It was 1983, and my dream of becoming a teacher was about to begin. My starting salary was $11,500. And it came with medical benefits! I was really excited about this! There was nothing else I ever wanted to do except to be a teacher. I was passionate about being a part of children’s lives, being a part of seeing them succeed in all areas of life.
It got even better in 1985. Gov. Tom Kean signed into law a bill setting an $18,500 minimum salary for first-year public school teachers. At the time, it was the highest starting salary for beginning teachers in the nation.
According to the National Education Association (NEA), the average starting salary in the U.S. for a first-year teacher in 2022 was about $42,000.
In Middle Township, first-year teachers starting the school year in 2023 will be offered $61,040. The New Jersey statewide average teacher salary is around $77,000, according to the 2021 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Mississippi has the lowest paid teachers, with average salaries around $47,000. Mississippi also competes with Louisiana for the worst-performing public school system, while New Jersey competes with Massachusetts for the best.
Is there a correlation between high teacher salaries and student achievement?
Teachers Have Many Roles
Most teachers work over 50 hours a week and face many challenges. Their responsibilities range from managing classroom behaviors, writing lesson plans, grading papers, buying materials for the classroom, meeting assessment requirements, and raising the achievement of all their students. These are just some of the demands of this profession.
A teacher’s day does not end when the dismissal bell rings. And most teachers take work home to do over the weekend.
There are always new curricula and programs to review and teach, new technology to learn, meetings to attend, and forms to complete. Gathering materials and organizing resources for the next day’s lessons is common practice for all teachers.
Teachers must meet the needs of all the children in the class (with class size averaging in New Jersey between 17 and 24 students). Students have a variety of skill levels, personalities, strengths, and weaknesses, and they need encouragement and a positive learning environment to succeed.
School shootings/school safety, parental concerns, politics, new standards, state mandates, and recovering from the pandemic have all added more stress to the teaching position.
It is one of the most important jobs to be proud of, but teachers feel undervalued and not respected for all they do. Studies have shown that the responsibilities and demands on teachers have increased, but their salaries have not kept up, especially with the current high inflation rate.
Teachers go into this profession not to become rich, but because they care about kids and want to make a positive difference in the lives of children.
Similarly Educated Professionals
On average, the medium pay for a teacher is only half of what similarly educated bachelor’s degree peers make in other fields.
For example, the median salary for a human resource manager is around $121,000,a computer systems manager’s median pay is about $150,000, and a marketing/advertising manager’s median salary is about $141,000.
Teachers do generally receive better benefits than other professions, which educators pay toward. And New Jersey does offer teachers a state pension that teachers pay into.
Teacher Shortages – What to Do?
The educator shortage that we’re seeing is a challenge for the country. The solution involves recruiting young adults to go into the teaching field and the retention of current teachers. According to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), teachers leave the profession because of stress, burnout and pay.
Teachers right now are stretched to the max trying to address the needs of all their students. Concerns range from learning loss/disrupted learning to lower state test scores, to mental health/emotional and anxiety issues.
Could an increase in salaries attract and retain more education professionals to this rewarding career? Would offering bonuses to entice young teachers into the field be of some help? Paterson, in North Jersey, is paying $7,500 signing bonuses, calling them “pre-employment agreements.”
Experts note that enrollment in teacher education college programs has declined. They say it is likely in part due to the perception that teaching is a thankless job, and an overworked, underpaid career.
The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) hopes to convince school boards in New Jersey to offer $60,000 to all first-year teachers. Their campaign is called “$60K the First Day.”
A Calling
Most educators see teaching as a calling, a vocation. Most teachers have a desire to serve and be a part of a child’s life. Educating children is like no other career. Teachers impact and enrich the lives of children. It’s exhausting but rewarding, overwhelming but joyful, challenging but satisfying.
Teachers need to be proud for trying, doing, and staying true to their service to children and for having that genuine love and dedication and belief that all students can succeed and reach their potential.
Ben Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” It is easy to agree that educators play a vital role in the development and success of a nation. Being educated by high-quality teachers is a worthy goal of any democratic society.
But we need to find ways to encourage new recruits and to keep highly effective educators in this field. Salary may be one way, but respect, appreciation and support is also needed.
How do we recognize and appreciate the value of a teacher? Would raising the salary of educators make teaching a more appealing career?
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