Some Utah Teachers Are Now Earning $60,000 to Start, a Salary That Exceeds Neighboring States
8 Utah school districts are paying licensed, first-year teachers $60,000 annually to start, a salary one principal calls a ‘game changer.’
First-year teacher Margaret “Maggie” Johnston holds up a workbook as she works with her students at Crescent Elementary School in Sandy on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
This article was originally published by Deseret News.
Margaret “Maggie” Johnston carefully weighed her career options before graduating from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in education.
When it came time for her student teaching, the lifelong Iowan made bold choices: teaching eight weeks each in New Zealand and Utah’s Canyons School District.
Johnston said she chose to student teach out of state and out of the country because she wanted to experience places she had never been while she was young.
When she completed her training, she returned to Utah to start her career teaching fifth grade at Crescent Elementary School in Sandy.
It wasn’t a coincidence that Johnston landed in Canyons District. For the past five years, the district has developed a working relationship with Iowa State’s School of Education to help cultivate new talent and introduce teacher candidates to Canyons’ schools and Utah’s quality of life.