Lily Withington started working in Portland schools seven years ago, but she didn’t make more than $50,000 until last year. As she unexpectedly found herself living alone after a breakup, responsible for double the rent, the raise was critical in allowing her to keep her housing.
“Teaching is my dream job,” Withington, who teaches algebra at Deering High School, said. “But I’ve had quite a few conversations with my friends and family members that if I can’t pay the bills, I’ll leave.”
After years of educators, districts and school leaders advocating for higher teacher salaries, Maine passed a law late last month to incrementally raise the minimum educator salary to $50,000 by 2029. While that still might not be enough to keep up with the rising cost of living, Withington said, “it feels like the bare minimum, at least.”
For years, the state has lagged behind most others in starting teacher salaries and has had the lowest pay for entry-level teachers in New England. According to the latest National Education Association report comparing educator pay nationwide, Maine ranked 41st with a starting salary of $44,152 and 29th with an average salary of $65,621.
Nationally, “while there is some progress to acknowledge, the overall picture is clear, educator pay is not keeping up [with inflation],” said NEA President Becky Pringle.
“That means many of our educators are effectively earning less today than when they were 10 years ago. And that has real consequences, not just for educators, but for our students, our schools, our communities,” Pringle added.
Jesse Hargrove, president of the Maine Education Association, talked about Maine’s new salary increase at the national NEA briefing, saying, “we’re excited for that, but that’s the start.”
He shared his own story of having to work two jobs, something a new Gallup poll showed 71% of educators across the country also have to do. Educators having to take an additional job “takes time and care away from their students, and fuels burnout,” Hargrove said. Research has shown that educators’ second jobs take them away from tasks including grading, preparing for lessons and responding to parents.
“It also sends the wrong message to students interested in education as a career,” Hargrove said.
Teacher recruitment and retention
Enrollment in Maine’s teacher preparation programs has been increasing over the past few years, bucking the downward enrollment trend across the University of Maine System, spokesperson Samantha Warren said in her testimony supporting the pay increase. However, university leaders believe they can recruit more qualified candidates into their programs and the teaching profession overall “if salaries were commensurate with expected education and experience,” Warren said.
A 2023 report released by the Maine Education Policy Research Institute, or MEPRI, that surveyed more than 600 undergraduate respondents found that 81% said pay was a drawback to choosing teaching as a career, and 88% said that a starting teacher salary of $40,000 was too low and 54% said it was “far too little.”
Amy Johnson, MEPRI’s co-director, told Maine Morning Star that in conversations with superintendents, higher teacher salaries also emerged as a retention tool. Now that the starting salaries are increasing, educators leaving their positions to go to a nearby district with higher pay might happen less.
“The places that are losing folks will talk about how that’s their biggest struggle, and how they are constantly spending time scrutinizing all of the salary schedules of their nearby districts,” she said. “I think some of that will stabilize.”
Ray Phinney, communications director for the Bangor School Department, said that’s why Bangor agreed to higher starting salaries in collective bargaining with the local union even before the state-mandated increases go into effect. This year, new Bangor teachers will make $46,164 and next year, the starting salary will be $47,549.
“Bangor is trying to raise our salaries and be proactive to be competitive with other districts so people will want to come here,” Phinney said.
Low salaries and staffing shortages
Schools across Maine have been grappling with staffing shortages that are also linked to chronically low educator pay. Currently, there are hundreds of unfilled jobs, based on publicly available job listing data.
The state’s three largest districts all have dozens of openings they’re looking to fill: Portland Public Schools had more than 50 openings as of Tuesday, about a dozen of which are long term substitutes and teaching jobs; Lewiston has more than 80 unfilled positions, with almost 30 teacher vacancies; and Bangor has about 30 jobs open, nine of which are teaching positions.
“Pay is a big reason behind this shortage,” Scott Porter, superintendent of Machias-area schools, told the Legislature’s Education Committee earlier this year.
“Back in the day,” Porter said, the district would get 10 or 15 applications for a single open teaching position. “Today, we’re fortunate to get one or two.”
“Getting a young teacher to move to a rural town has always been a challenge, and the cost of living has only gone up,” he added.
In rural school districts, the salary increase will make the biggest difference in attracting and retaining staff, Johnson said.
“Those communities where it’s likely to make the biggest difference are also the communities that really need it the most,” she said. “They’re the ones that are really challenged with shortages, having to hire folks on emergency certification and high turnovers.”
