Trego's Mountain Ear

"Serving North Lincoln County"

Tag: Licensure

  • Trego School Adopted New Salary Schedule

    Trego School Adopted New Salary Schedule

    The Trego School board adopted a new salary schedule during the meeting on Wednesday, January twelfth. The new salary schedule will be applicable starting in the fall of the upcoming school year.

    The schedule is split into three sections, by number of teaching endorsements.

    Single Endorsement
    BABA+10BA+20MAMA+10
    Experience yrs$33,920$34,598$35,290$35,996$36,716
    1$34,598$35,290$35,996$36,716$37,450
    2$35,290$35,996$36,716$37,450$38,199
    3$35,996$36,716$37,450$38,199$38,963
    4$36,716$37,450$38,199$38,963$39,743
    5$37,450$38,199$38,963$39,743$40,538
    Dual Endorsement
    BABA+10BA+20MAMA+10
    Experience yrs$37,450$38,387$39,346$40,330$41,338
    1$38,387$39,346$40,330$41,338$42,372
    2$39,346$40,330$41,338$42,372$43,431
    3$40,330$41,338$42,372$43,431$44,517
    4$41,338$42,372$43,431$44,517$45,630
    5$42,372$43,431$44,517$45,630$46,770
    Third Endorsement
    BABA+10BA+20MAMA+10
    Experience yrs$42,372$43,643$44,734$45,852$46,999
    4$43,643$44,952$46,076$47,228$48,409
    5$44,952$46,301$47,458$48,645$49,861
    6$46,301$47,690$48,882$50,104$51,357
    7$47,690$49,120$50,348$51,607$52,897
    8$49,120$50,594$51,859$53,155$54,484

    Trego’s Salary Schedule is unusual in a few ways. While most salary schedules increase with the number of years of teaching experience, few consider the number of teaching endorsements. Though some offer fixed bonuses for coaching.

    A teaching endorsement is granted by Montana’s Office of Public Instruction. These can include K-8 endorsements, which allow the teacher to teach any subject to students from kindergarten to 8th grade, as well as music and art. High school teachers are typically licensed for their specific subject areas -in my case, a Broadfield Science license allows me to teach science for grades 5-12. Special Education, Counseling, and Administrative Endorsements can also be found in public schools.

    For comparison, Eureka’s Salary Schedule can be found on their website.

    In comparison, this salary schedule has far more years of teaching experience included, and considers twenty further credits beyond a master’s degree.

    The base salary for a teacher fresh out of school, without any credits past a bachelors degree would be slightly lower in Eureka, except that the district starts new teachers at step three on the schedule. Trego’s schedule is similar, but adding endorsements (this varies in difficulty, but typically involves some coursework and passing a praxis test) provides teachers with the more significant pay increase than additional coursework does alone.

  • I need a license for what?

    One of the worst shocks of growing up was how much paperwork adulthood requires. Recently, I’ve been learning about licenses. Not fishing licenses, or hunting licenses, which I did know about, but professional and occupational licenses.

    Some professions are obvious. It’s clear that a doctor, an MD, will need a license to practice medicine. Clear, too, the reasons. It’s an obvious issue of public health and safety that people doing surgery ought to have some education on the topic!

    Which professions require a license is a matter determined by each state. Montana’s Department of Labor regulates 40 boards/programs for licensure. A list of some of the professions licensed by Montana’s Department of Labor follows:

    • Midwives
    • Athletic trainers
    • Barbers
    • Electricians
    • Morticians
    • Hearing Aid Dispensers
    • Addiction Counselors
    • Massage Therapists
    • Nursing Home Administrators
    • Outfitters
    • Plumbers
    • Property Managers
    • Real Estate Salespeople

    Of course, the Department of Labor doesn’t have a monopoly on issuing licenses (or on requiring them). The department of environmental quality regulates water system operators, which sounds like something obscure, but is surprisingly common. Whether a water system operator is (legally) required is determined by how many people use the system, and how often. A public school will almost certainly need one. A church? Perhaps.

    And we cannot forget the Office of Public Instruction (the state agency dealing with education). That office controls the licensing process for teachers, guidance councilors, and principals.

    Additionally, local governments can also add licensing requirements. The city of Billings, for example, requires any business within the city (even home businesses) to obtain a license. This is distinct from registering a business with the state, and seems to be primarily for the purpose of taxing the business.

    All this, without getting into permitting! Which licenses have you been surprised to need?