Editor’s note: The following is an opinion article submitted by township resident Greg DeLuca regarding contract negations between the Robbinsville School District and the Robbinsville Education Association teacher’s union.
On June 6, the Robbinsville Board of Education issued a statement about contract negotiations with the Robbinsville Education Association via a Facebook post and email.
In that statement, the board accuses the REA of being “misleading and deceptive” and states that “upon a review of the facts, as shown in the chart below” the REA is “incorrect” in claiming that teachers in Robbinsville are the lowest paid in Mercer County.
In that chart, the board offers as evidence the fact that the starting teacher salary in Robbinsville is higher than some Mercer districts, and that the median salary in Robbinsville exceeds that of a teacher in Ewing.
This is, to borrow a term from the board, “misleading and deceptive,” as well as a nearly useless way to evaluate a salary guide. By choosing the median salary instead of looking at the salary guide as a whole, the board is trying to avoid the exact point made by the REA: it is more financially beneficial to be a teacher elsewhere, like Ewing, than Robbinsville.
Salary guides play a significant role in teacher recruitment and retention. No teacher or rational human being looks at a salary guide and wonders how they will be doing when earning the median salary. Instead, they focus on three things: where do I start, where do I end, and how long does it take to get there. This is, after all, how the salary guide will affect their lives over the course of their career.
Teacher salary guides don’t move drastically. While the salary on each step will increase a little from contract to contract, it is reasonable to take a current guide as an approximate expectation of what the future holds.
Additionally, when comparing salary guides from different districts, it is reasonable to assume that they will both grow with about the same amounts and distribution from their respective starting points.
Based on this, and the fact that a teacher evaluating where they’d like to spend their career can’t know the exact compensation per step on future salary guides, it makes sense to consider a salary guide as a snapshot of the rest of their career earnings, even through retirement. When evaluated in this far more realistic way, a teacher in Robbinsville will earn less over their career than a teacher in Ewing, the example offered by the board.
Let us consider a hypothetical teacher who entered the workforce fresh out of college at 22 years old and follow them through their career based on the 2021-2022 salary guides of Robbinsville and Ewing.
Due to 2011 reforms, teacher retirement eligibility (and therefore the lengths of their careers) are broken into five tiers. A teacher who retires before they are eligible incurs a penalty on their pension, so naturally, almost no one does this. The earliest a tier one (hired before July 2007) teacher can retire without incurring a penalty is age 55.
Using the salary guides as a snapshot of future earnings, (and repeating the top step for all years worked beyond the end of the guide), when we add up the salaries for each year of employment, a teacher in Ewing will earn $2,654,290 over 33 years, and a teacher in Robbinsville will earn $2,534,275. The teacher in Robbinsville earns $120,015 less over the course of their career.
Tier two (hired between July 2007 and November 2008) cannot retire until they are 60 without incurring a penalty. A tier two teacher in Ewing will earn $3,131,340 over 38 years, and a teacher in Robbinsville will earn $2,978,400. The teacher in Robbinsville earns $152,940 less over the course of their career.
Tier three (hired between November 2008 and May 2010) and tier four (hired between May 2010 and June 2011) teachers cannot retire until they are 62 without incurring a penalty. Their respective total earrings are $3,322,160 in Ewing and $3,156,050 in Robbinsville. The teacher in Robbinsville earns $166,110 less over the course of their career.
Tier five teachers (hired after June 2011) cannot retire until they are 65 without incurring a penalty. Their respective total earnings are $3,608,390 in Ewing and $3,422,525 in Robbinsville. The teacher in Robbinsville earns $185,865 less over the course of their career.
The salary guide is one of the main ways a school district recruits and retains talented teachers. It is therefore important to note that the group looking at the biggest losses are new and younger teachers, the exact people more likely to change districts in search of a better deal.
But the pay disparity doesn’t end the day a teacher retires. Teacher retirement earnings are calculated differently for each tier, but are all based on an average of the highest three or five years of salary (usually the end of a career). Tier one and tier two teachers will continue to earn less in Robbinsville through their retirement, but again, as we are talking about the salary guide’s ability to recruit and retain talent, let’s look at the impact on younger teachers more likely to move.
