I got a lot of comments regarding my recent article showing the local graduation rates and earnings by school district. Indeed, the district a child is born into can have a 56% high school graduation rate or a 95% or above graduation rate, with corresponding median earnings well below or well above a living wage.

Another education-related statistic relates to teacher pay. Our nonprofit is currently working with the Legacy Institute and Harrison School District on research related to a proposed mill levy increase — the first one in over 20 years. Other school district regions have actively used mill levy increases to help fund new buildings or increase teacher pay among other initiatives.

As part of this research, we pulled information on Harrison’s average teacher salary, how it compares to more affluent districts, and how it compares to a livable wage. In the 2022-23 school year, Harrison’s average teacher salary was $49,132 versus $64,659 in the Cheyenne Mountain School District. Harrison teachers make 32% less than teachers in the Cheyenne Mountain School District.

If we look at the wages needed to meet basic living expenses as calculated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harrison teachers also fall short. For a family of four with two working parents and two kids in 2022, each working parent needed to make $55,619, but a teacher in Harrison would make about 13% less than this living wage. If you are a single parent with two kids, that teacher salary in Harrison would be 42% lower than a living wage.

Looking at nationwide statistics, Colorado ranked 26th in terms of teacher pay in 2021, according to the National Education Association. Their data also shows that average teacher salary in the U.S. has actually declined 6.4% over the past decade when adjusting for inflation.

In addition to boosting teacher pay, this proposed mill levy increase for Harrison School District includes funding for its charter schools, which have better graduation outcomes, and Dakota Promise scholarship funding that enables high school graduates to attend Pikes Peak State College for free. As an economist, these three pillars all make great sense to me.

Tatiana Bailey is executive director of the nonprofit Data-Driven Economic Strategies (ddestrategies.org).

Tatiana Bailey