Teacher pay challenges apparent in many states
WHEN Oklahoma lawmakers increased taxes this year to provide teacher pay raises averaging $6,100, supporters argued low salaries had created a teacher shortage. Yet a majority of superintendents surveyed this summer by the Oklahoma State School Boards Association said the shortage had grown worse.
This came as a surprise to many, but probably shouldn’t have. The link between pay and teacher shortages was never as strong as was often suggested. This fact is indirectly highlighted by a recent WalletHub report on 2018’s Best & Worst States for Teachers.
WalletHub’s reviewers found Michigan provides teachers the highest annual salaries in the nation, adjusted for cost-of-living differences. Yet in August, multiple news outlets in Michigan carried reports of a teacher shortage. The Center for Michigan says the number of Michigan college students studying to become a teacher has declined more than 50 percent since 2008.
Illinois teacher pay ranked second highest, yet nearly 80 percent of Illinois school districts reported teacher shortages in August. WalletHub ranked Pennsylvania teacher pay third best; in July, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the number of new teaching certificates issued in Pennsylvania declined 71 percent between the 2009-10 and 2016-17 school years.
WalletHub ranked Washington the 21st-best state overall for teachers. But thousands of Washington teachers went on strike in August. The strike occurred after lawmakers had already provided an additional $2 billion for teacher salary increases, but strikers demanded salaries as high as $120,000 in some instances.
WalletHub researchers found Kentucky was the state with the lowest projected teacher turnover. Yet Kentucky was the site of major teacher strikes earlier this year.
In contrast, the WalletHub report concluded Indiana is among the four states with the highest teacher turnover. However, a report by The 1889 Institute in Oklahoma found average teacher salaries in Indiana rank 17th highest in the country.
The 1889 Institute found Oklahoma’s average teacher salaries may now rank 11th highest nationally after accounting for the new pay raise and costof-living differences. Even so, it appears that high pay level has barely nudged the needle.
The WalletHub report ranked Vermont’s school system the fifth best among the 50 states, yet also found that Vermont has one of the nation’s highest rates of teacher turnover.
WalletHub found the highest teacher-pupil ratio in the nation is in California. That high ratio occurred despite California voters approving income tax and sales tax increases to fund education in 2012.
To recap, fewer people want to teach even in highpaying states and those states often have high teacher turnover, while low turnover — indicating greater levels of job satisfaction — has occurred even in a state impacted by teacher strikes. Meanwhile, tax increases haven’t always translated into better job conditions. Put simply, Oklahoma’s problems aren’t unique. And one step to solving our education challenges is to take note of what has not worked elsewhere.