With the 2024-2025 school year now underway, national and local salary reports indicate Jefferson County teachers, and teachers statewide, are faring better than other teachers in the nation, …
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With the 2024-2025 school year now underway, national and local salary reports indicate Jefferson County teachers, and teachers statewide, are faring better than other teachers in the nation, according to statistics gathered by the National Education Association (NEA).
According to an NEA report released in April 2024, Washington state starting teacher salaries ranked third highest in the nation, with the average state teacher’s starting salary at $55,631 — or $11,101 more than the national average of $44,530.
Nationally, the average teacher salary, according to the NEA, came in at $69,544, while Washington’s teachers earned an average of $86,804. That makes Washington state teachers the fourth highest paid, on average, in the nation.
The NEA numbers align closely with figures from the Washington State Fiscal Information database.
According to state records, the average teacher’s base salary statewide came in at $87,384 for the 2022-2023 school year. With add-ons, that salary rose to $100,456. In Jefferson County for the 2022-2023 school year, the state reported an average base salary average of $84,745. With add-ons, the Jefferson County average rose to $93,899. Add-ons for some staff is connected to supplemental “Time, Responsibility, and Incentive” contracts.
“In the Port Townsend School District, half of the teachers will make $100,000 or more this school year,” said Linda Rosenbury, superintendent. “We were able to fill all positions this year.”
The NEA report puts per-student spending in Washington state at $19,427, which ranks state spending on students at number 15 in the nation.
State data indicates there is one teacher for every 27 students. In Jefferson County, with 41 teachers to 1,173 students, the ratio is 28 students to one teacher.
Since 2017, numbers from the Washington State Fiscal Information database show a steady increase in the state’s base pay averages. For example, in 2017 in Jefferson County, the state reported average base pay at $58,781. In 2022, that number grew to $84,745.
Despite the growth, the NEA report states that inflation has undercut most gains teachers — nationally and locally — have made.
“Even with record-level increases in some states, average teacher pay has failed to keep up with inflation over the past decade,” according to an NEA report released in April 2024. “Adjusted for inflation, on average, teachers are making 5% less than they did 10 years ago.
At 3.9%, the increase in the average starting salary was the largest in the 14 years that NEA has been tracking teacher salary benchmarks. However, when adjusted for inflation, the starting teacher salaries are now $4,273 below the 2008-2009 levels.”
