The North Dakota Education Association is launching an effort to raise the minimum starting salary for teachers.
Ten years ago, the Legislature set that salary at $22,500 a year. The average starting salary now is $32,000. And NDEA wants to make that average starting salary state law.
"We think this is long overdue," said NDEA President Dakota Draper. "We think we're making a very reasonable request. And we think it's important for young people. If you're going to attract new teachers to North Dakota, and make sure they stay here, you need to start doing this."
Draper says this will also help make the teaching profession more attractive to North Dakotans.
"You have to ask yourself -- are you going to go to school for four or five years, and when you get out, the minimum salarry is going to be a measly $22,500?" said Draper. "Come on. You have to have something to tell young people it's worth it to get into teaching."
Draper is hoping the Senate will amend HB 1319 – Governor Dalrymple’s education spending proposal – to raise the minimum. He says it would have about a $4 million price tag.
