BILLINGS — The Billings School Board approved Monday a 5.85 percent salary increase for Superintendent Erwin Garcia, which the district says was tied to a pay increase for teachers that will kick in this fall.
Garcia's salary will increase from $205,000 to $217,000, something he said Tuesday is proportionate to the 6 percent average raise negotiated by the teachers' union.
"Montana is ranked 51 in beginning teacher pay and is ranked 40 in the nation for average teacher pay. We shouldn't be proud of that," Garcia said at the Lincoln Center Tuesday.
That's having an impact inside the classroom, he said.
"In the past, we had a position and we had 20, 30, 40, 50 people applying for one position. Nowadays, you have one position. Sometimes you don't have any applicants," said Garcia.
This spring, the Billings Education Association negotiated a new contract for teachers, a deal that both the president of the union and Garcia call a win for both sides.
"If we don't increase teacher salaries, we'll not remain competitive. It's going to be very difficult to attract teachers in," said the president of the Billings Education Association, Lance Edward.
"If you look at the new matrix that we designed, the purpose was to bring new teachers up to about 12%," Garcia said.
That deal is already paying dividends, he said.
"We had about 70 vacancies when I took the position a year ago. Today, I'm really excited to announce that we only have about eight teacher vacancies," said Garcia.
Garcia is benefiting as well because the pay raise for teachers also means a pay raise for him.
"My salary is connected to the teacher salary matrix," said Garcia. "We maintained the original language of the contract, which was my salary is proportional to the salary that teachers receive."
Garcia will receive a $12,000 annual raise. His salary was already highest in the state for school administrators before the raise.
The next closest salary is in Missoula, where superintendent Micah Hill is paid $190,000 a year, $27,000 less than Garcia.
Salaries in Montana's other AA districts, Bozeman, Butte, Kalispell, and Great Falls range anywhere from $185,000 to $175,000.
By comparison, Elsie Arntzen, the state's superintendent of public instruction, makes a base salary of $117,000 per year.
"I think it's very difficult to compare apples to apples in these situations," Edward said.
Edward said while $217,000 may seem like a lot, it's not surprising.
"This is the largest district. I don’t think that would be unexpected," added Edward.
Rather, he's focused on the positive as higher salaries means higher teacher retention, a solution long needed in Billings and across the state.
"I do think this is a first step, and we want to keep this going," said Edward.
"I hope that the audience understands how urgent it is for us to support our teachers and to increase salaries for our teachers and improve their working conditions," Garcia said.
