I’m sure that at one time or another in your life, you were asked to name your favorite teacher. I know I have, and my sixth-grade teacher had a profound influence on my life with her persistence and caring. There are millions of Americans who have had the same experience, and attribute part of their success to that special person.
While we occasionally pay tribute to a single educator, the sad fact is that most of us ignore the plight of teachers today. The strike in West Virginia highlighted the fact that starting teachers in that state were earning an annual salary of $33,684, and the average salary for all other teachers was $45,701. The charitable legislators in West Virginia offered the teachers a 1 percent pay raise and a freeze on insurance premium increases.
Some people might view that offer as generous, but the teachers who were working two jobs to survive didn’t think so. They shut down all of the state’s schools and demonstrated at the state capitol to get their message across. It didn’t take long before the legislature gave in and voted for a 5 percent increase. That story is being repeated in other states where unions have no clout and public employees are at the mercy of elected officials, who favor tax cuts over poorly paid teachers.
The latest demonstrations are taking place in Kentucky and Oklahoma. Kentucky’s teachers get a starting salary of $36,494, and the average salary for all teachers is $47,984. Oklahoma is even worse. Their starting salary for teachers is $31,919, and the average is $45,245. There’s no doubt that in the months ahead, strikes will probably occur in numerous states, including Arkansas, Colorado, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont.
In the states that have teachers unions, it’s a much different story. In New York, as of 2017, the starting salary for teachers was $44,935 and the average salary was $79,637, the highest in the country. The state with the second-highest teacher pay is Massachusetts, with a starting salary of $44,726 and an average of $77,804. So there are better numbers in a handful of states, but overall, teachers in this country are treated as second-class citizens by many state legislatures.