The Declining Economic Status of Wisconsin's Teaching Profession
Contents
This report was prepared by the WEAC Center for Collective Bargaining,
Advocacy and Affiliate Relations, Jeffrey Leverich, research coordinator Introduction
"We will never really improve American education
until we elevate the teaching profession and come to grips with the issue
of teacher compensation . . . experienced teachers with master's degrees
earn an average of $32,000 a year less than their counterparts in other
fields."
-Secretary of Education, Richard Riley (1)
- Wisconsin public schools continually ranked among the highest in
the nation during the 1990s on ACT and SAT test scores and on high school
graduation rates. (2)
- Teacher salaries were capped in 1993, and teacher pay lost ground
to inflation, per capita income, and median income. Wisconsin fell from
13th to 16th nationally in teacher pay. (3)
- Starting pay for Wisconsin teachers is less today than it was in
1970 when adjusted for inflation. (4)
- Continued erosion in the economic status of the teaching profession
threatens the long-term quality of education in Wisconsin.
- Wisconsin teachers today need catch-up pay to attain the same standard
of living they had a decade ago.
- Teachers have the lowest starting pay of professions requiring 4-year
college degrees. (5)
- Wisconsin teachers earned $10,000 less in 1998 than other workers
in the state who had a college degree. (6)
- Wisconsin teachers with a master's degree earned $17,250 less in
1998 than other workers in the state who had master's degrees. (7)
- Nationally, dental hygienists-who earned $46,570-and flight attendants-who
earned $42,710-had higher average wages in 1998 than Wisconsin teachers,
who earned $39,357. (8)
Endnotes
- Jodi Wilgoren, "Secretary of Education Proposes that Teachers Work
all the Year," The New York Times, February 23, 2000.
- Department of Public Instruction, "Wisconsin Retains No. 1 ACT Ranking,"
Education Forum, August 18, 2000; Department of Public Instruction,
"Wisconsin Student Achievement Facts," Education Information Series,
2000; National Center for Education Statistics, Dropout Rates in the
United States, November 1999.
- U.S. Census Bureau, Median Income for 4-Person Families, by State;
Personal per capita income data are from the Bureau of Economic Analysis,
Regional Data Series; teacher salary figures are from the National Education
Association, Rankings and Estimates, 2000.
- Wisconsin Education Association Council, "Wisconsin Teacher Compensation:
Losing Ground," 2000; starting pay for school districts is collected
by the Wisconsin Education Association Council; inflation figures, measured
by the CPI-U, are published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Quarterly (fall 1996);
National Association of Colleges and Employers, "Salary Survey" September
1999; and American Federation of Teachers, Annual Survey of State Departments
of Education, 1999.
- "Quality Counts," Education Week, January 12, 2000.
- "Quality Counts," Education Week, January 12, 2000.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Occupational Employment Statistics,"
1999; National Education Association, Rankings and Estimates, 1999.
Posted April 3, 2001