Raising Salaries for ND Teachers | Video

Kristin Clouston | 3/6/2013

The current minimum starting salary for North Dakota teachers hasn`t gone up in 10 years, but the Governor and the North Dakota Education Association are trying to change that. The House has already passed the Governor`s bill that would raise starting teacher salaries from $22,500 to $27,000 a year.

The NDEA says the average first year teacher salary is $32,000 and that should be the new legal minimum.

"It`s no secret you go to school for four years and you come out usually with a mountain of debt. $22,500 isn`t really going to pay these bills off very quickly and a lot of people, a lot of good, young people they look around, especially in this state and there`s a lot of other careers and jobs that will pay them a lot more," said NDEA President Dakota Draper.

The issue will go before a joint Senate committee next Tuesday.

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