In the Wayne-Westland Community Schools, high school math teachers are the lowest paid as a group and make on average almost $25,000 less a year than the physical education teachers.

The high school science teachers make $11,000 less than the district’s gym teachers on average.

The salaries are set by a six-year teacher’s contract Wayne-Westland agreed to in 2008 and runs through 2014. The salary schedule determines pay solely by years of experience and education background.

On average, physical education teachers were the highest paid group and made $78,675 a year. Teacher gross salaries can also include pay for extracurricular activities, such as coaching a sports team or teaching a class during their break. High school science teachers made $67,564 and high school math teachers made $53,775.

Wayne-Westland School District Spokeswoman Jenny Johnson didn’t respond to a request for comment.

"This illustrates that school districts don’t take into consideration need when they determine teacher salaries,” said Michael Van Beek, education policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “It is based on longevity and college degrees. There are calls for more high quality math and more science teachers particularly at the high school level from all corners of the country. And this district and other districts like it are making it more difficult for themselves to attract and retain more high quality math and science teachers because they are willing to pay other teachers who aren’t in as high demand as those who are.

"There is a widespread agreement that they are going to need to reward quality math and science teachers," Van Beek said. "And under this system, they can’t do that."

The disparity in salaries for the fields of math and science is significant because of a national debate over the demand for more quality science and math teachers in the classroom. The National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers' union, has pledged to help get more teachers into those fields, but the union backs the single-salary schedule.

The issue is not restricted to just one district. In 2011 in the Troy Public Schools, seven gym teachers made more than an advanced placement biology teacher who was honored as a teacher of the year.

State Superintendent Mike Flanagan said earlier this year that all teachers should make $100,000 as part of a bigger solution to get higher quality math and science teachers.

A 2010 law signed by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm requires school districts to use job performance as a “significant factor” in determining teacher pay. But nearly all districts still use a single salary schedule, in which pay is based almost entirely on years on the job and college credentials. A few have adopted a policy of paying their “highly effective” teachers

The data for the analysis was taken from the district’s transparency link on its web page where it listed all of the employees’ salaries for 2012. 

A state representative is proposing a bill that would prevent people who lose a job because of a failed drug test from receiving unemployment benefits.

Rep. Ken Goike, R-Ray Township said the inspiration for House Bill 5412 came from a story he was told by a relative. Rep. Goike said his brother-in-law is a plant manager in Macomb County and was set to hire 100 employees. Rep. Goike said his brother-in-law told him that half of the applicants couldn't be hired because they failed the drug test necessary to run the equipment.

Rep. Goike said he's not requesting everyone who files for unemployment benefits be drug tested. The bill would apply only to people whose job requires drug testing. He said his own trucking and excavating business also requires federally-mandated drug tests to run certain equipment. He said if people fail those tests, they can collect unemployment.

If Rep. Goike's bill passed and someone failed a drug test, they would have to get hired elsewhere, work 18 weeks and then lose that job before being eligible to collect unemployment.

Charles Owens, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said his organization didn’t have an official stance on the bill, but said his own opinion was that it seemed fair.

The state's unemployment law states people have to be actively seeking work to collect benefits.

"You are not actively seeking work if you are having problems with controlled substances where it shows up at the work place," Owens said, adding that recreational drug use becomes a workplace issue when you fail a mandated drug test that's required for safety.

(Editor's note: Every Saturday, Michigan Capitol Confidential brings you an introductory story about a bill being discussed in committee or presented in the Legislature for a vote. For more information on this bill, its sponsor or comments about the bill, go to www.michiganvotes.org.)