• Starting salary -- $31,976

• Average salary -- $47,033

• Highest salary --$63,256, including longevity and a master's degree plus 60 credit hours of graduate studies.

The teachers' benefit package includes:

• Full medical coverage with no co-pay. It is paid entirely by the district.

• Dental and vision care. Teachers contribute less than $1 a month for each.

• Life insurance paid for by the district at about $1,000 per $1,000 of salary. In other words, if an employee makes $45,000, his or her life insurance policy is about $45,000. The insurance policy starts at $35,000 for new hires. A starting teacher's salary is about $32,000.

  The medical, dental, vision, and life insurance costs the district $6,865 per teacher, over and above his or her annual salary.

Teachers also get the following:

• Sabbatical leave eligibility after 10 years of service for health and education reasons. The district pays 50 percent of the teacher's salary while he or she is on sabbatical leave.

• 12 sick days a year that accumuluate with no cap. Upon resignation or retirement, teachers are paid $30 for each unused sick day.

• Three personal days a year; two unused days can be transferred to the next year for a total of five in any one year. The third unused personal day can be changed to a sick day. Provisions apply every year.

• Pension plan. The district begins paying into the plan when the teacher is hired. Each teacher pays retirement costs through payroll deduction of 6.5 percent of his or her salary if hired before 1983, and 7.5 percent if hired after 1983. The district contributes 1.09 percent of a teacher's salary, half of which is subsidized by the state.