Average teacher salaries in Hanover are currently the highest in the state of New Hampshire, according to the New Hampshire Department of Education. The relationship between elevated salaries and the quality of education provided is complicated, but often indicates the presence of more experienced teachers and higher test scores, according to Jay Davis, director of the Secondary Teacher Education Program at Dartmouth.
Because the teaching profession offers smaller salaries in comparison to other jobs that require similar education levels, compensation plays a role in determining the districts in which teachers choose to work, according to Davis. The correlation between a district's school budget and students' test scores is strong nationwide, Davis said.
"I don't think it's a coincidence that the highest salary districts in any state that you look at will usually be the schools that have the highest school budgets and also have the highest student performance on tests," he said. "All else being equal, most teachers are going to go for whatever the highest salary is."
The average teacher salary in Hanover was $71,124 for 2009-2010, while the average teacher salary in the state of New Hampshire was $51,443, according to the Valley News.
Statistics on average teacher salaries, however, can be misleading, according to Wayne Gersen, the superintendent of schools for the School Administrative Unit 70, which serves students in Hanover and Norwich. While average teacher salaries in Hanover are the highest in the state, the delineation of salaries operates on the same pay scale as some other districts in New Hampshire. Average salaries are higher in Hanover in part because of the experience levels of teachers that qualify them for better pay, Gersen said.
Hanover tends to hire more experienced teachers rather than new teachers who have just graduated from college in an effort to provide higher-quality education, according to Michael Harris, director of the Teacher Education Program at Dartmouth.
Only approximately two or three teachers currently at Hanover High School were hired immediately after graduating college, according to Amy Kono, a math teacher at Hanover High.
Higher salaries help attract quality teachers when the need arises, according to Gersen.
"[Higher salaries] are especially helpful when we're looking for areas of scarcity," Gersen said. "I've worked in other districts before where the compensation hasn't been as solid as the one in Hanover, and when you go out to advertise for math teachers, sometimes you can't find any because they're going to districts that pay more money."
While better pay is not the only reason that teachers choose to work in Hanover, the prospect of higher salaries attracts candidates from across the state to positions in the district, Dan Falcone, the head of the science department at Hanover High, said.
"I appreciate that I can use [salaries] as a carrot to attract people to work in our schools," Falcone said. "We want to get the best people into our schools, and salary is one way of doing that."
Teacher salaries are determined by a process of collective bargaining between teachers unions and the school board, according to Davis. When these two parties come to an agreement, the town votes on teachers' pay when they approve the school budget, meaning that teacher compensation is ultimately determined by the town, he said.
Hanover residents, many of whom consistently vote for high teacher salaries, demonstrate the value the community places on quality education, according to Gershen.
"[The teachers' pay] is a reflection of the community's priorities," he said. "The community of Hanover and the community of Norwich place a high value on having strong public schools."
Some have speculated that if benefits are included in the calculation of overall compensation, Hanover teachers are not paid more than other teachers in the state, according to Kono.
Even though average salaries are high in Hanover, teachers as a whole are not paid enough, according to Deborah Gillespie, the principal of Hanover High.
"I believe all teachers' salaries should be higher than they are," she said. "The job is taxing, it involves many, many skills. The easiest skill is often knowing your subject matter, and the toughest is knowing how to teach it."
Hanover's school district is currently in the process of negotiating the school budget for the next three years, according to Gersen. The mediation process has not yet produced an agreement between Hanover teachers and the district, he said.
This negotiation extends across the state all four districts in the Upper Valley are at an impasse in their contract agreements for school budgets, according to Harris. Hanover's practice of seeking out the best teachers "regardless of what it costs" may not last, he said.
"Now they're running into questions of can they sustain [salaries] at that level?'" Harris said.
Teachers at Hanover High interviewed by The Dartmouth emphasized that there are many other factors besides better pay that caused them to work in the district. Steve Hackman, an English teacher who has worked at Hanover High for 20 years, said it is the quality of the school that initially attracted him to the area.
"I'm grateful for [the high salaries], but it has nothing to do with why I teach there," Hackman said. "Really it's the colleagues and the students that cause me to be really happy to teach there."
Kono, who worked at Hanover High as a substitute teacher for a year before becoming a full-time teacher, said that the other teachers she met influenced her decision to work in Hanover.
"I figured it was probably a good school for salaries, but I was new to public education and didn't know how it all worked," Kono said. "I just really wanted to work at this school because of the colleagues that I had experienced even as a substitute teacher and how wonderful they were for my own children."
