While many policy makers and residents lament the lack of good-paying year-round jobs in the Chilkat Valley, most don’t address the fact that some of Haines’ largest employers, the school and the borough, are underpaid relative to the rest of the state and similarly-sized communities.

Of the 54 school districts in Alaska, Haines teachers are among the lowest paid. Haines ranks 49th out of 54 for the highest paid salaries according to an NEA-Alaska (NEA) salary comparison survey. More noteworthy, it takes 25 years, based on the district’s step chart, to make that highest level of pay, longer than any other district requires to reach salary caps.

“If you’re a Haines teacher it takes 25 years to reach your maximum lifetime earnings, which is bad, financially and for retirement,” said NEA-Alaska director Monica Southworth.

In Haines, a teacher with a bachelor’s degree can make about $79,000 after 25 years in the district whereas in Wrangell, a teacher could make about $93,000 after 16 years. A new teacher in Skagway is paid $50,000 compared to a new teacher in Haines, who is paid $45,400. In Skagway it takes 18 years to make $88,800, that district’s highest paid salary.

(Teachers can earn more if they earn college credits. In Haines, a teacher would need to work at the school for 16 years and take 75 hours of college credits, or obtain a masters degree, to earn $70,000.)

In 2015, the school’s negotiating team and the school board agreed to lower the top salary and raise the starting salary to try to increase recruitment, Southworth said. But today, Haines is seventh from the bottom for starting salary. Between 2015 and 2020, there was no cost of living increase for district staff.

“Most districts are doing an increase every year of some sort,” Southworth said. “A majority have been doing increases regularly.”

At a school board meeting last week, both superintendent Roy Getchell and principal Lilly Boron, who also receive lower than average pay compared to their counterparts in Southeast, said recruiting teachers has been difficult. Retaining and hiring teachers is a nation-wide problem. The board voted to increase substitute teachers’ pay last week in an attempt to be more competitive.

If the goal of raising the lower pay scale in 2013 was aimed to attract new teachers, it’s likely not working now.

“I would think that might make them less competitive,” said Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development economist Sara Teel of the low-pay rate relative to the rest of the state.

Retired teacher Patty Brown was on the negotiating team when it increased the bottom of the pay scale at the expense of the top.

“We knew it looked a little weird, but the whole point was to make recruitment stronger,” Brown said of the effort. “If other districts are finding the money to pay people at both ends, that’s not enough help any more. If there were no increase in (steps) then, yeah, other districts are moving their people up and we aren’t. In other words, it’s not that sweet of a deal to be a new teacher here.”

school board president Anne Marie Palmieri said comparing salaries misses important factors like health insurance and other benefits. “I think that in comparing salaries it’s only giving you part of that entire picture for compensation. That could be a little misleading,” Palmieri said. “I think the picture is a little richer than drawing the line from salary to salary.”

The Haines School District is among 23 that utilize plans from the Public Education Health Trust (PEHT). In the region, Craig, Chatham and Cordova all pay their teachers more, require less time to receive maximum pay and offer superior health plans. Wrangell and Petersburg offer plans that aren’t as good as Haines, but both pay their teachers more in starting and highest salaries and it takes less time to reach the highest level of pay.  Haines’ health plan is the third best that PEHT offers.

Does Haines’ health plan make up for the lower pay?

“No,” Southworth said. “If you look at the other districts, they’re offering good health care and are also paying their teachers more.”

Local teachers’ union president and third-grade teacher Kristin White said she plans to go to the negotiation table next year to ask for pay increases across the board and a shorter path to top pay.

“When it comes to certified and classified staff compensation, it’s time to acknowledge the data,” White said. “The numbers reflected on our salary schedules are among the lowest in the state. The cost of living in Haines is high. Teacher salaries affect the supply of teachers; attracting and retaining qualified teachers is an important driver of a healthy district.”

White said school staff have a positive relationship with administrators and are grateful for their support, but that it’s time to initiate a long-overdue conversation.

“While there is comfort in quiet, silence or avoiding this difficult conversation would mean nothing changes,” White said. “I’ll set the first domino in motion by saying it’s a priority topic as we approach negotiations next year.”

While not as drastic of a disparity, Haines Borough staff are also underpaid based on an Alaska Municipal League salary survey, said Public Employees Union Local 71 representative Trenton English.

“Across the board they were underpaid comparatively when you’re looking at like-sized cities,” English said.

With two exceptions. Unlike school administrators who are also paid less than average, the Haines Police chief and borough manager are paid above average compared to like-sized communities, English said.

“I’ve seen the assembly pass two new contracts, which gives me hope that they’re valuing their employees a little more,” English said. “The two contracts I’ve seen, they’re both well ahead of anything I can find for like-sized cities.”

New borough manager Annette Kreitzer makes $130,000. The Petersburg Borough manager, who’s worked for the borough for more than 10 years, is paid $121,000. Police chief Heath Scott is paid $110,000. Petersburg’s police chief makes $100,877. Cordova’s and Dillingham’s both earn less than $100,000. Wrangell’s chief, however, is paid $117,00.

Union negotiations for borough staff will likely begin sometime in December, English said.

According to Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development Statistics, Haines’ average monthly wages in 2019 (pre-pandemic) were $3,376, below many other communities in Southeast. Local government jobs’ monthly wages in Haines, including teachers, fell just below its total average. The opposite is true in towns like Petersburg, Sitka and Skagway where local government jobs pay above average in their communities. It’s possible Haines’ below average pay for local government jobs is dragging the overall wage averages down.

“It could potentially (drag them down),” Teel said. “Thirteen percent of jobs in Haines are in local government.”

This story has been updated to reflect that Patty Brown was not the union president, but a staff member on the negotiating team in 2015.