This edition of the newsletter extends the celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week by a few days. I hope that all of you enjoyed the well-deserved accolades and expressions of gratitude that I know your students, their parents, and your school leadership showered on you. Please allow me to express my personal gratitude for your dedication to your vocation, and especially for the “little things” you do that fly under the radar but mean the world to the students entrusted to your care.
It is almost a punchline that teachers are “not in it for the money,” and Catholic school teachers especially so. Your willingness to sacrifice financial benefits is a great individual and collective witness to your commitment to Catholic schools, sharing the Gospel, and forming your students as part of your ministry.
On the other hand, Catholic schools are called to honor teachers’ commitment, including making efforts to offer compensation that more fully recognizes your expertise, hard work, and commitment. The Office of Catholic Schools has been working closely with the Office of Finance, the director of Human Resources, and elementary school principals to devise and implement a salary scale for full time elementary school teachers. Historically, in our diocese, salaries for elementary school teachers have been lower than those for high school teachers.
The salary scale, which will begin to roll out for the 2026-27 school year, makes three important changes to the current salary structure. First, it recognizes years of experience, degree type, and certification as factors in each teacher’s salary. Second, it increases the starting salary to attract faith-filled Catholics who are excellent teachers to Catholic schools, while ensuring that salaries for experienced teachers with the same qualifications are higher than those of new teachers. Third, there is a cost-of-living increase on the scale each year.
The current plan is for salaries to increase more than they typically would each year over the next 5-7 years to reduce the “pay gap” between teachers in Catholic schools and other kinds of schools. In addition to increasing individual teachers’ salaries, an important part of this process is addressing significant salary differences that currently exist between elementary schools across the diocese. As the new scale is implemented, some teachers may see larger salary adjustments than others, particularly at schools where salaries have historically fallen below diocesan averages. Other teachers whose salaries are already aligned more closely with the developing scale may see smaller adjustments during the initial phases of implementation. This does not reflect differences in value, dedication, or appreciation. Rather, it reflects the diocesan commitment to creating greater long-term equity and consistency across the elementary schools.
Because the introduction of a salary scale is a multi-year process, each elementary school principal will share the intended scale for the 2027-2028 school year when you sign your contract for the 2026-2027 school year. This is so that you can see the salary for next year, included in your contract, relative to where it is intended to be two years from now, in the second year of the rollout. You will, of course, also be able to recognize any increase from this year to next year as part of the transition to the salary scale.
We hope that this process will lead to more equity among elementary teachers across the diocese and that it will be a step in the direction of recognizing more fully the value that each teacher brings to his or her students and school community.