New teacher pay no longer competitive

School districts are facing increasing difficulty recruiting new teachers because college graduates are now commanding much better pay in other professions, the AFT reports in its teacher salary survey released this summer.

The AFT notes that the national average beginning teacher salary in the 1997-98 school year was $25,735. By contrast, new college graduates in 1998 received an average salary offer in other fields of more than $35,000. For example, in engineering, offers averaged $42,862; computer science, $40,920; math or statistics, $40,523; chemistry, $36,036; business administration, $34,831; accounting, $33,702; and sales/marketing, $33,252.

In addition, the national average teacher salary in the 1997-98 school year was $39,347. By contrast, the 1998 average annual salary of other white-collar occupations was much higher: Attorneys earned $71,530; engineers, $64,489; computer systems analysts, $63,072; buyer/contract specialists, $54,625; and accountants, $45,919.

The U.S. Department of Education has estimated that 2.2 million teachers will need to be hired over the next decade. The AFT report notes that the chief reasons for the teacher shortage include inferior salaries, a rapidly graying teaching force and increasing enrollments due to the so-called baby boomlet.

"To attract college graduates to teaching, salaries must keep pace with other professions that are luring people away from the classroom. Teaching is enormously gratifying, and many more would make it their career choice if they felt [school teachers] were treated like professionals," says AFT president Sandra Feldman.

American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001