With high student debt piled on their backs, money matters to college graduates entering the teaching field, said Portage Area Superintendent Eric Zelanko.

Small, rural schools often are a last resort for consideration for teaching jobs because of pay lower than urban schools.

And there’s a shortage of new teachers in general.

“I can attest to the fact of the shortage by pointing to the number of candidates we have for open positions. Where in the past we might get hundreds of applications for an elementary position, we are now lucky to get a dozen,” Zelanko said.

To help rural schools attract and retain teachers, Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposal includes more than $350 million in school funding increases and a separate plan to increase the state’s minimum teacher salary to $45,000 a year.

“For small, rural schools with lower starting salaries, the ability to attract highly qualified candidates is challenging,” Zelanko said. “Why would a person want to work for less money?”

At one time, working in small schools was viewed as a positive as they are typically viewed as having better work conditions. Smaller class sizes, more student-parent-teacher interactions and a safer environment make for a more pleasant work experience.

Larger, more urban schools had to pay higher salaries to attract candidates because of the perceived difficulties of their settings.

However, today, with fewer candidates, people are able to “shop around” for teaching jobs. Small, rural schools often are a last resort for consideration because of the lower pay, Zelanko said.

The minimum teacher salary is set by state law at $18,500 and hasn’t changed since 1989, according to the Pennsylvania State Ed­ucation Association.

“It would have to go through quite a bit of legislation before it is passed,” PSEA spokeswoman Lucy Harlow said of a possible increase.

“It is for rural districts,” she said, including Cambria County. “It’s to help attract and retain teachers because the state is anticipating a very wide teacher shortage. People are not entering teaching programs and certifications have been dropping.”

Wolf’s proposal was made in his Feb. 5 budget address. According to Wolf, that increase would be a $13.8 million investment the state — not local school districts — would make.

Wolf’s spokesman Eric Levis stated that the proposal includes funding to support the salary increase to $45,000, including estimated pension, Social Security and Medicare costs. The calculations were based on the most recent salary and benefit data available, Levis said.

The proposal applies to an estimated 3,200 full-time classroom teachers, school nurses, library, reading, English as a second language or school program specialists, school counselors, school psychologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists and home and school visitors.

The funding would be included in each district’s base allocation to ensure the funding is available for future years, Levis said.

The Wolf administration has acknowledged that the proposal would have a ripple effect in local contract negotiations and lead to higher salaries even for teachers already above $45,000.

Levis stated that Wolf has significantly increased state funding for Pennsylvania’s classrooms over the past four years, which are supporting the investment decisions of all 500 school districts, including local contract decisions.

Because of the impact to contract negotiations, Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair, is hesitant if not in outright opposition to the plan.

“We can all agree that teachers can become one of the most influential people in a student’s life and deserve an appropriate salary for their work; however, I don’t think government should interfere in contract negotiations,” Ward said.

“If we create a minimum salary that affects other salary steps and collective bargaining, then it is fair to say it will raise all teacher salaries regardless of years of experience and degrees and those costs will be borne by the school districts and taxpayers. Regional differences in cost of living need to also be considered when discussing this; the costs of life vary widely depending on where we live.”

According to the PSEA, there are 288 school districts in Pennsylvania where a total of 5,152 experienced educators are earning less than $45,000 and 76 percent of them are women. Of those teachers, 1,130 make less than $40,000.

Half of those teachers have more than three years of experience, 20 percent have more than six years of experience and 26 percent have master’s degrees, according to the PSEA.

Bellwood-Antis Super­intendent Tom McInroy supports the state’s help for rural districts to afford higher starting salaries.

“There are small, rural and poor school districts that do not have the means to pay that kind of starting salary,” McInroy said.

He went through the $18,500 base salary in 1988. It impacted people teaching with 10 years’ experience, he said.

“School districts across the nation are struggling with finding quality teachers and substitute teachers. There is a nationwide shortage. … In today’s world, we are asking people to go into $100,000 in debt with student loans to make $45,000 or less. The math doesn’t work.”

McInroy said having a minimum wage helps to attract good candidates.

“Improving the base salary is a good step. However, there should be state funding attached to the base salary to help the small, rural and poor schools that cannot afford to pay the higher salaries,” he said. “The funding can be subsidized over a period of four years with a reducing rate of 20 percent each year to help the schools transition to the new salary rates.”

Mirror Staff Writer Russ O’Reilly is at 946-7435.