Report: PA Teacher Pay Falling Behind Inflation

Union says average salaries, in real dollars, have fallen 12.5 to 16.5 percent since 1996

By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service
The Tube City Almanac
September 27, 2024
Posted in: State & Region

Elementary school pupils learn to use tablets in class. (Lexie Flickinger photo from www.schooltechnology.org, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY 2.0)

A new report finds Pennsylvania schools are falling behind in teachers’ pay and have not kept up with inflation since the 1990s.

The report from the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, highlights data on the state’s public schools, educator compensation, school district staffing and funding, and student performance.

Chris Lilienthal, assistant director of communications for the PSEA, said the report aims to educate Pennsylvanians on the challenges and opportunities facing public schools, and educators’ salaries are a big one.

“The average starting salary for teachers in Pennsylvania in 2023-24 was just about $50,000 a year,” Lilienthal said. “When we compared that to where starting salaries were in the mid-1990s and we adjusted that for inflation, we found that those salaries are lagging by about 12.5 percent.”

Starting, Average Salaries Are Lower

Average Teacher Salary, 1995-96 (2024 dollars): $89,743
Average Teacher Salary, 2022-23 (2024 dollars): $74,945
Difference: –$14,798, 16.5 percent lower

Average Starting Salary, 1995-96 (2024 dollars): $57,191
Average Starting Salary, 2022-23 (2024 dollars): $50,043
Difference: –$7,148, 12.5 percent lower

Source: Pennsylvania State Education Association

Lilienthal noted neighboring states such as New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland have starting teacher salaries around $60,000 a year. The Pennsylvania State Education Association has been pushing for a minimum teacher salary of $60,000 and a living wage of at least $20 per hour for school support staff.

Lilienthal argued that for the state to recruit and retain teachers, schools must have a competitive salary to attract the best and brightest to jobs in public education.

“We also found that there is a gap between what teachers are earning in Pennsylvania and what comparable professionals with similar levels of education can earn,” Lilienthal said. “It’s about a 16 percent gap.”

He said the possibility of earning 16 percent more each year can be very tempting for young people deciding whether to enter the teaching profession or choosing a more lucrative career in business or technology.

Lilienthal said that data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress for 2022, also known as the National Report Card, showed that despite the pay disparities, Pennsylvania’s public schools are still among the best in the nation.

“Particularly when we look at fourth-grade scores (in) math and reading, very high scores were also good,” Lilienthal said. “There is some room for improvement in the area of eighth-grade math and reading. Six states had statistically significant higher eighth-grade reading scores. Twelve states had significantly higher math scores.”

Lilienthal said the annual report is an important resource for educators, parents and policymakers and added the association plans to update it throughout the school year.

Danielle M. Smith is a producer for Public News Service, where this story first appeared. An award-winning radio journalist/personality with more than a decade of experience in broadcast media, she is a former audio journalist with American Urban Radio Networks and Sheridan Broadcasting Networks who also hosts a weekly community affairs show “Good News” on WGBN (1360 AM/98.9 FM).

Originally published September 27, 2024.

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