Professional Pay
Be Proud To Say, I’m Worth Professional Pay.
Highlights:
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A Living Wage Battle
In nine Washington State locals, ESPs are lighting the way to decent pay. -
Without Merit Pay and Gold Stars
A Connecticut NEA affiliate heads off a divisive merit pay plan. -
2...4...6...8...How Should We Compensate?
Shouldn’t you get paid more for new skills and new responsibilities?
As the national voice of more than 3.2 million public education employees, NEA knows that too many educators have been denied professional pay for too long. Attracting and retaining qualified school staff -- K-12 teachers, higher education faculty, and education support professionals (ESPs) -- requires salaries that are competitive with those in comparable professions.
Low teacher pay comes at a high cost for schools and kids, who lose good teachers to better-paying professions. Some 20 percent of new public school teachers leave the profession by the end of the first year, and almost half leave within five years. Pay-related turnover is especially high for minorities, males, and teachers under the age of 30.
Having highly qualified teachers is essential to student success — but who in the future will be lured into a profession with wages that start low and fail to keep pace with comparable careers?
Through its nationwide salary initiative, NEA is advocating for a $40,000 starting salary for all pre-K-12 teachers, and appropriate professional pay for higher education faculty and staff. NEA also advocates for:
- raises that exceed the cost of living in at least 50 percent of NEA higher education locals.
- a living wage, as a minimum, for all education support professionals.
NEA will continually work with its state affiliates to maintain competitive starting, mid-career, and top salaries that reflect a simple fact --educators are worth it, especially in light of the changing demands and responsibilities of their jobs.
This area of NEA's Web site contains resources for Association leaders, members, parents and community members who are contemplating, planning, or engaged in statewide or local salary initiatives.
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VIDEO: ESPs Fight for a Living Wage Video
Why Money Matters
Lack of professional pay shortchanges our schools.
