We Didn’t Pay Our Teachers …
Now We'll Pay the Price
As a high school junior, I don’t know which classes I will remember best 20 years from now. I am certain, however, that the most valuable takeaways from my K-12 experience won’t be the information I learned, but rather the person I became and the people that helped shape my character.
I will remember the lesson my 5th-grade teacher gave, explaining the power of the word “yet” and how having a growth mindset can make anything possible. I will remember my 7th-grade history teacher telling me that my voice is worth sharing and that by standing up for what I believe in, I can change the world. I will remember my high-school yearbook advisor showing me that true leaders always put their team first.
Teachers do far more than grading papers and giving lectures: They are responsible for shaping entire generations. They influence who we become, how we think, how we treat other people and engage in our community, and our ability to form our own opinions, create change, and continue to learn and grow — and that is not something you can put a price on.
Unfortunately, we do have to put a price on it, and that number is way too low. The Santa Barbara Independent reported that teachers in Santa Barbara are paid an average of approximately $65,000 per year. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, to raise a family of four in Santa Barbara County, you need a household income of approximately $132,500 per year. For single parents, you need at least $98,780. Teacher salaries in Santa Barbara are far below what these professionals deserve for the essential work they do, and far below what it takes to live in this community.
By underpaying our teachers, we are driving them out of our community and losing talent. When our teachers can’t afford to live in Santa Barbara or Goleta, they have to live elsewhere and endure long commutes if they want to continue teaching here. This means that when natural disasters strike — such as the rainstorms and road closures we experienced in early 2023 — many teachers aren’t able to get to work, which affects the quality and consistency of education students get. It also means that our teachers may be less invested in the community they work in, because they don’t live in it and are unable to participate in community activities.
In addition to a year of online schooling during COVID-19, I have dealt with the effects of underpaying teachers firsthand. The new teachers hired after the pandemic couldn’t afford to stay in Santa Barbara, and because they had to leave, multi-level classes, such as languages, were disrupted, creating inconsistencies in the curriculums and stopping students from getting the most out of their education. Studies show that lower quality education results in higher crime rates in communities, poor health, and poverty. An inexperienced and uneducated workforce results in less economic stimulation, which harms the entire community and means that less money can be invested in education. It also leads to less civic engagement and participation in democracy. When we aren’t able to give students a quality education, we are creating a generation of students who will be less likely to succeed and give back to Santa Barbara.
As a community, we cannot stand on the sidelines and watch the current labor contract negotiations play out, whether or not you have students in the public-school system. We have to come together and demand that our teachers are paid a living wage — at a minimum. Anyone who spends time in a classroom knows teachers deserve far more. If we don’t, we leave them no choice but to go on strike.
Write letters, attend school board meetings, and speak up on social media. If there is one thing that I know, it’s that my generation cannot afford another year of disrupted education — we cannot force our teachers to go on strike or continue working to their contracts. Students are already drastically behind in their education because of the pandemic. If teachers are forced to go on strike, students may never catch up on the education lost during that time.
Students need a high-quality education from experienced teachers who are able to be committed to their students and communities. Continuing to neglect and underpay our teachers will affect the future of Santa Barbara. This issue is not just the teachers’ fight — it affects the whole community and will take the whole community to solve.