Several teachers implored the Columbia Falls School Board to boost teacher salaries during a meeting earlier this month.

“We’re far behind other districts in the valley and we’re just getting farther,” said longtime teacher and union representative Leslie DiMaio.

DiMaio was joined by a host of other teachers, both in person and via Zoom to urge the board for higher salaries.

Currently a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree and no experience has a starting salary of $42,621.

On the highest end, a teacher with a master’s degree and the maximum number of “steps” would be $80,518.

One teacher quipped she worked a bartending job in the summer so she could support her teaching habit in the winter.

But joking aside, many teachers said they have been offered better paying jobs by other districts in the valley. 

Junior High Band teacher Ben Caudill said he could make $9,000  more working for Kalispell Public Schools.

Other teachers told similar stories, noting they could make between $6,000 and $11,000 more annually if they taught elsewhere.

But almost all of them reported liking Columbia Falls and said they’re happy to be here. It’s just that salaries aren’t keeping up with the cost of living. Not only have rents and property values risen, the cost of child care has jumped significantly as well.

“To make ends meet I work three other jobs in the valley,” said one teacher.

The board took no action on the matter, though members Barb Riley and Heather Mumby, who are on the district’s negotiating committee, were supportive.

But Mumby also noted they are constrained by finances.

“It’s a matter of working within our budget,” she noted.

Negotiations are expected to start in August.

The district will see more state funding in the coming year. The Student and Teacher Advancement for Results and Success Act passed by the 2025 legislature will afford the district about $466,000 to boost starting elementary salaries and about $196,000 for the high school.

The district was able to cancel a proposed June elementary levy request of nearly the same amount after the act passed.

Other bills should also help school funding. Most notably is House Bill 15, which includes about $136,050 more for the elementary schools and $144,933 for the high school.

But base state funding is tied to enrollment and enrollment has been down. Last year saw about 90 less kindergarteners than the year before. It remains to be seen if that trend will continue for the long term.