Tier three pensions are calculated as: years of service/55 X final average salary
Robbinsville: 40 yos/55 X 88,825 = $64,600 per year.
Ewing: 40 yos/55 X 95,410 = $69,389 per year.
If a tier three teacher lives 16 years after retirement (age 78) a Robbinsville teacher loses an additional $4,789 a year from their pension, for a total of $76,624
The total loss for tier three Robbinsville teachers is now $242,734.
Tier four pensions are calculated as: years of service/60 X final average salary
Robbinsville: 40 yos/60 X 88,825 = $59,216 per year.
Ewing: 40 yos/60 X 95,410 = $63,606 per year.
If a tier four teacher lives 16 years after retirement (age 78) a Robbinsville teacher loses an additional $4,390 a year from their pension, for a total of $70,240.
The total loss for tier four Robbinsville teachers is now $236,350.
Tier five pensions are calculated as: years of service/60 X final average salary
Robbinsville: 43 yos/60 X 88,825 = $63,657 per year.
Ewing: 43 yos/60 X 95,410 = $68,377 per year.
If a teacher tier lives 13 years after retirement (age 78) a Robbinsville teacher loses an additional $4,720 per year from their pension, for a total of $61,360
The total loss for tier five Robbinsville teachers is now $247,225.
New teachers and younger teachers most likely to change districts will consider the long-term implications of the salary guide when deciding where to settle down. Depending on when they began their career, tier 3,4, and 5 teachers in Robbinsville stand to lose anywhere from $236,350 to $247,225 in accumulated wealth from day one of employment through their death compared to a teacher in Ewing.
Not convinced that the full picture of the salary guide promotes retention and informs teacher’s career choices?
Consider this: a retirement tier five teacher could work 17 years to the top of Robbinsville’s salary guide. ($84,825) leave, go to Ewing on step 7, ($61,570, a $23,255 pay cut) and still make more money before retirement than if they had stayed in Robbinsville for their entire career.
What about the rest of Mercer county? Robbinsville’s salary guide pays out less in a direct 17 year comparison with every other district. The shortfall increases as years go by.
In fact, a tier five teacher could leave Robbinsville after reaching the top of the guide, take a pay cut on a lower step in any other Mercer County district, and still make more money by retirement than if they had remained in Robbinsville for their entire career. All of these pay cuts range from $23,255 – $16,405, with the exception of Hamilton ($3,576).
Teachers in Robbinsville are the lowest paid in Mercer County.
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When the REA made their presentation to community members, they presented the full salary picture from several districts. While there is some variation, the end result is the same. The final salaried decades of a teacher’s career in Robbinsville and their ensuing retirement income lag significantly behind. The board’s choice of a useless metric to accuse the REA of lying about teacher salaries is despicable. The REA deserves better, beginning with an apology.
There is already a teacher shortage, and the number of college students enrolled in teacher degree programs has been declining since 2007. Student teachers are getting multiple offers, districts are bumping up pay for younger teachers, and experienced teachers looking to move are being snatched off the market, often with some or all of their salary steps honored.
How does Robbinsville expect to remain competitive when they are not compensating their teachers at the same level as other districts? How is a disrespectful, petty, deceiving, and vaguely threatening letter about negotiations blasted out to the community going to make teachers feel respected and want to stay?
There is nothing more vital to a school system than the teachers in the classroom. No curriculum or technology can have as great an impact on students. Recruiting and retaining the best people costs money, and if Robbinsville wants to maintain the reputation of its schools, the board must offer—and the community must provide—adequate funds. Faced with an increasingly competitive labor market for teachers, Robbinsville is not well served by the board’s actions. After all, Robbinsville teachers could make more money not only in Ewing, the board’s chosen comparison, but in any other district in Mercer County.
Greg DeLuca
Robbinsville
Robbinsville High School.,
