Sidwell Friends
As inflation increases, some Sidwell teachers are concerned about how their salary will cover their expenses.
With the cost of living increasing by 2.9% since 2023, multiple teachers have reported that their salaries have struggled to compensate for rising inflation. Wages for teachers are increasing monetarily each year, but according to multiple Upper School teachers, this increase is not keeping up with the rate of inflation. This has caused salary values to decrease in a trend that began after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In real terms, just like dollar amounts, our salaries are going up a lot. It’s just when you account for inflation, teachers’ spending powers are basically going down,” one Upper School teacher explained. “In real terms, that meant that for the first three years that I was here, each year I got paid less than I did when I first got here.”
Sidwell measures inflation using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Areas (CPI-U). While the method of measurement is standard for employers, teachers are still reporting that they are earning less than the CPI-U and, essentially, making less in value than they did the previous year.
This trend disproportionately affects younger teachers and those in the early stages of their careers. Sidwell, like many other schools, operates on a pay structure where new employees are paid according to their level of education and years of experience. A younger teacher with less experience starts at a lower pay scale but receives a more significant salary increase each year than a teacher who has been at Sidwell for longer. As a teacher gains more experience and development, their salary increases, but each year the increase shrinks.
However, today, newer teachers are experiencing a less significant salary increase by percentage than new teachers did ten years ago.
“Essentially, each year, a brand new teacher is getting paid less than they would have if they [had] started the previous year,” the first teacher explained. “[T]he idea should be that your value is the same, right? Like, you come in with the same level of experience either way, and yet the school is kind of valuing teachers less [each year].”
A second Upper School teacher commented on the changing trends. They are higher up in the pay scale, which comes with smaller salary increases, yet they expressed that these increases are smaller percentage wise than what they would have been for a teacher of the same pay scale before COVID. Though their salary is increasing for inflation, they expressed shock at just how little their salary increased in real value.
“It’s getting more and more impossible to basically live in this area while teaching here,” they said. “That means you either have to live further away, which means your commute is longer, or you have to live with significantly less means … which is true for a lot of introductory jobs, but the fact that it wasn’t the case way back when, and now it’s becoming more and more of the case, now that’s kind of the issue.”
However, relative to the other private schools in the area, Sidwell is “doing fine, if not better,” the second teacher said. The 2022 Census showed that the real median earnings of all workers decreased by 2.2% between 2021 and 2022, and that the median earnings of those who worked full-time year-round decreased by 1.3%. The U.S. Census Bureau described this as a “wage reset,” with many employers nationwide lowering pay scales for new hires. Additionally, the National Education Association found that educators took home about $3,644 less in 2023 compared to 2013. Adjusted for inflation, this equates to a nearly 6.4% drop in salary over a decade.
“I’m just kind of following inflation now rather than being moved up the scale,” the second teacher explained. “But for some people that are higher up on the scale, it’s just like another year, everything’s getting more expensive, on [top of] being paid basically the same thing.”
“The fact that rents are also going up, I think a lot of teachers who live in the city are spending a larger percentage of their salary on things like rent,” the first teacher said.
Upper School teachers noted that they were aware of colleagues who had to live with their parents to save up for an apartment, as the cost of living and rent had skyrocketed in the Washington area. Three teachers also commented on how they relied mainly on their partner’s income. A study by Redfin found that the average rent increased by 12% in Washington between September 2023 and September 2024.
Similarly, in 2024, the median sale price for a home in Washington increased by 6% to $610,000, while the number of active listings was one third lower than it was five years ago.
“If you’re trying to buy a house or start a family, have a kid … the fact that you are making less money each year for the past couple of years means it’s much harder to do that,” the first Upper School teacher said. “[E]specially in early and mid-career, for most professions, you expect your income to go up a lot each year. I have heard from colleagues: ‘my partner and I are ready to start a family, we’re ready to buy a house, but just financially we can’t do it.’”
Teachers have remarked that the school administration has been receptive and open to discussions about declining salaries. The administration has attributed the decline to the fact that the school’s “just in a tough spot” and there’s not much they can do about it. Head of School Bryan Garman has reportedly offered to meet with concerned teachers and discussed the current situation with teachers across divisions.
In a February letter sent to parents, the Sidwell Board of Trustees explained that tuition would increase 4% to ensure that teacher salaries stay 1.1% points above the 2024 inflation rate.
“This is consistent with the board’s long-standing objective of ensuring that compensation remains competitive and that we are able to attract and reward talented teachers, a task that has become more challenging at the national level,” Clerks of the Board Jamie Hechinger and David Milner wrote.
The email added that faculty and staff compensation and benefits account for 57% of Sidwell’s operating budget, and Sidwell still operates on a deficit each year. Some Upper School teachers trust that the school is paying them as generously as financially feasible, pointing to a smaller endowment and the school’s dependence on tuition, but some still feel undervalued.
“They’re like, oh, we’re beating inflation, but we live in this area, we talk to people, we know for a fact that our money doesn’t have the same value at all [compared to previous years],” the second teacher said.
“I think just as a community and for everybody, it’s a really hard time,” the first teacher said in response to what they hope students will understand better about this situation. “It’s a hard time for teachers who live in the area to continue to afford places where they can live for years and years.”
Not all teachers share the same perspective, however.
“I think that it’s more complicated than just like, oh, are we getting paid enough? Are we competitive?” a third Upper School teacher said. “There are a lot of factors involved with our compensation, including benefits going up. We have definitely become a larger school … the tuition increases aren’t just for faculty, it’s faculty and staff, and we’ve just gotten bigger. That 4% increase in tuition can only go so far.”
Still, this teacher contended that “it’s getting very hard to be a private school teacher in the city,” highlighting how DC public schools have a more generous pay scale and pension, and admitted that they are concerned for their younger colleagues.
“Tuition is zooming ahead, and our salaries aren’t … what’s the difference going on [there]?” the second teacher asked. “The discrepancies are increasing, but that’s kind of where the world is going.”