Starting Teacher Pay

Teacher salaries continue to lag behind the pay of other college educated professionals. In fact, the Economic Policy Institute’s most recent report on teacher pay finds that:

“Teacher pay has suffered a sharp decline compared with the pay of other college-educated workers. On average, teachers made 26.4% less than other similarly educated professionals in 2022—the lowest level since 1960.”

However, this latest analysis of teacher salary benchmarks along with the other Educator Pay Data reported by NEA show modest progress being made in addressing the chronic pay problem that has made it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain teachers and other educators. Notably, in 2022-2023:

• The increase in the average starting teacher salary was higher than it was in 2021-2022 in 44 of the 50 states and DC.
• Nearly a third of the states experienced an increase of 5% or more in the average starting teacher salary.
• Over 3,000 school districts increased the starting teacher salary by at least 5%.

This progress is the direct result of positive developments at the state level where legislatures and governors are finally beginning to earmark meaningful dollars for teacher pay. For example:

• New Mexico’s SB 1 provided historic raises. It increased starting teacher salaries to $50,000 and guaranteed a 7% raise for all school employees. As a result, starting teacher pay on average rose by nearly 18% in 2022-2023. The overall average teacher salary increased by more the 17%.
• In Mississippi, HB 530 authorized the largest pay raise in a generation for the state’s public-school teachers. It provided teachers with an average salary increase of about $5,100 - a jump of more than 10%. On average, starting salaries rose by 12.2% in 2022-2023.
• In California and Washington, substantial increases in state funding to school districts paved the way for local unions to bargain significant pay increases for teachers and other educators. As a result, in 2022-2023, starting salaries rose by 6.5% in California and 6.7% in Washington. A 6.5% average increase in the salaries of veteran teachers in California pushed the top of the salary schedule to almost $110,000 on average.

However, as noted in last year’s report, some states are taking the wrong approach to addressing educator pay. For example, last year we noted that legislation passed in Arkansas promised to increase the starting salary for teachers to $50,000 but would blow up the state’s minimum salary schedule, making it difficult to provide equitable salaries to veteran teachers. Sure enough, data collected for next year’s report show that for one-third of the school districts in Arkansas, teachers with decades of experience in the classroom are now paid the same as those who are novices to the profession. On average, the top of the salary schedule for the highest degree is only $6,000 more than what teachers with a bachelor’s’ degree and zero experience are paid.

To add insult to injury, the same law that showed utter contempt for the state’s most experienced teachers also diverts money from public schools to support private and religious schools and repealed the state’s Fair Dismissal Act, which provided due process protections to teachers. Moreover, two years after stripping teachers and other public employees of their collective bargaining rights, the legislature passed a bill prohibiting teachers from paying union dues though payroll deduction.

Disrespecting veteran educators, attacking unions and collective bargaining, and dismantling public education are not policies that serve the public good. Instead, good policies support a system of public education and invest in all educators.