Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1546952
Continued from Page 30 Even with collective bargaining rights, California public school teachers still make significantly less than peers in their state with similar education and credentials. all too well, are under-resourced, understaffed schools, inade- quate facilities, crowded classrooms, and more. California has one of the highest student-to-teacher ratios in the country, nearly 22:1, against a national average of 15:1. "It's not reasonable to expect educators to pay for supplies with their own money, work unpaid overtime, or take on responsibilities previously done by professionals in eliminated positions," said Elena Villa, a 26-year veteran educator and Redlands Teachers Assn. member who teaches high school performing arts. (Villa spoke at the press conference; students at her school worked with researchers on the report.) "Professionally, I am exhausted, but we do this work because we want to create robust programs that are a norm and not the exception, so our students and communities can understand what's possible when a school looks fully funded." And while many California educators have recently seen wage increases after organizing locally and in some areas going on strike to improve working and learning environments, teachers still face a huge pay penalty in the Golden State. "California's nominal teacher pay looks decent on paper until you account for the fact that California is the single most expensive state in the country to live in," Wething said. "Once you adjust for that and compare California teachers to similarly credentialed workers in other fields, California teachers are paid nearly 20% less." A path to permanent reform e report acknowledges that the policy reforms and progres- sive tax initiatives in the 2010s notably changed the trajectory of investment in California public education for the better ; in fact, How California's teacher pay gap compares with other states: State-specific regression-adjusted weekly wage penalties for public school teachers relative to their college-educated, non- teaching peers. 32 cta.org Feature