School teachers in Georgia aren't likely to get a raise this year so lawmakers are proposing a tax break for them instead.

A bill introduced Tuesday in Atlanta would give teachers up to a $250 tax credit for buying school supplies.

Many educators complain that they spend their own money for materials they need in class. The most controversial part of the bill is the availability of the tax credit to parents who home school their children.

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Teacher Salaries for 2000-2001

Beginning teacher salaries have continued to improve in response to the nationwide teacher shortage, increasing more than four percent in each of the past two years. On the other hand, the pay hike for experienced teachers was less impressive in 2000-01, increasing just 3.4 percent over the prior year.

Improved pay for new teachers helps school districts compete for new college graduates, but these graduates are receiving average offers of $42,712 in fields other than teaching, while the average salary for beginning teachers is just under $29,000.

Teacher salaries vary considerably across the states. Connecticut had the highest average salary at $53,507. The other top five states were California at $52,480, New Jersey at $51,955, New York at $51,020 and Michigan at $50,515. South Dakota had the lowest average salary at $30,265.

A couple of states increased teacher salaries by an unusual amount in 2000-01. California teacher salaries spiked 10.1 percent, improving the state’s rank from seventh to second. Oklahoma raised its rank from 50th to 48th by providing the largest increase of any state—10.2 percent. Other than California and Oklahoma, no other state had an increase exceeding 6 percent. Average salaries in Hawaii declined due to increased hiring of new teachers to replace experienced teachers who retired. Mississippi, New Jersey and New York had salary increases of less than 1 percent.

Average Teacher Salary in 2000-01 State Rankings
Rank	State	Average Salary	Percent of U.S. Average
1	Connecticut	$53,507	123.7%
2	California	$52,480	121.3%
3	New Jersey	$51,955	120.1%
4	New York	$51,020	118.0%
5	Michigan	$50,515	116.8%
6	Rhode Island	$50,400	116.5%
7	Pennsylvania	$49,528	114.5%
8	District of Columbia	$48,488	112.1%
9	Alaska	$48,123	111.3%
10	Illinois	$47,865	110.7%
11	Massachusetts	$47,789	110.5%
12	Delaware	$47,047	108.8%
13	Maryland	$45,963	106.3%
14	Oregon	$44,988	104.0%
15	Nevada	$44,234	102.3%
16	Indiana	$43,000	99.4%
17	Ohio	$42,892	99.2%
18	Minnesota	$42,212	97.6%
19	Washington	$42,143	97.4%
20	Georgia	$42,141	97.4%
21	North Carolina	$41,496	95.9%
22	Wisconsin	$40,939	94.7%
23	Hawaii	$40,536	93.7%
24	Virginia	$40,247	93.1%
25	Colorado	$39,184	90.6%
26	Texas	$38,359	88.7%
27	New Hampshire	$38,301	88.6%
28	Vermont	$38,254	88.4%
29	Florida	$38,230	88.4%
30	South Carolina	$37,938	87.7%
31	Alabama	$37,606	87.0%
32	Tennessee	$37,413	86.5%
33	Idaho	$37,109	85.8%
34	Kentucky	$36,688	84.8%
35	Arizona	$36,502	84.4%
36	Iowa	$36,479	84.3%
37	Utah	$36,441	84.3%
38	Maine	$36,373	84.1%
39	West Virginia	$35,888	83.0%
40	Kansas	$35,766	82.7%
41	Missouri	$35,091	81.1%
42	Arkansas	$34,729	80.3%
43	Wyoming	$34,678	80.2%
44	Nebraska	$34,258	79.2%
45	Louisiana	$33,615	77.7%
46	New Mexico	$33,531	77.5%
47	Montana	$33,249	76.9%
48	Oklahoma	$32,545	75.2%
49	Mississippi	$31,954	73.9%
50	North Dakota	$30,891	71.4%
51	South Dakota	$30,265	70.0%
U.S. Average		$43,250	100.0%

Source: www.aft.org (American Federation of Teachers Web site) contributed to this report.