(COLLEGE STATION, Texas) – A major pay gap exists between football coaches and teachers in 4A and 5A public high schools in Texas, according to a study conducted by the Austin American-Statesmen. The study compared salaries of head football coaches with those of the highest paid teachers, superintendents and principals in every 4A and 5A Texas school for the 2005-2006 school year. According to the study, coaches make $73,804 on average, while the average salary for teachers is $42,400.

While everyone is entitled to be paid for their work, teachers should not have to feel that they are competing with their school’s football program for attention and funding. Good football teams may generate high amounts of revenue for a school, but that should not obscure the valuable contributions made by teachers.

Both teachers and coaches have benefited from an increase in their salaries over the past decade, the study said. Teachers now make 38.6 percent more than they did ten years ago, and coaches have seen a 36.7 percent pay increase. However, the average coaching salary a decade ago was $54,000, while the average teaching salary was $31,000. In short, their salaries may be increasing at similar rates, but the pay gap has not changed.

Colby Sheffield, a senior history major who plans to teach and coach after he graduates, believes that the pay gap is justified. He said with the exception of head coaches and athletic directors, the majority of high school football coaches in the school district where he grew up are classroom teachers as well. “Coaches should make more than teachers because they have to teach and coach . . . They don’t get home until 7:30 and they are up at school on Saturdays and Sundays.”

In Sheffield’s hometown of Mexia, which is in the 3A classification, most coaches make the majority of their money from teaching and receive an additional coaching stipend that boosts their salary a few thousand dollars above what non-coaching teachers earn. The difference increases dramatically in 4A and 5A schools, where, according to the Statesmen study, coaches receive a stipend that can be anywhere from $1,000 to $35,000.

Alison Dawe, a history teacher at Klein Forest High School in Houston says that no one objects to the coaching stipends, because regular teachers get stipends for being involved in extracurricular activities. For example, Dawe receives a stipend for her involvement with her school’s academic decathlon, although it is admittedly less than what the coaches at her 5A school receive. To her, the real issue is the emphasis placed on football versus the attention given to academics.

Senior education major Denise Benson agrees. Benson said teaching “is much more than a full time job,” because teachers also spend many hours at home grading and planning in addition to time spent in the classroom. She understands why coaches earn more if they work more, but she has a problem with the way schools spend their money, as if they are “worshiping the football team and the athletic department and ignoring everything else.” Kendra Merritt, a senior biology major who plans to teach at the high school level, shares her concern. “It’s as if we’re glorifying the sports instead of the academics.”

High school football will always have an important place in Texas schools. However, it should not be emphasized at the expense of learning. Teachers have the great responsibility of educating the next generation. It is time for them to be fully appreciated and respected.