Question: Which five states have the highest salary expenditures for instructional staff members in rural districts (essentially the highest average teacher salaries)?
Answer: New York has the highest average expenditures for rural instructional staff at $74,800, followed by Alaska at $74,193, Connecticut at $73,632, New Jersey at $65,674, and California at $65,120. Actual salary levels may vary widely between districts.
Source: (The Rural School and Community Trust)
Some Vermont numbers (FTE = full time equivalent):
• Mean (average) salary per FTE: $53,063.76
• Median (half above, half below) salary per FTE: $51,379.19
• Salaries range from $31,936.67 to $72,625.14.*
(source: Vermont Ed Department)
*Too high my ass!
Vermont has a priority of imprisonment and guards cost less than educators. It’s all a matter of priority for this wretched state (wretched when it comes to issues of humanity).
If we don’t pay for the talent, instead relying upon the brightest students who can practically learn on their own, (how else would this state justify such low wages?) our prisons will continue to grow. If we don’t improve education it’s ultimately just another way to eliminate the poor and learning disabled from the rank of Vermont citizen. The ones we do educate, leave. The ones we fail to educate, end up in our prisons. We pay more to imprison than to educate.
Time to think outside the box – those gray cement walls that are hidden out of sight.