--- title: "A School Bought Solar Panels and Saved Enough to Give All Its Teachers Raises" description: "Boosting Pay A rural school in Batesville, Arkansas generated enough solar energy to give every teacher up to $15,000 in raises, as CBS News reports. Salaries were only averaging around $45,000, with many teachers leaving as a result. It was also proving very difficult to attract new teachers to the town of just 10,000 people. […]" date: "2021-03-16" modified: "2021-03-16" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/solar-panels-save-teachers-raise" categories: - "Energy" - "Renewable Energy" - "Science & Energy" - "Solar Power" tags: - "solar panels" - "solar power" - "the digest" --- # A School Bought Solar Panels and Saved Enough to Give All Its Teachers Raises ![A rural school in Batesville, Arkansas generated enough solar energy to give every teacher up to $15,000 in raises, as CBS News reports.]() *\Image: Entegrity Partners\* ## Boosting Pay A rural school district in Batesville, Arkansas generated enough solar energy to give every teacher a raise, [*CBS News* reports](). Salaries were only averaging around $45,000 at the Batesville School District, with many teachers leaving as a result. It was also proving difficult to attract new teachers to the town of just 10,000 people. But then the school district, which included a high school and five other education centers, turned an unused field into a solar energy farm back in 2017. It also covered the front of the high school in 1,500 panels. After installing the solar array and investing in other new energy infrastructure, [*Climatewire* reports]() that the district turned a $250,000 annual budget deficit into a $1.8 million surplus — enough, according to *CBS*, to give every teacher a raise of up to $15,000. ## Making Lemonade Batesville is also just 17 miles west of Arkansas's largest coal-fired power plant, *CBS* points out, a decidedly old-school source of power. Now the better pay means the school is getting more resumes and fewer resignations from teachers, Batesville's superintendent Michael Hester told *CBS*. When asked if she ever imagined to get a raise because of solar panels, local teacher Jeanne Roepecke admitted that it "would not have been one of the things that I thought." "But, what a great idea," she added. "The sun is going to be shining anyway, so why not cash in on that?" **READ MORE:** [School's solar panel savings give every teacher up to $15,000 raises]() \[*CBS News*\] **More on solar power:** *[Harvard Scientists Propose Super-Tall Towers to Power Moon Base]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()