Teachers' incomes compare favorably with nurses, accountants and police officers, according to the report.
By Associated Press
Published June 12, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - The average teacher in Florida earned a salary of $39,601 last year and benefits and extra pay pushed the average income to nearly $50,000, a legislative study released Friday reported.
The teachers' income compares favorably with that of psychologists, registered nurses, accountants, librarians and police officers, according to the review by the Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability.
But the office said efforts to compare teacher pay across states was "highly problematic" because of differences in the way states collect the data.
In the 2002-03 school year, about $6.4-billion was spent on salaries and benefits for nearly 128,000 classroom teachers in Florida.
Most of that money - 79 cents of every dollar - went to salaries, with 19 cents of every dollar going to benefits and 2 cents going to extra pay for teachers who take on extra tasks or are given a bonus because of their school's grade.
The average teacher salary last year in Florida was $39,601 - but there were wide differences among the 67 districts, the study reported. Some but not all of the differences among the districts could be explained by regional differences.
The biggest factors affecting teacher pay were experience and educational degree. For instance, average pay for a beginning elementary teacher was about $36,000, but in five years that would grow to almost $41,000 and in 12 years to almost $48,000.
The study included statistics on new teachers. Last year, districts hired 15,388 new teachers but Florida colleges and universities graduated fewer than 6,000 new teachers, and only 3,500 said they planned to teach in Florida.
Although the state study cited problems in comparing teacher pay across states, the National Education Association released its annual ranking last month. Florida ranked 30th, with an average salary of $40,281. The national salary, according to the NEA, was $45,891.
Kevin Watson, a lobbyist with the Florida Education Association, said the analysis "plowed very little new ground" and put too much emphasis on the difficulties of comparing teacher pay nationally.
Florida has to be competitive when it comes to teacher pay to attract more teachers, Watson said.
LOCAL PAY
The average teacher salary for 2002-03 for Tampa Bay area school districts:
Citrus - $34,246
Hernando - $34,397
Hillsborough - $37,944
Pasco - $37,453
Pinellas - $39,737
- Source: Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability
