ privacy.
We post all kinds of public employee salaries on our STLInfo site at www.stltoday.com/info, including Missouri state employees, University of Missouri System employees, St. Louis city and county employees, Illinois state employees, other cities and counties.
We do so because we think the people who pay the taxes that pay all of these salaries should know what they are paying for the services provided, including how much the teacher in their child’s classroom is getting paid.
But, some teachers have argued, why don’t you publish a salary schedule rather than names? Why not just point out that someone with 10 years experience earns a certain amount of money?
I would argue that most people don’t relate to teachers by way of a salary schedule; they relate to them by name. They may not know that their third-grader’s teacher has 10 years experience, they just know her name and that she’s a terrific teacher. When they find out how much she is being paid, they will have information they can use in the continuing discussion over teacher salaries and school district tax rates.
We think that the pay of public servants is rightly a topic of public debate. The Post-Dispatch has reported that in general, personnel costs account for 80 percent of public school district budgets. That means fluctuations in salary have a big impact on tax rates.
When you look at this data, you can decide whether your school district is competitive with others on attracting teachers, whether the number of administrators is justified, whether administrator pay is in correct proportion to that of classroom teachers.
Some of you already have joined the debate over publishing these salaries by commenting on the STLInfo site. Others have called. We welcome your feedback. You can call me at 314-340-8111 or you can email us at stlinfo@post-dispatch.com.
Jean is projects editor at the Post-Dispatch. She is a member of Bridges Across Racial Polarization, a group devoted to creating friendships and fostering communication among racial and cultural groups in the community. After growing up in a small town in Kansas, she lived in Kansas City and Wilmington, Del., before moving to St. Louis in 2004. She and her husband, Dan Wiggs, live in University City. 
I don’t know why you state that you welcome comments and questions. I emailed yesterday to the site editor site (it was the only one I found after searching for several minutes) and have received not even a courtesy reply.
If you truly believe all that you list above (and I believe it’s self-serving *******) then why didn’t someone write just that when you published it. Have an article about the issue make it relevant. Instead you post it, got tons of page views and now come up with journalistic rhetoric to justify your own self serving world view.
By the way. What is your salary. Please publish it in response to my comment.
I would also like the salaries of all reporters at the PD, the editors, and the leadership team. You state that you are public servants, okay, prove it.
thank you.
My mother and father were both teachers andthey had their names and salaries posted every year. I thought this was the law…that the names and salaries of ALL public employees are to be published. Why all the hubbub? Unless, of course, you are worried that people will say that we are paying you all this money and what results are we getting? Privacy my butt, you are PUBLIC employees. The public has a right to know WHO we are paying and WHAT we are paying them. Where are our tax dollars going? Did you not realize this when you became a teacher?
FYI ellie
There is a difference between an organization that serves the public, i.e. a privately owned newspaper and it’s employees, and a public employee i.e. someone who is paid their salary from tax dollars, such as police, fireman, teachers, etc.
Why is the salary issue such a big deal. Most teachers I know don’t make squat anyway, so why be freak out about it?
I looked myself up in the database and it said I made $0. Which is pretty close to what my salary as an educator is after taxes… just kidding. sorta. Obviously the database is incomplete and some educators aren’t even in there right now, at least the information in question is not.
Just a post supporting the posting of Teacher and administration salary and names. Additionally, if this info is not readily available in some format, like the states blue book, I believe it should be for all the reasons entitled above.
Although it does depend on the position, I tend to think that someone who is concerned about having their salary revealed, is hiding something (Of course) Please I can take it if you make more than me, I wont be offended. But public positions should be compensated at a wage that is commensurate with the work, supply and demand. Publishing this information is a good step to making this goal a reality. If someone is embarrassed by how much they make, I tend to think that maybe the do not value their skills enough, or perhaps they are being overpaid.
Let me reply that I am NOT in a huff over the publishing of teacher salaries. As a teacher, I fully understand that my salary is paid by public funds. I found it rather fun to see what my friends, colleagues, and administrators make, actually, and to see how many years some of them have been teaching. I was glad to see that only my base salary (the number that appears on the salary schedule) is showing, so actually, my total salary is somewhat more, due to an extended contract. But, this will no doubt bring out both sides, which it already has; those lamenting that teachers don’t make enough, and those who feel we should work for free.
The http://www.stltoday.com/info link doesn’t even work.
(The link in the editor’s blog not mine)
Of course, one could ask, having seen this information, whether there are too many administrative contracts soaking up too large a percentage of the money.
I always find it interesting, on a larger scale, that in most states the highest paid state employees are the major sport coaches at the State Universities. It brings to mind Babe Ruth’s comment when asked why he deserved a significantly higher salary than the President of the US. “I had a better year than he did” was the answer.
The logic is good behind publishing this list, but if JeffCoTeacher is right and his/her salary showed as $0, then the information is flawed. And another said only the base salary was shown, which in effect makes it nearly useless information. It tells you Sally Sixth Grade is making X dollars per year when she actually could be making substantially more.