Report: Disparity in teacher salaries

Marisa O’Neil

A statewide report released Tuesday found significant disparities

between teacher salaries at low-income and affluent schools, but

local officials say it isn’t an issue in Newport-Mesa.

The report, published by The Education Trust-West, compared

estimated average teacher salaries between schools with high numbers

and low numbers of poverty-level and minority students. In some

districts, it found, the pay disparity was more than $5,000.

In Newport-Mesa Unified School District, the gap in teacher pay

between high-poverty and low-poverty schools was $1,352, according to

the report. Teacher salaries at Newport-Mesa schools with a low

number of minority students averaged $801 higher than those with

large minority populations.

“That means Newport-Mesa is spending more on teachers in schools

serving the fewest numbers of low income, Latino and African-American

students,” said Russlynn Ali, executive director of The Education

Trust-West. “Relative to the rest of the state, Newport-Mesa stands

out a bit. Most of the districts statewide have larger poverty gaps

than minority gaps. Newport-Mesa doesn’t follow that trend.”

For example, Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District pays

teachers at schools in more affluent areas more than $5,000 more than

those in low-income areas, according to the report. West Contra Costa

Unified School District has a gap of more than $7,000 between schools

with high and low numbers of minority students, the report stated.

The Education Trust-West is an Oakland-based organization that

examines achievement gaps among students. The report is entitled

“California’s Hidden Teacher Spending Gap: How State and District

Budgeting Practices Shortchange Poor and Minority Students and Their

Schools.”

It does not identify specific teacher salaries for each district.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District Trustees last year approved

teacher raises, bringing the starting salary to about $38,000.

Teachers get pay increases for time on the job and advanced degrees

and top out at about $83,000.

The report shows that more experienced, better-paid teachers often

end up in more affluent schools, rather than the schools with more

needy students, Ali said.

“There’s no greater impact on student achievement than the power

of a teacher,” she said. “It’s more important than socio-economic

status, race or the educational level of their parents.”

Lorri McCune, assistant superintendent of human resources for

Newport-Mesa Unified School District, said that she hasn’t seen the

report but doesn’t think schools on the predominantly-Latino Westside

of Costa Mesa are getting the short shrift when it comes to teachers.

Costa Mesa’s Whittier Elementary School, she said, has some of the

most experienced teachers in the district.

“So many teachers come in with a passion to teach the

English-learner kids,” she said. “They don’t come in and say, ‘Oh, I

want to be on the Newport Beach side [of the district].”

Los Angeles Unified School District is implementing a plan to

place more experienced teachers at its lower-income schools to

improve performance there, Ali said. Newport-Mesa hasn’t seen a need

to do that, McCune said.

New and experienced teachers are spread throughout the district,

said Jim Rogers, president of the Newport-Mesa Federation of

Teachers. Many veteran teachers with masters degrees, and some with

doctorates, teach in Westside schools, he said.

“The staff at Estancia [High School] are highly professional,” he

said. “They work their tails off to do the best they can. The

teachers at Estancia wouldn’t want to teach anywhere else.”

The report is available online at https://www.hiddengap.org.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil @latimes.com.