For First-Year Teachers, It’s Not the Money That Counts : Salaries: The average in Orange County is $26,821 a year. Differences among school districts in such areas as benefits and maximum pay can be the basis for choosing one position over another.

They earn slightly less than computer programmers, accounting clerks and personnel assistants, just a bit more than forklift operators and warehouse specialists.

At an average annual salary of $26,821--that’s $515.80 a week, $12.89 an hour--first-year teachers in Orange County all agree on one thing: They’re not in it for the money.

“Thank God I live at home and my car’s paid off,” said Jenny Watson, 23, who begins her career as a fourth-grade teacher in Los Alamitos Unified School District this week. “I think I could be capable of doing things where I can make more money. But I don’t know if I could live with myself.”

Nowhere in Orange County will anyone get rich as a teacher. Still, there is a wide range of entry-level salaries among the county’s 27 public school districts.

For teachers with a bachelor’s degree and a credential obtained by taking 30 units of graduate study followed by at least six months of student teaching, there was a gap of nearly $10,000 between the highest- and lowest-paying districts during the 1993-94 school year, the latest for which figures were available. Topping the list was Los Alamitos Unified, which paid a base entry-level salary of $29,463, and Anaheim Union High School District, which paid $29,267. At the other end of the scale was Saddleback Valley Unified, where first-year teachers earned 70% as much: $20,488.

Some districts offer added pay to teachers with special training.

“We’ve cut back to the bone, but that’s what we’ve chosen to do to maintain the salary structure that we have,” said Allen Brase, director of personnel in the Anaheim district. “We don’t have a lot of clerical help, we don’t have a lot of custodial help. We’re very lean and mean.”

Saddleback spokeswoman Elaine Carter said that while pay is low, the district offers a “Cadillac” benefits plan, making the whole package more attractive. Saddleback was also among the top-ranked districts at the other end of the salary scale, paying a maximum of $56,406 last year.

“When you ask the question of (applicants), ‘Why did you apply to Saddleback?,’ they said they looked at the overall picture,” Carter explained. The district had more than 300 applicants for 90 new teaching positions this year, she said.

“That’s our direction,” she added. “We’re looking for career teachers.”

Laguna Beach, Irvine and Newport-Mesa unified districts also rank near the top in wages for senior teachers, though they hover in the middle of Orange County’s range for entry-level posts.

Other local districts that had salaries above $28,000 for first-year teachers in 1993-94 were Capistrano Unified, Fullerton Joint Union High School District and the Magnolia, Anaheim and Centralia elementary districts.

Near the bottom of the scale were Orange Unified, which paid new teachers $23,610 last year, and Brea Olinda Unified, Huntington Beach elementary and Ocean View elementary, each of which had annual salaries in the $24,000 area.

“The fact that we have such a competitive salary indicates our board’s priority. We want to attract and retain the best teachers we can find,” said Capistrano Unified Supt. James A. Fleming, whose district ranked third in Orange County.

“The bottom line is that teacher in the classroom with those 30 children,” he said. “Once that door is shut and that teacher faces those children, whatever learning occurs will be between that teacher and those children.”

Cutbacks in state funding for education have kept salaries virtually frozen in some local districts.

In eight of Orange County’s 27 school districts, salaries for first-year teachers did not change in three of the last five years. Orange Unified’s entry-level salaries grew only 1.1% from 1989-90 to 1993-94, and Fountain Valley’s inched up only 1.3% during the same period.

That compares with pay increases of 26.5% in Laguna Beach Unified and 23.3% in the Fullerton elementary district.

John Smith, a training and bargaining specialist with the California Teachers Assn. in Orange County, said teachers often choose districts based on their academic reputation and administrative design rather than salary differences.

“Irvine doesn’t have the best salary, but everybody says it’s a great place to work,” Smith said of one of the county’s most sought-after districts, which ranked 19th of 27 local districts in entry-level pay last year. “Teachers, when they originally go to work, don’t look at the money.”

Sluggish Salaries

Salaries for entry-level teachers in Orange County varied last year by as much as 43%. Pay increases since the 1989-90 school year range from more than 25% to just 1%. Here is a look at teacher pay for those with a bachelor’s degree and the required California credential.

Districts listed in order of 1993-94 salary level:*

District 1993-94 1989-90 % increase Los Alamitos Unified $29,463 $25,647 14.9 Anaheim Union High 29,267 25,750 13.6 Capistrano Unified 28,833 26,903 7.2 Magnolia (elementary) 28,797 26,416 9.0 Anaheim City (elementary) 28,666 26,128 9.7 Fullerton Joint Union High 28,358 25,513 11.2 Centralia (elementary) 28,175 24,777 13.7 Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified 27,957 24,419 14.5 Garden Grove Unified 27,703 25,518 8.6 Huntington Beach Union High 27,686 25,468 8.7 Buena Park (elementary) 27,643 25,451 8.6 Huntington Beach (elementary) 27,368 24,527 11.6 Santa Ana Unified 27,239 23,665 15.1 Savanna (elementary) 27,040 24,637 9.7 Westminster (elementary) 26,984 24,747 9.0 La Habra (elementary) 26,941 25,284 6.6 Cypress (elementary) 26,870 23,205 15.8 Laguna Beach Unified 26,506 20,950 26.5 Newport Mesa Unified 26,161 23,514 11.3 Irvine Unified 26,153 23,276 12.4 Tustin Unified 26,136 24,570 6.4 Fullerton (elementary) 25,586 20,749 23.3 Fountain Valley 25,457 25,118 1.3 Ocean View (elementary) 24,694 24,210 2.0 Brea Olinda Unified 24,404 22,954 6.3 Orange Unified 23,610 23,350 1.1 Saddleback Valley Unified 20,488 18,949 8.1 Orange County average $26,821 $24,285 10.4

* California grants a teaching credential upon completion of 30 units of graduate study and at least six months of student teaching. Most teachers enter at starting salary level, though the state allows districts to grant “emergency credentials” or hire people with just a bachelor’s degree in some situations; those teachers typically make less than the salary shown above.

Sources: California Teachers’ Assn.; Orange Service Center Council; individual districts

Researched by JODI WILGOREN/Los Angeles Times