Area school districts have faced a significant challenge in recent years attracting and retaining high-quality teachers, but many are now turning the tide through innovative measures and strategies.

Districts such as Tamaqua are escalating efforts to create a desirable learning environment that suits both students and staff.

“From a pure financial standpoint, we can’t compete with those schools in the Lehigh Valley,” Superintendent Ray Kinder said.

The district starts teachers on step 1 with a bachelor’s degree at $43,631. A master’s degree brings the step 1 salary to $51,734.

“What we can provide at Tamaqua Area is an outstanding environment for learning. Our support staff goes above and beyond to provide a nurturing setting for students. Our faculty and administration are not only knowledgeable, but caring professionals that are dedicated to helping our student reach their goals and aspirations. Finally, our students and families are supportive of the educational process and are committed to success.”

Weatherly Area School District is trying to offer competitive salary and benefits packages to attract teachers. The starting salary is $48,393.

“On our end, it is also a lot of recruiting,” district Superintendent Daniel M. Malloy explained. “We are actively going out, talking to other districts, talking to our IU and reaching out to previous resources when trying to find the hard-to-fill positions.”

Spanish, language and business science positions are often almost impossible to fill, he explained.

“It’s difficult to fill a lot of positions these days but certainly when you get into those specialized positions it really becomes a challenge,” Malloy said. “That’s not just with teachers but with other educational positions.”

The community

Retaining teachers and other staff, he said, often comes down to the family-oriented Weatherly community.

“I think our staff is reflective of that. I think one of the advantages we have is the type of community that we work in and work for,” he said. “It tends to be an attraction for teachers and as we go through our interview process, that’s something that often our applicants will bring up to us - their draw to the Weatherly area. In a lot of cases, it’s the community itself. It’s a place where they want to work with our kids, work with our community and work with our staff because the group that we do have here is just that - very family-oriented and very community-oriented.”

Competitive salaries have been the focus of many local unions when sitting down at the negotiating table with school boards.

The average starting salary for Pennsylvania teachers during the 2020-21 school year was $46,991, according to the National Education Association.

Palmerton Area School District recently approved a four-year contract with its teachers, calling for a new educator to make $47,743 in their first year, up from $47,000 the year before.

By 2026-27, that starting salary is set to rise to $55,000.

“Both negotiating teams put in a lot of hours and we appreciate all of the time both sides gave,” Michelle Muffley, Palmerton Area Education Association president, said. “I believe it’s fair to both sides. One of the most important things is I think it allows Palmerton to attract quality candidates and retain the teachers we have.”

In January, Lehighton Area School District approved a one-year contract with its teachers in January that increased its existing average starting salary of $44,700 to $50,932.

“The contract represents a major directional change for the district,” Board President Joy Beers said. “It will hopefully will meet the competitive marketplace for new and existing faculty salaries and, at the same time, for the benefit of our taxpayers, introduce a health benefit plan that more closely resembles the educational marketplace of our surrounding districts. We have also made other changes in the collective bargaining agreement that will definitely lead to a more efficient operation of the district by moving away from block scheduling to regular scheduling for the high school which other regional schools have done years ago.”

Jim Thorpe currently begins teachers at $49,676, while Pleasant Valley’s rate stands at $47,357. Northern Lehigh’s starting salary is $54,550.

The Pennsylvania State Education Association is calling on legislators to set a minimum $60,000 salary for educators, counselors and nurses.

“Fixing the longer-term educator pipeline is going to take a sustained, multiyear commitment to address barriers,” PSEA President Rich Askey said earlier this year. “And the most significant of those are the cost of becoming a teacher and the salaries we pay. Educator compensation must reflect the value that these professionals provide to their students, their communities, and society as a whole.”

Jim Thorpe Area School District recently embarked on a climate survey that yielded insight into the mindset of its teachers. Superintendent Robert Presley said staff showed a desire to have more of a voice in decision making.

“We need that collaboration with our staff and that’s something we’ll work on coming out of this survey,” Presley said.

A Penn State Center for Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis released earlier this year showed prestige and respect for teachers has declined dramatically in recent years.

In 2011, 77% of teachers reported feeling respected by community members. By 2022, the percentage had fallen to just 46%.

“We pride ourselves on being a family,” Panther Valley Superintendent Dave McAndrew said. “While we may not pay the same as other districts, we truly care about each other. Often people want to be valued and we all do all we can to make sure our teachers understand their importance.”

Michael Brennan, Marian Catholic High School’s head of school, said one of the biggest challenges at the private school is continuing to meet the needs of school families with financial aid.

“However, we are blessed to have extremely generous donors through financial aid donations and through the PA tax credit program,” Brennan said. “We are so grateful for the sacrifices of our families to choose a Catholic education for their sons and daughters.”

As for hiring teachers or other staff members, Marian hasn’t had to do so recently.

“We are extremely fortunate to have zero staff turnover this year. That staff stability is certainly a great item as we are able to continue to build on our new features and programs,” Brennan said. “We are so excited to bring back our great staff for 2023-24.”

Staff writers Jill Whalen, Terry Ahner and Kelly Monitz Socha contributed to this story.