State Teacher Salaries Fall Dramatically

Wisconsin teacher salaries took a dramatic slide over the last three years and now are well below the national average, according to a National Education Association report released Monday (April 8, 2002).

“Rankings of the States 2001” shows that Wisconsin teacher salaries, which were 13th in the nation 10 years ago and 16th two years ago, fell to 19th in the nation last year.

In the last three reporting years, Wisconsin teacher salaries went from 100.2% of the national average in 1998-99, to 98.6% in 1999-00, to 97.2% in 2000-01.

Wisconsin teacher compensation is at the bottom of the average of neighboring Great Lakes states.

“These dismal figures should alarm every resident in Wisconsin,” WEAC President Stan Johnson said. “ Every kid deserves a great school, but the quality of education will suffer if our great teachers and staff leave for other professions; or people do not enter the teaching profession in the first place. This will have a direct impact on the health of our communities and our state, because great schools benefit everyone.”

Jack Kean, assistant superintendent for the state Department of Public Instruction, said Wisconsin teachers are "ripe for the picking," as other states recruit them out of our schools of education and our classrooms. California, in particular, is aggressively recruiting Wisconsin's best teachers, he said.

The average teacher salary in California in 2000-01 was $52,480, compared to $42,122 in Wisconsin.

Johnson blamed Wisconsin's unfair collective bargaining law – known as the Qualified Economic Offer law – and school district revenue controls for the sharp decline in teacher salaries. The QEO ties the hands of teachers at the bargaining table, and revenue controls rob school districts of money needed to provide fair salary increases.

As a result of those laws, nearly 300 school districts have yet to settle contracts with their teachers for 2001-03. In many districts, teachers have resorted to protests and job actions, often limiting their activities only to duties specifically required by the contract.

Resource page on the Qualified Economic Offer law
Resource page on school district revenue controls
The full report: "Ranking of the States" (pdf file)

Posted April 8, 2002