Teacher Pay Penalty Hits an All-Time High
Education budget austerity carries a high cost
A post by Anne Lutz Fernandez digs into the most recent analysis of teacher pay compared with that of other professions - a survey conducted by the Economic Policy Institute.
As Fernandez notes, 30 years ago, teacher pay was roughly 5% lower than that of the pay of similarly-educated professionals. When you added in a comparatively generous benefits package, teacher compensation was in line with the pay of other professions requiring similar training.
Not anymore.
The latest data says the “teacher pay penalty” - the gap between teacher compensation and the pay of other professionals - is now at an all-time high - 27%.
When adjusted for benefits, this gap still tops 20%.
Of the ten states with the worst teacher shortages, the majority have pay penalties worse than the national average.
And, as Fernandez suggests, this penalty has real consequences.
Young people’s interest in education continues to slide as they recognize “many downsides” to teaching, including its unattractive pay. High school and college students have other reasons for being less interested in the field. One is the lack of respect they would expect, and new research says they aren’t wrong: Matthew A. Kraft and Melissa Arnold Lyon found “perceptions of teacher prestige have fallen between 20% and 47% in the last decade to be at the lowest levels recorded over the last half century.” Another is the lack of autonomy teachers are afforded.
When an Oklahoma college was asked why it was suspending its elementary education program due to lack of student interest, this is what they said:
"More than anything, economics plays into it, right? Students don't want to take on debt into a profession that when I get a four-year degree that I'm going to have to pay loans when I barely make enough to live and that's where we are with the education profession," she said.
There are, however, examples of districts taking action to close the teacher pay gap:
Now, though, there’s also an example of what might happen. A school district in Oregon moved starting pay in the district from $38,000 a year to $60,000 a year. In the process, all teachers received at least a 15% raise.
What happened after this significant pay bump?
After announcing the salary schedule change, we had pools of qualified applicants to consider. It was a fun spring. Our administrators were having to have these rich conversations about best fit, really digging into things like, ‘Here’s a full table of highly qualified people; who is going to best fulfill the needs of our school? It’s a conversation that most districts don’t get to have right now.
And, this makes sense. In fact, in Tennessee, after significant pay bumps for both corrections officers and state troopers, the state saw a big influx of applicants for both jobs.
Yes, while teacher pay in Tennessee continues to stagnate, other state employees are seeing big pay bumps.
Teacher pay matters. A lot.
Policymakers seem confused by this fact - even with evidence that in other jobs (and even in teaching when bold moves actually happen) - raising pay improves the number and quality of applicants.
If policymakers are serious about public education as a priority, they will end austerity budgeting and invest in what works.
Teachers, come Washington State! I make over 130,000 here. Yay for strong unions and a Democratic-majority legislature.
Other states, take note: it is not impossible to pay teachers a living wage.
In my district, over 500 new teachers were not paid for their first three paychecks for the 2024-2025 school year.
Nothing says, “Thank you for being a teacher,” like not paying them for working as a teacher.