Latest rankings help explain teacher shortage

Oklahoma teachers remain 34^th nationally in average teacher pay while the state’s per pupil expenditure remains in the bottom six, according to the latest Ranking of the States released by the National Education Association recently.

NEA also released for the first time the Education Support Professional Earnings report, ranking Oklahoma’s school support staff earnings 50^th nationally.

The state’s average teacher salary is $54,762 for 2020-21, which ranks Oklahoma 34^th nationally and fourth among our surrounding states. That figure is just $666 higher than 2019-20. The regional average is $54,622 and the national average is $65,293.

Oklahoma schools’ per pupil expenditures jumped up one spot to 45^th nationally with an average of $10,553 spent per student in 2020-21 compared to $9,830 in 2019-20. Only Missouri is lower in the surrounding states at $10,481.

The state’s public school full-time ESPs earn an average of just $26,121, next to last nationally among all 50 states and Washington, D.C. In this study, fulltime is defined as 30 hours or more a week. NEA used data from the  U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey – a large, continuously collected survey that uses a nationwide sample. Earnings averages are calculated using five years of ACS data (2015–2019).

In another analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, the Family Budget Calculator, provides the amount needed for a family of one adult and one child in the state’s most-affordable metropolitan area to achieve a modest yet adequate standard of living. Using this calculator, NEA found Oklahoma’s minimum living wage is $47,322. With a state minimum salary of just $36,601 for first-year teachers, many of the state’s beginning teachers are nearly $11,00 below a living wage. For the average school support employee, that’s more $20,000 below a living wage.

“It’s shocking to see these numbers in print, but they really help inform us of why we have a teacher shortage and why our schools have a hard time finding bus drivers, custodians and other support staff,” said Katherine Bishop, OEA President. “While our teachers and support professionals did receive good raises after the 2018 walkout, we have failed to continue investing enough in public education.”

Bishop pointed out that Oklahoma school funding faced 10 years of cuts prior to 2018. By not continuing to invest enough, the state risks falling back to the bottom of the national rankings.

“We obviously can’t fix our funding issues overnight,” she said, “that’s why it’s important to continually invest in our students. We have crowded classrooms and too few young people enrolling in our colleges of education. Meanwhile, our student population continues to grow. We simply can’t be complacent when it comes to our children’s future.”