North Clackamas Teachers Deserve the Raise – Only in the Top 20% of Wage Earners

There is no doubt that the teachers in the North Clackamas School District deserve the raise they “bargained” for and are getting. Please remember that the top salary in the district for a teacher is $68,113 and that does NOT include benefits or PERS contributions.

In the United States there are roughly 130,000,000 jobs (although that number is declining fairly rapidly). 80% of those jobs pay less than $60,000 per year. So, you see, North Clackamas teachers need that raise — those at the top of the salary schedule are only in the top 20% of salary earners in the nation. (job salary figures from BusinessWeek, September 2009)