Independent schools in New York State are not paying teachers as much as they ought to, according to a report in the December 1983 Bulletin of The New York State Association of Independent Schools.
Based on reports from 115 member schools that employ a total of 4,728 faculty members, the newsletter’s editors compiled statistics that include salary, tuition, and enrollment figures for the 1983-84 school year, and income and expenses for fiscal 1983.
According to the survey, median teachers’ salaries rose 9.6 percent for this year in western New York, 16.3 percent in the Hudson Valley, 12.1 percent in New York City, 10.1 percent on Long Island, and 14.7 percent in the boarding schools statewide.
“None of us can really rejoice because none of us is paying teachers what we should be,” the report concludes. “And that means that none of us is charging tuitions which will support appropriate salaries.”
Twelfth-grade tuitions, according to the bulletin, rose 6.8 percent in western New York, 21.5 percent in the Hudson Valley, 9.3 percent in New York City, 8.7 percent on Long Island, and 6.5 percent in the boarding schools.
Schools are trying to increase faculty members’ salaries, according to Stephen Hinrichs, executive director of the association. He added that salary considerations are a continuing problem for independent schools. “They’re working on it,” he said, “but it’s tough.”
Total income for all independent schools in the state for fiscal year 1983 was $224,024,597. Total expenses were $217,293,965, for an average per-pupil expense of $5,195, according to the survey.
Last year, the schools provided from 18 to 22.7 percent of their students with financial aid.
The bulletin’s survey also found that 58 of the 115 schools surveyed publish salary scales, 8 have unions (5 of which are in-house, 3 of which are affiliated), and 4 have collective bargaining, but no union.--ab
