Teacher Pay Still Low (Editorial)

According to the American Federation of Teachers’ annual teacher salary survey, Arkansas ranked 37th in the nation in 2003-04.

The average teacher salary in Arkansas for that school year was $39,226, up 4.5 percent from the previous year. The state ranked 43rd in the nation for average beginning teacher salary at $26,129, an increase of 2.6 percent from 2002-03.

That’s good news. As Gov. Mike Huckabee once said, teachers do a job that most of us wouldn’t do even if we were outfitted with a whip and a chair and pistol. Given the education required to become a teacher and skills they must have in the classroom, they earn every penny and deserve more.

That’s especially true given the increased demands being put on teachers at the state and federal levels in efforts to raise educational standards.

Arkansas has made great strides in the past few years, but with a public education system that has been declared unconstitutional, we need to continue to pay the best we can to attract the best teachers. The state’s future — as well as the future of business — depends on it.

Despite the much better showing, it’s unlikely Arkansas will rise in the next ranking given that our legislators appropriated virtually no more money for education this year, as noted by the recent special masters report to the state Supreme Court.

Nationally, average teacher salary growth failed to keep up with inflation for the first time since the 1999-2000 school year. The average teacher salary in 2003-04 was $46,597, an increase of 2.2 percent from 2002-03. The national rate of inflation in 2004 was 2.7 percent. When adjusted for inflation, the 2003-04 salary is actually a drop of 0.4 percent from 2002-03.

Arkansas was one of 22 states where the increase in average teacher salary kept pace with the national rate of inflation.

It’s tempting to be satisfied that we’re better than some of the surrounding states, but the ideal is to shoot for the top and not worry about what the others are not doing.