As students return to public schools across Virginia, some teachers are struggling to make ends meet.
Teachers in Virginia are generally paid below the national average, although their salaries are growing faster than in other states. That's according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project.
"Teacher pay in Virginia actually ranks in the bottom half, and certainly that's not where our per capita income is at," says Carol Bayer at the Virginia Education Association. "So, neighboring states like Maryland and Washington and Pennsylvania offer higher starting salaries and better pay scales, and so we often lose a lot of teachers to those surrounding states."
Recent years have seen increased investment in teacher salaries, and yet they are still paid more in most other states. That's a problem says Levi Goren at the Commonwealth Institute.
"If your child has in front of their classroom a long-term substitute instead of a trained and experienced professional, it matters for how they’re going to do in their future educational attainment," Goren says. "So, we have to attract talented young adults to the teaching field, and we need to keep them there after they've entered it. And we can only do that if we raise pay."
Members of the General Assembly are likely to consider a bill next year that would eventually get Virginia to be close to the national average, but not all at once. Because the gap is so large, the budget proposal is to take it one step at a time.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
