Erie School District Increases Salaries for Teachers in Four-Year Agreement

Dr. Jay Breneman, president of the Erie School Board, is feeling optimistic and hopeful for the future.

"It wasn't just a marginal improvement or marginal increase," Breneman said. "Everybody saw a sizable increase."

The Erie School District passed a four-year agreement regarding salaries for teachers, nurses and other paid positions in the school system during a Special Board Meeting Wednesday night. This retroactive agreement is effective July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2028, meaning that positions will be compensated for the 2024-25 school year.

Breneman says this will make the pay of its teachers highly competitive amongst other school districts within Erie County.

"This isn't going to fix everything, but it's going to at least pay the teachers closer to a fairer wage," Breneman said. "They do absolutely deserve more."

The former starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor's degree was $47,827, ranking the Erie School District 10th for highest pay out of 13 total school districts. The revised salary will be raised to $55,175, jumping Erie to the second highest.

This is a 9.97% pay increase for the first year. The following years are listed below:

2025-26: 3.16%

2026-27: 3.06%

2027-28: 2.85%

"We're having some of our teachers actually go to other school districts after working here for a couple years because they can make more money," said Brian Polito, superintendent of Erie's Public Schools.

Polito, who announced his retirement from the position after the 2024-25 school year, says the retention of teachers has been a struggle on both a local and national level, a big reason behind this initiative to pay teachers more.

"Even 10 years ago, the [Pennsylvania] Department of Education was certifying about 20,000 new teachers every year," Polito said. "Last year, they only certified 7,500."

The pay of teachers also has a role on the students they instruct in the classroom.

"We need to build relationships with the kids, and we need to be able to show them that we care enough about them, that we are going to pay their teachers," Breneman said.

More information can be found here.