From the News & Observer this month:

The average salary for North Carolina public school teachers has reached more than $60,000 a year for the first time ever, a new state report says. Figures released in March by the state Department of Public Instruction estimate the average teacher salary to now be $60,323 — up from $58,292 last school year. If you include all categories, average teacher compensation is now projected to be $61,449 — $2,018 more than the previous school year.

That average pay figure is not really that high.

Actually it is much less.

The last twelve-plus years have seen tremendous changes to teacher pay. For new teachers entering in the profession here in NC there is no longer any graduate degree pay bump, no more longevity pay (for anyone), and a changed salary schedule that only makes it possible for a teacher to top out on the salary schedule with at $55,950 per year (unless they use their own money to pursue a rigorous national certification process).

So how can that be the average pay in NC be over 60K when no one can really make much over 55K as a new teacher in his/her entire career unless they all become nationally certified (which takes a monetary investment by the teacher to start)?

Easy. North Carolina is counting all of the veteran teachers’ current salaries in that figure. The very people whose salaries simply disgusted a former governor and the General Assembly to the point that they had to take measures to “lower” them are actually being used to tout this wonderful “average.”

Furthermore, this average is counting on local supplements. This comes in the face of budgets that are allocating less money to each central office of each school system for administrative costs. Now each county has to raise more money to actually offset those costs and also allow for local supplements. And not all localities provide the same supplements.

Any veteran teacher who is making above 50K based on seniority, graduate pay, and national boards are gladly counted in this figure. It simply drives up the CURRENT average pay. But when these veteran teachers who have seniority, graduate pay, and possibly national certification retire (and many are doing that early at 25 years), then the very people who seem to be a “burden” on the educational budget leave the system.

In actuality, that would drive the average salary down as time goes on. If the top salary that any teacher could make is barely over 55K (some will have higher as National Board Certified Teachers, but not a high percentage), then how can you really tout that average salaries will be higher?

You can if you are only talking about the right here and right now.

Remember the word “average” is a very easy word to manipulate. Politicians use it well. In this case, the very teachers who are driving the “average” salary up are the very people that the state wants to not have in a few years. There will then be a new average. It can’t possibly be over 60K then if current trends keep going.