California Teacher Salaries Are 8th-Highest in Nation
California offers the eighth-highest average teacher salary out of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., according to a survey conducted by the American Federation of Teachers.
The survey is based on salaries from the 1997-98 school year.
Teachers in California averaged a $44,585 salary in 1997-98, outperformed by No. 1-ranked Connecticut as well as New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Alaska, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
South Dakota reported the lowest average salary, at $27,839, with North Dakota, Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico offering similar pay.
The national average salary for beginning teachers was $25,735, the study said. For non-beginning teachers, it was $39,347. Both figures are up 2% to 3% from the 1996-97 school year.
The American Federation of Teachers surveyed the nation’s 200 largest school districts for the salary report, according to the union. The report also said that more than two-thirds of the districts responding to the survey indicated a shortage of teacher applicants in the 1998-99 school year.
Union representatives attributed the shortage in part to low salaries for teachers relative to other occupations, such as computer systems analysts, accountants and engineers, which have average salaries between $45,000 and $64,000.
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