Florida Teachers Demand Pay Raise

Updated: Wed 6:20 PM, Feb 26, 2003

Florida's Teacher's Union is demanding a raise. Teachers say Florida ranks 27th in the nation for teacher pay, and we're losing good teachers to other states at a time when Florida needs more teachers than ever to implement the class size amendment. But the teachers have an uphill battle.

Teacher David Warrell has spent nearly 30 years in the classroom because he loves it. But, he says Florida’s relatively low teacher salaries are driving some teachers away.

“I have a couple of colleagues that were in the profession just a few years in Leon County who have gone across the line to Georgia and are making considerably more right now than experienced teachers in Florida average,” says Warrell.

About $39,000 a year, that's $4,000 less than our neighbors in Georgia, and $5,000 less than the national average.

The Florida Education Association says the state can afford a $2,500 raise for every teacher if the governor scraps plans for $660 million in proposed tax breaks.

The governor's response was sarcastic, but the state has to do something. Florida needs 20,000 new teachers by august to replace retirees and implement the first year of the constitutional amendment requiring smaller classes.

The governor's office estimates it will cost $628 million this year to begin implementing the class size amendment, about the same as it would cost to provide a $2,500 raise for every teacher.

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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.

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