Teachers from a number of school districts around the state of Minnesota have been out in full force this week, jockeying for new and better contracts.
One of these districts was the Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools. As the Prior Lake Savage Education Association wrote on Facebook:
On Day 164 of working without a new contract and our members meet at tonight’s school board meeting. Over 100 members braved the cold weather to protest for a fair contract. We talked, laughed, and ate together. It’s amazing to see 100 passionate educators come together and fight for respect.
PLSEA teachers work extremely hard for their students every day. We are asking for a fair contract, which includes things like an increase to our salary, insurance adjustments, and contract language that protects students and staff.
Given this fight, we thought it would be a good idea to look into financial numbers in the Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools actually look like. According to the district’s official report, FY 2023 Actual Expenditures and Transfers Out came in at $162,746,599. When divided by the District’s Average Daily Membership (ADM) of 8,766 students, the average spending per student comes in at $18,566.
Now, that number isn’t as steep as some of the district’s we’ve been seeing lately, but it’s still a fair amount to be spending per student. It means that if the average Prior Lake-Savage classroom serves the state average of 22 children, each classroom should have just under $408,452 allotted to it.
According to Glassdoor, the average teacher salary in Prior Lake is $56,000 a year. Where is the other $352,452 allotted to that teacher’s classroom going? Why isn’t that teacher getting more?
Now consider if Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) were available in the state of Minnesota. At $7,000 per student, an enterprising teacher in the Prior Lake-Savage District could form a microschool with just 10 children, raising his salary to $70,000 while cutting the size of his class in half. Not bad, huh?
Perhaps instead of protesting for higher salaries, teachers in the Prior Lake-Savage area should just cut to the chase and start protesting for ESAs.
Editor’s note: This article originally cited financial reporting for Elk River rather than Prior Lake-Savage. Because of this, the post has been updated to reflect the correct number of $18,566 per student rather than $17,910. We apologize for the error.
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Image Credit: Prior Lake-Savage teachers gather to protest for higher salaries (Prior Lake Savage Education Association).
