The Erroneous “Underpaid Teacher” Claims

By Larry Sand

While the grousing about low teacher pay is flawed, there are legitimate ways to increase salaries without burdening taxpayers.

You hear it all the time. Teachers are underpaid. There is a teacher pay penalty. Teachers are the lowest paid of all the professions. Recently, the National Education Association issued a report claiming, “Teacher Salaries Not Keeping Up With Inflation.” The Guardian asserts that teachers “can’t afford rent.”

The feds may soon be joining the party. America’s shrill socialist Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, has introduced the Pay Teachers Act, a gambit that would cost taxpayers $450 billion over ten years. If passed, Title I funding would be tripled by “increasing estate taxes on the wealthiest Americans.” Under this money grab, states would be eligible, with federal help, to raise teacher salaries to $60,000 a year.

On a local level, New York City educators are getting a big pay hike and bonuses of up to 20% under a five-year, $6.4 billion labor contract announced in June by Mayor Eric Adams and the United Federation of Teachers. Under the new deal, the top salaries for the longest-serving teachers will exceed $150,000.

Not to be outdone, California is seeking to boost teacher salaries by 50% by 2030. Al Muratsuchi (D-Los Angeles), the author of AB 938, maintains that many teachers and school employees are “unable to afford to live in the communities they work in. Moreover, there is a growing wage gap between teachers and comparable college graduates in other fields.”

And now for a much-needed reality check. In the 2020–21 school year, the average U.S. school teacher made $65,090 yearly in salary and received another $33,048 in benefits (health insurance, paid leave, and pensions) for a total compensation of $98,138, according to Just Facts.

Also, full-time public school teachers work an average of 1,490 hours per year, including time spent on lesson preparation, test construction, and grading, providing extra help to students, coaching, and other activities, while private industry employees work an average of 2,045 hours per year, or about 37% more than public school teachers.

All in all, with various weighty perks like healthcare and pension plans included, a teacher makes $68.85 an hour on average, whereas a private sector worker makes about $36 per hour.

There are, however, several ways for teachers to earn more without whacking the already beleaguered taxpayer. Notably, pensions for teachers should be revamped.

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