Religious Educators Need Responsible Compensation
December 15, 2006
The attraction of religious education for our children and ourselves is what drew many of us to seek out a Unitarian Universalist congregation. We value the structured, caring environment that's created each Sunday morning and the opportunities for religious discovery and personal and spiritual growth.Yet we do not always value our religious educators as highly as we should. Many are underpaid and overworked, says the Rev. Susan Archer, president of LREDA, the Liberal Religious Educators Association and minister of RE at Cedar Lane UU Church in Bethesda, Md.
"The old adage, you get what you pay for, doesn't always hold when it comes to religious educators," says Archer. "In fact, you often get much more than you pay for. But that is not a good way of 'doing religion.' We don't live up to our principles when we don't create a just and equitable compensation system in each of our congregations."
Twenty years ago Laurel Burdon volunteered to be part of a team of three religious educators at the UU Church in Brookfield, Mass. (85 members). For two years they were the unpaid religious educators at the church. The RE program had five to seven children, two of whom were Burdon's.
Then about 10 years ago when Burdon was sharing the job with one other person, church leaders decided it was time to pay them-not only because it was the right thing to do, but because it would make it easier to hire someone else if the RE codirectors left.
At first the pay was a stipend, says Burdon, but in the past eight years it has grown substantially to where, now, it's just under the minimum recommended by the UUA. The program now has 40 children and youth.
Each year when the preliminary budget is discussed Burdon expresses her expectation that she be fairly compensated. "But I really don't need to push it with the executive committee," she says. "There are others who now raise this issue on my behalf."
Burdon also makes sure to report all the hours she works. She's paid for ten hours a week and generally reports 14. "I go to as many collegial meetings and workshops as I can and they don't fit into the paid hours, but I choose to go because they help me stay current and informed," she notes.
Peter Liveright is the denominational compensation consultant in the Joseph Priestly District. He says congregations call him most often when they're calling a new minister or educator and want to increase the compensation to attract the best candidates.
"I tell congregational leaders that it's a matter of equality and of living up to our religious principles," he says. "If a congregation doesn't pay its educator fairly then that person is actually subsidizing the congregation." When a church is having trouble coming up with the money he encourages them to develop a plan to raise compensation over several years.
At Countryside Church UU in Palatine, Ill. (300), DRE Colleen Vahey is paid between the minimum and the midpoint on the UUA's recommended scale. "We work hard to protect salaries," says president Mike Gilley. "They're the first item we approve in the budget, and then we stand our ground." Not that there's a lot of opposition. Gilley says the education program, which has about 135 children and youth, has a lot of support, in part because of the hard work of previous DREs and of Vahey and volunteers.
Gilley says the congregation feels continually challenged to meet the ever-higher guidelines and that can be difficult: "The bar keeps getting raised higher. We do everything we can to hold our aim steady at the midpoint."
Resources
Read the UUA's salary recommendations for religious educators and other staff at uua.org/programs/ministry/finances/compensation.html. District compensation consultants can help congregations determine how to meet recommended pay levels.For more information contact interconnections @ uua.org.
Last updated on Tuesday, July 10, 2007.
