By William Croyle
Enquirer contributor

ERLANGER - About 57 percent of the 138 teachers who returned to the Erlanger-Elsmere School District this year spent last summer looking for other jobs, according to a survey by the district last fall.

That percentage and other data gathered by district officials in the last 14 months led the school board to adopt a new salary structure starting in 2004-05.

The current structure was implemented in 1990 to save the district money, according to Superintendent Mike Sander. It gives teachers and administrative staff pay raises (above the annual state-mandated increases) every three to six years instead of every year. It's the only district in Northern Kentucky using this structure.

"A third of our staff turns over every five years. We had 22 new teachers this year alone and 16 of them were fresh out of college," said Sander. "We were losing a lot of teachers when they got to a plateau because they would not be getting raises for a while."

Here's how the current structure works:

A first-year Rank III teacher (a teacher with a bachelor's degree) in the district this year makes $29,010. A second-year teacher makes $29,431. However, that salary is frozen until that teacher enters his fifth year. A fifth-year teacher makes $32,790. While that's an 11.4 percent increase, over the fourth year, that fifth-year salary remains the same for six years.

David Palmore is in his 10th year as principal at Arnett Elementary School and said he loses one to four teachers every year - a significant number in a school with only 20 teachers.

"I think everybody always had a desire to stay here," said Palmore. "But there's no question that the pay scale was a reason why we lost some of them."

Matt Engel, 27, is in his fifth year teaching at Lloyd High School. He said the jump in pay from the fourth to fifth year was "shocking" in a good way. But it would be the 2009-10 school year before he'd see another increase.

"I said, 'This is good now, but how will I feel in four years?'" said Engel.

"I'm expecting my first child in August and money is always on my mind. But the district taking this step puts that thought out of my mind and shows their commitment to us."

Sander said that thanks to conservative spending over the years, the district has the money to pay for the new structure, which will cost about $800,000 next year. Annual raises will be given to all ranks of teachers and administrative staff and puts the district in competition with other Northern Kentucky districts, Sander said.

But they still face competition from across the river. Teachers bolting for Ohio has been a problem in all Northern Kentucky districts for years.

The latest statistics from the Ohio Education Association show that in 2002-2003, 14 of 24 Hamilton County districts paid a first-year teacher with a bachelor's degree more than $30,000. None of Northern Kentucky's 14 districts that year paid more than $30,000 for a Rank III first-year teacher.

"We'll never be able to compete with Ohio unless something is done on the state level," said Engel. "But this new pay scale does make me say that I don't want to look at other local districts."

Teacher salaries

Erlanger-Elsmere salaries for Rank III teachers (first 11 years)

Experience	2003-04	2004-05
0-1 years	$29,010	$29,446
1-2	$29,431	$29,873
2-3	$29,431	$31,008
3-4	$29,431	$32,144
4-5	$32,790	$33,282
5-6	$32,790	$33,725
6-7	$32,790	$34,168
7-8	$32,790	$34,611
8-9	$32,790	$35,055
9-10	$32,790	$35,498
10-11	$35,035	$35,945

E-mail williamcroyle@yahoo.com