New Report Spotlights Stagnant Wage Growth for Mid- and Late-Career Teachers
By Tim Walker
While most Americans agree that teachers do not receive the professional pay they deserve, the conversation has generally been framed around the difficulty of attracting people to the teaching profession. Less attention has been paid to educators who have been in the classroom for at least ten years and the stagnant salaries that are squeezing them out of the middle class. The Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington D.C., today released a issue brief examining this very issue and what they found was deeply troubling.“The bottom line is that mid- and late-career teachers are not earning what they deserve, nor are they able to gain the salaries that support a middle-class existence,” write Ulrich Boser and Chelsea Straus, the authors of the report. “It does not have to be—and should not be—this way.”
Looking at a variety of databases, Boser and Strauss single out states where the average teacher salary for experienced teachers isn’t especially competitive with other professions that demand much less rigorous coursework. For example, teachers in Colorado with a graduate degree and 10 years of experience make less than a trucker. Similarly, in Oklahoma, teachers with 15 years of experience and a master’s degree make less than sheet metal workers. In some states, a teacher with a bachelor’s degree and 10 years of experience makes significantly less than the state’s median household income.
Even in states such as California, where teachers with ten years experience make more money (average salary in California: $51,400) the climbing high cost of living, particularly in urban areas, negate any real financial advantage over their colleagues in other states.
Initial vs Mid-Career Teacher Salaries. Credit: The Center for American Progress (Click to Enlarge)
Boser and Strauss also point out that teachers’ salaries slow to a crawl before they reach mid-career. For example, the average starting salary of $37,595 for an elementary school teacher only increases to $46,130 after 15 years in the classroom. The average salary for mid-career elementary school teachers in countries surveyed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is almost 10 percent higher.
Still, some cities are taking a hard look at the issue and devising ways to better compensate their teachers, including Portland, Maine. The Professional Learning Based Salary Schedule (PLBSS) rewards teachers who continuously take classes to sharpen and advance their skills. The PLBSS was the result of a collaborative effort by the Portland Education New Report Spotlights Stagnant Wage Growth for Mid- and Late-Career Teachers | NEA Today: