OSHKOSH, Wis. (NBC 26) — Going to class during the Covid-19 pandemic, 7th grade student Kylah Scott says her teachers are deserving of a little more.
"When we were virtual... them having to make sure kids are online and get them so they can start learning and everything," she said.
And for those untraditional efforts, every staff member at Scott's Tipler Middle School is getting a raise.
"A lot of teachers have to use their days up to teach other people's children," Scott said.
The Oshkosh school district is giving all of its employees a wage increase of 4.7 percent starting in July. That boost is intended to help staff with increasing inflation.
"[It's] really just, one, a credit to all of the hard work that our employees have done and a gesture of thank you," OASD superintendent Bryan Davis said. "And also to make sure that we're recruiting and able to retain our high-quality staff here in Oshkosh."
The heightened pay is based off a 4.7 percent consumer price increase from February 2020 to June 2021. And the district saved money by transitioning to a self-funded healthcare plan.
"We made a transition in our health insurance plan, which allowed us to be a little bit more flexible with this budget," Davis said. "And we wanted to make sure that money went back to our staff."
An entry-level teacher in Oshkosh makes around $43,000 annually. Soon, they'll get over $45,000.
The district hopes it will help attract educators amid a shortage.
"From a staffing standpoint, some of it is just the lack of people going into education," Davis said. "So we hope to continue to be competitive in our market and to increase the value for teachers and support staff specifically."
Scott agrees. The student likes her teachers and says a pay boost is another way to get them to stay.
"I can see that they care, obviously, about my well-doing and what I'm learning and everything," she said.
According to Salary.com, the average starting salary for an entry-level teacher in Wisconsin is above $45,000. But the pay ranges significantly. The bottom ten percent makes under $35,000 a year, while the top ten percent makes over $58,000.
