Beaufort County officials should OK school district’s budget with raises for teachers | Opinion

Everybody’s feeling pinched by inflation, but new teachers in Beaufort County are particularly challenged. Typically right out of college and living on a single income, more than 40 percent of a rookie teacher’s take-home pay can be gobbled up by rent.

A year into their jobs, rookie teachers are barely afloat financially, even if they live frugally, data show. Their options are getting part-time jobs, a roommate to share the rent or, sadly, leaving for another profession.

With fewer graduates choosing teaching careers and many leaving after a few years, schools everywhere are grappling with teacher shortages. In Beaufort County, recruiting and retaining teachers is especially daunting because of high housing costs. The Beaufort County School District has more than 150 vacancies about 11 weeks before school starts — a troubling prospect for parents because teacher shortages can mean too many kids per teacher in classrooms.

The school district will have a better chance of properly staffing classrooms if the Beaufort County Council approves the district’s 2022-23 budget, which calls for pay increases.

Data from nine government and private sources, all with solid reputations for accuracy, illustrate what teachers, especially rookies, are up against:

• Since 2020, rents in Beaufort County have risen 31.1 percent, faster than in any other county in S.C.
• Average annual rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Beaufort County is $13,782, the third highest in South Carolina after Charleston and Berkeley counties.
• Rents may go higher. By year’s end, residential rents in the U.S. are expected to rise 6 percent, according to The CoStar Group, a Washington firm that analyzes real estate trends. Such an increase here would push average rent for a one-bedroom apartment up $826, to $14,608 a year, 45 percent of a rookie teacher’s take-home pay.
• First-year pay for rookie teachers — $42,928 — can leave them about $47 in the hole after a year. Take-home pay is diminished by the usual deductions, but there’s an extra hit: another $3,400 comes out for the State Retirement System, more in succeeding years as salaries increase.
• Inflation has driven up living costs so quickly that one respected cost-of-living survey, by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Urban Studies and Planning Department, was updated mid-year to account for higher prices.

Skepticism about some of these numbers is understandable. After all, isn’t $42,928 enough to get by on? Lots of people do even with less income. But the cost-of-living data I reviewed, particularly on rental rates, was fairly consistent, and outlier numbers were discarded.

The school district’s 2022-23 budget would raise total compensation for rookie teachers from $42,928 to $48,066, with corresponding increases for teachers with more experience and advanced degrees.

Is it too much? No. After withholding taxes and other required take-outs — the contribution to the State Retirement System alone would take about $4,100 right off the top — a rookie teacher would take home about $35,700. At the end of the year, after paying for rent and other living expenses, a frugal teacher would have about $3,100 for savings or for unexpected expenses. That cushion would shrink to $2,277 if rents rise 6 percent, as CoStar predicts.

Yes, raising salaries would modestly increase property taxes for businesses and owners of second homes, but not for residents who live in and own their homes. Owners of second homes would pay $60 more a year for a home assessed at $250,000; $96 more for one assessed at $400,000.

Understandably, County Council members may be sensitive about adding to taxpayers’ burden. They know businesses are likely to pass higher expenses on to customers, straining household budgets a bit more. But it’s worth remembering that most of us pay no property taxes for operating our schools, thanks to a shortsighted change in the state’s tax laws in 2006. And if our taxes are so onerous, why are so many new residents moving here?

The council reviewed the school district’s budget on May 23 and will consider it again on June 13 and 27. Both meetings will be at 6 p.m. at Council Chambers at 100 Ribaut Road, Beaufort.

Please attend and let your voice be heard.

Fitz McAden, former editor of The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette, is married to a teacher recruiter for the Beaufort County School District.

This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 7:30 AM.