Teachers implore Columbia Falls board to raise salaries
Several teachers implored the school board to boost teacher salaries during the School District 6 board meeting last week.
“We’re far behind other districts in the valley and we’re just getting farther,” said longtime teacher and union representative Leslie DiMaio.
DiMaio was joined by a host of other teachers, both in person and via Zoom to urge the board for higher salaries.
Currently a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree and no experience has a starting salary of $42,621.
On the highest end, a teacher with a master’s degree and the maximum number of “steps” would be $80,518.
One teacher joked that she had a bartending job in the summer so she could support her teaching “habit” in the winter.
But joking aside, many teachers said they have been offered better paying jobs by other districts in the valley.
Junior High Band teacher Ben Caudill said he could make $9,000 more working in the Kalispell district.
Other teachers told similar stories, noting they could make more if they taught elsewhere, anywhere from $6,000 to $11,000 annually.
But having said that, almost all of them said they like Columbia Falls and they’re happy to be here. It’s just that salaries aren’t keeping up with the cost of living. Not only have rents and property values risen, child care cost has jumped significantly as well.
“To make ends meet I work three other jobs in the valley,” said one teacher.
The school board took no action on the matter, but board members Barb Riley and Heather Mumby, who are on the district’s negotiating committee, were supportive.
But Mumby also noted they are constrained by the school’s budget.
“It’s a matter of working within our budget,” she noted.
The negotiations are expected to start in August.
The district will see more state funding in the coming year. The Student and Teacher Advancement for Results and Success Act passed by the 2025 legislature will afford the district about $466,000 to boost starting elementary salaries and about $196,000 for the high school.
The district was able to cancel a proposed June elementary levy request of nearly the same amount after the STARS Act passed.
Other bills should also help school funding. Most notably is House Bill 15, which includes about $136,050 more for the elementary schools and $144,933 for the high school.
But base state funding is tied to enrollment and enrollment has been down. Last year saw about 90 less kindergarteners than the year before. It remains to be seen if that trend will continue for the long term.