04/30/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/29/2024 20:56
The data shows that a combination of elected leaders in some states stepping up and the tireless advocacy of educators and their unions has resulted in the most significant year-over-year teacher pay increase in over a decade. States such as Alabama, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Mississippi, and Washington, amongst others, demonstrated significant progress in teacher pay. Beyond that, states such as Montana and Rhode Island led the way in increasing pay amongst K-12 education support professionals. At the same time, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and North Carolina were a handful of states that led higher education faculty.
However, despite this progress, much work still needs to be done to close the teacher pay penalty,address inadequate pay for all educators, and finally make the investments necessary at the state and local levels to attract and retain quality educators in community public schools.
"Every student, regardless of race or place, deserves caring, qualified, committed educators. And every educator needs our fierce support in helping them inspire imagination, curiosity, and a love of learning and to provide the skills students need to thrive in their brilliance," said NEA President Becky Pringle. "The good news is that through their unions, educators have demanded respect and a seat at the table and have used the power of their collective voice to demand more. More for their students, more professional respect, and more pay. By holding elected officials accountable, educators will earn the respect, competitive wages, and support they deserve to provide their students with the skills needed to fulfill their dreams in safe, just, and welcoming learning environments."
The data released today include "Rankings and Estimates," a report NEA has produced since the 1960s that is highly respected and widely cited as an authoritative source. The comprehensive report provides comparative state data and national averages for a wide array of public K-12 education statistics, including average teacher salaries and per-student expenditures. NEA's "Teacher Salary Benchmark Report" provides information from over 12,000 local school districts on starting teacher salaries and salaries at other points of the teaching career continuum. The "Education Support Professional Earnings Report" offers a pay breakdown of school support staff, also known as education support professionals, working in K-12 public schools and higher education. NEA's "Higher Education Faculty Salary Analysis" examines full-time faculty and graduate assistant salaries at the national, state, and institutional levels.
Data highlights and trends:
"While some elected leaders are doing what is right, too many students remain in schools where decision-makers have driven away quality educators by failing to provide competitive salaries and support, disrespecting the profession, and placing extraordinary pressure on individual educators to do more and more with less and less," added Pringle. "By not stepping up to the plate, they are hurting students' futures and ignoring the pleas of parents who want them to focus on the critical needs of our students by attracting and retaining teachers, school support staff and higher education faculty and staff so our students have the educators they need and deserve to live into their brilliance. We can and must do better."
For additional information about Rankings and Estimates and related NEA reports, please visit www.nea.org/educatorpay.
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The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, students preparing to become teachers, healthcare workers, and public employees. Learn more at www.nea.org.