Much has been written about the Wake County school board elections, school reassignment, magnet schools and extension of the school year. Yet teacher compensation, a critical factor in teacher retention and maintaining our excellent public education system, goes unmentioned.

Compensation for Wake teachers has been frozen since 2008. In 2008, starting teachers earned $34,462 per year. Today those teachers earn, you guessed it, $34,462 per year. They have fallen three years behind on the compensation scale. Should salaries be unfrozen next year, those teachers will move to only the second year compensation on the scale.

If you assume a modest 2.5 percent cost of living increase annually and lost pay increases, these teachers have lost more than $4,500 in spending power over the last three years. Add to that the new (this year) health care insurance contribution, elimination of ABC bonuses and the decreased availability of teacher aides in the classroom, and it is no surprise that more teachers are considering career alternatives or retirement.

Superintendent Tony Tata lists teacher retention among his top priorities and last year he granted a one-time $500 bonus to all teachers, a good first step but we must do more. To attract and retain the best educators we must have a competitive compensation model. Without high-quality teachers, school reassignments and magnet schools won't matter much.

George Dillon

Cary