EDITORIAL: Cut Medicaid and pay our Colorado teachers what they deserve

Aug. 28--View Comments

A teacher shortage. It's the new Colorado policy crisis. Just like our crumbling roads, it provides a glaring sign of Colorado's feckless leadership in state government.

As teachers flee to Wyoming and other nearby states for higher salaries and lower living costs, experts insist we have no simple solution.

A Gazette story by education writer Debbie Kelley spelled out the dilemma under the headline: "No 'magic bullet' for solving Colorado's teacher shortage, education officials say."

We have a roaring economy, largely because our natural assets attract tourists, residents and glitzy new businesses from around the globe.

Nature left public education to the political class, which will not lead by prioritizing expenses and making difficult decisions. Instead, our politicians act like victims of circumstance. Even educators have bought their song and dance.

"I don't think you can legislate value and professionalism," said Kim Hunter Reed, executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education. "But I think it matters when the highest appointed leaders say, 'Teachers matter. Let's rally as a community to support our teachers.'"

We can and should legislate value and professionalism, and send a message that our teachers really matter. It involves no magic, just a decision to pay teachers like the market pays other dedicated, highly educated professionals with difficult and important jobs.

If we don't think teachers are important, visualize society without doctors, nurses, firefighters, scientists, entrepreneurs and more. Everything that makes our country work began with teachers helping children to develop knowledge, character and skills.

The median salary of a registered nurse in Colorado is $68,000. An electrical engineer earns about $94,000. Colorado-based attorneys average about $90,000. In nearly all professions and trades, those who excel earn far more than the average among their peers.

Colorado teachers -- who must earn degrees, certificates and continue their educations -- earn average wages of $51,810, based on recent data from the Colorado Department of Education.

The best, brightest and most successful don't earn significantly more than those who phone it in. Even adjusting for a 9-month work year, teachers fall considerably short of earning wages comparable with those of their peers.

"Teaching is harder than rocket science -- it's incredibly complex," said Colorado Department of Education Commissioner Katy Anthes.

One district might subsidize "tiny homes," roughly the size of recreational vehicles, to keep teachers around. Other districts are plotting an assortment of gimmicky schemes that probably won't work.

We can and should pay teachers enough to live in full-sized homes by redirecting the money state government wastes on Medicaid for able-bodied adults.

Medicaid, by far, is the largest single chunk of Colorado's state budget. Education gets 20 percent; transportation 4 percent; while Medicaid makes up more than 40 percent. Reductions in federal funding are increasing Medicaid's drain on state resources.

Able-bodied adults, added to Medicaid by the state's embrace of Obamacare, make up 45 percent of Colorado's Medicaid population. The Denver Post found eliminating this demographic from the program would save "hundreds of millions of dollars" to use "elsewhere in the budget."

If it is $900 million, we could take half the savings and provide each of Colorado's 52,079 teachers a raise of $8,640. Basing pay on merit for about half of Colorado teachers, we could increase raises by $16,000 or more. Meanwhile, we would still have nearly a half-billion dollars more for transportation each year.

Assume "hundreds of millions" means only $500,000, and we use half to raise each teacher's pay. Even at that amount, we could give each teacher nearly a $4,800 raise, or $10,000-plus on a merit-based plan. Any Medicaid savings of "hundreds of millions," even at the low end of the scale, could improve the lives of our teachers.

Teachers sacrifice to help us all. In our merit-based economy, they should reap greater rewards than those who provide less. Teachers should not be treated as second-class professionals, rendered to tiny houses, so able-bodied adults get free health care without regard for their contributions to society.

The Gazette editorial board

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