The Illinois high school teacher who shows students how to parallel park and use a rear-view mirror likely earns more than the educator who teaches them to solve quadratic equations or diagram a sentence.
Occupying the “suicide seat” beside novice, adolescent drivers, full-time instructors last year had an average take-home pay of $64,503–surpassing that of virtually every other teaching assignment, according to a Tribune analysis of state data.
Driver’s ed also had one of the highest percentages of six-figure wage earners. More than 11 percent of high school driving teachers made at least $100,000, topping the rate of all but a handful of teaching positions.
Bradley Nelson, of Lyons Township High School District 204, was the highest paid driving instructor, taking home $151,830 during the 2002-2003 school year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education data. Nelson did not return phone calls.
Driver’s ed teachers offer several reasons for the comparatively high earnings, such as stipends for coaching sports and overtime for working after hours and on weekends.
But the high salaries likely have more to do with how teachers are paid in Illinois–and across the country.
Teachers’ earnings, like those of most union workers, are driven mainly by experience and, to a lesser extent, level of education. The longer you teach, the more you make.
Illinois’ driver’s ed teachers average about 21 years experience, compared with a statewide teaching average of about 14 years, the data shows. Physics teachers average about 15 years; biology teachers, 13; and civics teachers, 12.
Critics argue that, whatever the reason, the salaries of driving teachers encapsulate entrenched problems in public education.
“There is something seriously wrong with driver’s ed teachers making so much money, based mainly on the fact that they’ve been around for so long,” said Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform in Washington. “We should be looking at the areas with the most need, the areas where it’s hard to attract good teachers, and pay them gobs of money. No one can tell me that a driver’s ed teacher is as valuable to a school as a good math or science teacher.”
The data include only teachers whose main assignment is driver’s education. Physical education teachers who teach driving on the side are not counted as driver’s education instructors in the state data.
It’s difficult to say exactly why driver’s education teachers have so many years of experience. But Mason Minnes, president of the Illinois High School & College Driver Education Association, said many start their teaching careers in other specialties and switch gears as they near retirement.
“It’s a great career, very satisfying, and because of that people don’t want to leave once they get into it,” said Minnes, who teaches physical education and driver’s education at Urbana High School.
Retirement considerations
Minnes also said many teachers in all fields stretch out their careers as long as possible in an attempt to boost retirement pay. Most Illinois teachers receive huge salary bumps–sometimes as much as 20 percent–as they near retirement.
Only trigonometry teachers and a few specialized vocational education teachers averaged more money than driver’s ed teachers did. Math, science and English teachers were reluctant to comment on the pay disparities, but one west suburban biology teacher argued that teachers near retirement often go into driver’s ed because it is less demanding than other kinds of classrooms.
“It’s the plum job because you make a lot of money and it’s low stress,” he said.
Illinois requires all public high schools to offer a driver’s education course that includes 30 hours of classroom time and six hours of behind-the-wheel instruction. High school driving instructors must hold a teaching certificate and have 16 hours of driver’s ed training.
Some school districts, including many in the Chicago suburbs, have teachers whose main assignment is driver’s education. Others, such as Chicago, use teachers certified in other subjects on a part-time basis.
The salaries of driving instructors are fueling a budget crisis for many of the state’s school districts. The state reimburses local districts about $126 per driver’s ed student, but providing the classes costs districts far more, forcing taxpayers and students to shoulder the rest.
Financial burden
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Last year, 482 districts spent $53.4 million in salaries and benefits for driving teachers, including instructors who teach part time, according to state data. The state reimbursed districts $16 million.
State law allows districts to charge students $50 for the course, but more than 50 districts have waivers to charge more.
“The costs continue to go up and the state reimbursement doesn’t come close to covering the program,” said Mike Warner, assistant superintendent for instruction in Glenbard Township High School District 87, according to the state data.
Warner said the district does not alter pay on the basis of teaching assignment. The district’s driving teachers, who average about 18 years of experience, made an average of $85,933 last year, while the English teachers averaged about 15 years and took home $69,428.
“That’s what the teachers contract calls for,” Warner said.
Township District 211, based in Palatine, also spent $1.6 million on its 18 driving teachers. Of those, 11 made more than $100,000 last year, according to the state data.
Tom Petersen, spokesman for District 211, said most of the district’s driving instructors have more than 25 years’ experience and are “at the top of their profession.”
“We are very selective in our hiring,” Petersen said. “We don’t just hire someone who knows how to teach driver’s ed. We make sure they are also certified to teach physical education or health.”
Pride in teaching
Mark Gruca, a driving instructor in southwest suburban Consolidated School District 230, argues that driving teachers are just as dedicated and work just as hard as other teachers, and therefore should be compensated.
“This is not a job that is free from stress,” said Gruca, who has taught driver’s ed for 26 years and studied the subject in college. “I don’t think it is healthy to pit one teaching profession against another. We all work hard. We all want to make a difference in kids’ lives. I don’t know if any of us get paid enough.”
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Driver education teachers among highest paid
Illinois high school driver education teachers were among the top paid in the 2002-03 school year, surpassing the salaries of all but a handful of teachers in other subject areas. The teachers attribute their earnings mainly to more years of teaching experience.
AVERAGE TEACHER SALARY IN 2002-03
Driver education teacher: $64,503
Average Illinois teacher: $51,672
AVERAGE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN 2002-03
Driver education teacher: 20.7
Average Illinois teacher: 13.9
Sources: Tribune analysis of Illinois State Board of Education 2003 Teacher Salary Report; Illinois State Board of Education
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