Iowa Wesleyan closing its doors
- Thread starter 4cy16
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The superintendent for her district told me that schools in our area are pretty close. One thing that pulls average wages down (its an average of all the teachers) is that some schools will do things like early retirements to pull funds from a management fund so they can move money around and then hire younger teachers to pull the salary payments down. One thing to check is what is the experience of the average teacher along with what their average salary. My wife has people she teaches with that has never turned in their paperwork to get the BA + 15/20/30 or whatever they have. Most get their +'s just from their credits they need to do to keep their license. My wife got hers earlier because she did things for the school that paid her while at the same time gave her credits to count for it. So she boosted her pay and had the school pay her to do.
Granted I live in NEIA, but Wartburg seems to still be very popular with local kids. The facilities are great, and it seems like you see people with Wartburg degrees doing well.
They just seem far more established and successful than the ones I mentioned as dicey
The two schools you mentioned are AAA and AA sized schools, one that is getting a majority of its tax base from N. Ames, that is Gilbert and the other is within what 30 miles of Ames. These are rural schools only in name. Try looking at salaries in A and 1A school districts not close to a larger city like Ames or IC and you will find that most are topping the salary scale around mid to upper 50's, without extra duties like coaching. I am one of the highest paid non coaches in my district, small A, playing 8 man football. 34 years of teaching with a BA + 30, my salary is mid 50's. A long way from your 70 grand.
I went to the Buzz Levick basketball camp at Wartburg in the summer of 1972 right before my sophomore year in high school. I don't know back then if EIU, ISU or Drake had basketball camps. They weren't the big deal that they are today.
It always seems like it's the schools with NAIA athletic affiliation that seem to go broke. I would guess most of the schools like Wartburg, Central, Simpson, and Upper Iowa will be fine. Who knows? I haven't figured out how the hell Graceland stays open.
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At a school like Seymour, there are no add ons as you call them other than coaching salaries to the base. Two years ago, everyone in the state got another $1,000 in COVID funds, but you are really digging yourself into a hole here. In fact at Seymour, they do not even cover the entire dollar amount for single insurance, many schools do not.
The salary in the posted scale, is what you are earning, without doing something like coaching, summer school or extra duties.
I'd rename it to the Big Money Threshers Reunion.
Side note. I drank Tom Wopat's beer after he was at Old Threshers
Luke Duke --> beer --> KnappShack
Apparently northern schools pay quite a bit more than southern. Mid 50s is a ways down the pay schedule for our A school and the list the superintendent sent me has is in the middle with a couple grand on each side except the top one which is about 5-6 grand higher.
Well, I’m not digging a hole, just seem to be pointing out the cheapness of the southern schools in this state. That Seymour pay scale is awful. Whoever negotiated that for the teachers Union should be tarred and feathered for the crappy job they did.
Pulled up a couple schools up north that are class A schools not by what you would call wealthy centers. Will compare to Seymour since that is the south one that everyone has been using. (data using what the one link provided, which is slightly off what the local super showed me for a few schools, the local one read a couple grand light of what the local super says, but we will go with the link numbers)
Seymour Range 36,497 to 60,497, average 47,904. Average age of teacher 46.3
Lake Mills (my alma mater) range 37,243 to 88,982, Average 59,904. Average age of teacher 40.9
Rockford (8 man football so very small) range 38,670 to 99,500, Average 57,332. Average age of teacher 40.3
Lake Mills and Rockford would have average age of teachers half way to retirement so hallway through what Seymour would have for a pay scale. With average wages knocking on the door of 60k. Seymour teachers are 5-6 years older but make 10-12k less.
Looks like you may want to move north for your last 5 years to get a 15-20k boost if you are maxxing out at 55k.
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Willy Penn at least used to be in the same conference. Not to say the financials there are necessarily as strong as a result. They were always one of the 'worst' but my experience was 25+ years ago.
Right. The DII/DIII should be fine. Some NAIA too (Briar Cliff, Morningside, and Grandview). But most of the NAIA ones come off as shaky.
There’s a MASSIVE economic gap between far southern Iowa and far northern Iowa across the board. Not surprised to see it expressed in teacher salaries.
Northern Iowa is Minnesota with a Republican governor. Southern Iowa is a few more counties of Missouri.
I can't speak for NE IA, but the northern 2-3 tiers of counties in north central Iowa and the southern 2-3 tiers in south central Minnesota really are no different. The land, the people in styles and beliefs, economies and other things you would not be able to tell the difference.
I know people who have done custom work in the southern two tiers and they say it's a different world down there in Ag.
