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Jordan District Teachers Vote To Approve New Salary

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Teachers in Salt Lake County’s Jordan District voted to approve a new salary schedule that will significantly impact starting pay and year-to-year raises.

The new salary schedule will start beginning teachers with $40,000 a year. That’s up from $33,000.

 

When these plans were announced earlier this month it began a chain reaction with neighboring districts Granite and Canyons following suit. Which makes Janice Voorhies, the president of Jordan’s school board, very happy.

 

“Every time another district raises their salary we’re all shouting hallelujah because it’s not just our teachers that need a living wage it’s every teacher in the state," Voorhies says.

 

Along with the starting pay bump the district also plans to remove a salary cap that previously kept raises from continuing after 15 years. Now, teachers are looking at smaller year-to-year increases but with potentially more money in the long run.

 

Because not everyone will benefit equally, current teachers will be given the option of sticking to the old payment schedule. Voorhies also says teachers who transferred from other districts or started mid-year will be affected a little differently.

 

“It looks like we’re going to have to look at every teacher individually," says Voorhies.

 

The vote was coordinated by the district teachers union and the board is expected to finalize the salary proposal next week.

 

Lee Hale began listening to KUER while he was teaching English at a Middle School in West Jordan (his one hour commute made for plenty of listening time). Inspired by what he heard he applied for the Kroc Fellowship at NPR headquarters in DC and to his surprise, he got it. Since then he has reported on topics ranging from TSA PreCheck to micro apartments in overcrowded cities to the various ways zoo animals stay cool in the summer heat. But, his primary focus has always been education and he returns to Utah to cover the same schools he was teaching in not long ago. Lee is a graduate of Brigham Young University and is also fascinated with the way religion intersects with the culture and communities of the Beehive State. He hopes to tell stories that accurately reflect the beliefs that Utahns hold dear.
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