Detroit Public Schools To Raise Starting Teacher Salaries By 33%

DETROIT, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Public Schools will raise starting teacher salaries by 33 percent, which will make them the highest paid first year educators in metro Detroit, according to a press release from the district.

The raise will start salaries at $51,071 compared to the current starting wage of $38,400.

It will go into effect in the 2020-21 school year. 

"There is absolutely nothing more important to the learning process than having an outstanding teacher in every child's classroom. Although we have been pleased with our progress of recruiting and retaining teachers to fill our vacancies, one teacher vacancy is too many for the student who has a substitute teacher," said Dr. Nikolai Vitti, Superintendent, DPSCD.

"This investment will prevent a greater teacher recruitment crisis for our students when you consider the national and regional shortage of undergraduate students choosing to be a teacher and the fact that nearly a third of our teachers could retire at any moment and another third of teachers could be in a position to retire in one to four years. If we do not act with a sense of urgency regarding the recruitment of teachers to DPSCD then we slow the progress our children are making and own the failure to develop a long-term strategy to prevent the vacuum that a mass retirement could create over the next five years," said Vitti.  

Vitti also said teachers below $51K in the system, will be moved to $51K.

DPSCD has increased teacher salaries across-the-board for the last three years with the average teacher seeing a salary increase of nearly $10,000 since 2016-2017. 

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