by J.D. Davidson
The Ohio House’s plan to increase starting pay for teachers in the state to $40,000 still leaves it below the average starting pay across the country, according to a recent report.
The National Education Association report showed average starting pay for teachers across the country is $42,845, while the average public school teacher salary is $66,745.
Earlier this week, the Ohio House passed its proposed budget that included a provision to raise the average starting pay for teachers to $40,000, still below the study’s national average.
The recent report showed the state’s average starting salary at $39,094, ranking it 38th nationwide. It showed the average Ohio teacher salary ranked 17th at $64,353.
Ohio’s average teacher salary is nearly $20,000 higher than the Economic Policy Institute lists as the state’s minimum living wage at $47,760. According to Economic Policy Institute, that would be the income needed for a family of one adult and one child to have a modest but adequate standard of living in the most affordable metro area.
The House-passed budget, as previously reported by The Center Square, includes fully funding the fair school funding plan for the next two years, moving starting salaries for teachers to $40,000 annually and an overall $1.3 billion for K-12 public education.
It also increases the income limit for the school voucher program from 250% to 450% of the federal poverty level. Rep. Tracy Richardson, R-Marysville, said that a family of four making $135,000 would be eligible for private school vouchers, representing nearly 75% of children ages 6-18 in the state.
The report said average educator pay has not kept up with inflation, saying teachers make more than $3,000 less than they did 10 years when adjusted for inflation.
New York remained the nation’s leader in teacher pay, with educators earning an average of $91,097.
Despite seeing their average salary climb 2.2% from the previous year, Mississippi’s teachers remain the lowest paid with an average of $47,902.
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An Ohio native, J.D. Davidson is a veteran journalist at The Center Square with more than 30 years of experience in newspapers in Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Texas.
Photo “Teacher Student” by Pavel Danilyuk.
