Williamson County students continue push for arts teacher pay raises

Izzy Rose speaking before the Williamson County School Board

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Multiple Williamson County Schools students and community members continued to urge the Williamson County Board of Education to support raises for arts teachers at Monday’s meeting.

Among them was Izzy Rose, a student in the district who had previously appeared before the board to speak in support of raises. Rose said she feels the board has ignored students’ previous calls to support art teachers since at least April when more than half a dozen students and parents spoke about the need to increase salaries for arts instructors. Rose said she hopes that the board will take students’ calls more seriously moving forward.

“I was here at this podium about two months ago, and I was also here two months before that, discussing the many reasons why our WCS arts teachers deserve a raise,” she said. “The last two times I’ve been here, you guys made it seem like you were willing to talk through this and make a change, but that has not happened yet.”

Art teachers in Williamson County are currently paid a fixed stipend based on a set amount of time that does not increase year after year, while coaches of sports teams are paid based on a percentage of their salaries which increases year after year. Students reiterated that they believe this is disproportionate to the time arts teachers put into programs like theater productions, for instance.

Sarah Donald, a student at Brentwood Middle School, said fine arts program instructors play an important role in boosting students’ confidence and ability to express themselves and should be compensated similarly.

“We spent over 200 hours at rehearsal to put on an amazing show, which is similar to a long sports season, so why should coaches get more money than fine arts teachers? The work that fine arts teachers do has as much of an impact on students as the [work the] coaches do,” she said.

Claire Perry, a student at Brentwood High School, said fine arts teachers “work tirelessly” for students like her. She said her involvement in theater and choir programs in particular helped her realize her own passion for the arts, which she said she hopes to pursue a career in.

“Joining these programs not only helped me find my place but also made me realize I wanted to pursue arts after I graduated,” she said, adding that arts teachers deserve to be paid “just as much as our coaches.”

WCS Superintendent Jason Golden said in a video after the meeting that the district is currently exploring how to go about answering students’ calls this fall, in time for the next budget season. He said that the issue of art teacher pay—particularly when it comes to their extracurricular work—had been on officials’ radar prior to students’ comments in the spring.

He added that he appreciates the input of students and the fact that students want to be engaged in discussions with the school board to support their instructors.

“We want to find a way to do what we can with the money we have from our tax base to support them as much as we can in that good work,” he said.