Kentucky Governor Gives Up, Says State Will Never Match Tennessee in Teacher Pay
Actual proposal would put Kentucky in Top 25 in teacher compensation
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has made much of a proposal to someday, eventually raise the state’s teacher pay significantly.
In fact, after making claims about a goal of making Tennessee the best place to teach in the Southeast, Lee also promised that starting teacher pay would increase to $50,000 by the time he leaves office (end of 2026).
He followed all that bluster with a budget that offered a 4% teacher pay raise this year.
This follows a 37% pay raise for Corrections Officers in 2022 and a 40% pay raise for State Troopers this year.
It seems Lee is able to find money to give raises - if and when he wants to. When it comes to teachers, he just doesn’t want to.
In fact, the Tennessee Education Association (TEA) noted that this year’s raise still leaves Tennessee’s starting teacher pay behind Alabama’s.
Coats noted that the proposed teacher pay increase will bring Tennessee’s minimum teacher salary to $42,000 a year. She then pointed out that Alabama’s minimum teacher pay is $43,358.
Of course, there’s still Kentucky. Budget and political tensions there have seen the state’s starting teacher compensation lag in recent years, so starting pay in the Bluegrass State now is a bit behind Tennessee.
That said, average teacher compensation in Kentucky is $54,574, for a ranking of 40th. In Tennessee, the average educator earns $53,285, ranking the state 45th nationally.
Still, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is likely fretting over Lee’s promise to boost Tennessee teacher pay aggressively. Surely, he realizes that Kentucky will never match Tennessee after Lee’s supposedly bold commitment.
Nope.
Beshear is proposing an 11% raise for all school employees. The proposal would bring starting teacher pay in Kentucky above $44,000/year (above both Tennessee AND Alabama) and move the average teacher salary in the Commonwealth to more than $64,000.
Quick review:
Tennessee Troopers: 40% raise
Tennessee Corrections Officers: 37% raise
Kentucky School Employees: 11% raise
Tennessee Teachers: 4% raise
Alabama Teachers - still making more than Tennessee’s
Kentucky Teachers - heading to the Top 25
Tennessee Teachers - bottom 10 in the nation
Is this what Bill Lee calls winning?
The raises offer very little comfort when overall evaluation scores reflect such a high percentage of student achievement and growth according to TCAP. Why did we ever agree to something so ridiculous?
I would have liked to have gotten a 4% raise! Our system promised "significant pay raises" all last year, and some teachers got them -- but it was after a revised pay schedule that included annual pay increases up to 30 years, rather than the previous 20 years. Teachers who had been teaching over 20 years saw a nice increase, while teachers with under saw almost nothing. I received a 2% pay raise, and while I hate to complain about any raise in pay, after being told for a year that we'd be receiving "significant pay raises," it certainly felt like I'd been lied to. I love teaching, but I can't really afford to be a teacher anymore.