If you are working in the education field, it is very important for you to know which states have the lowest teachers’ salaries? Being a good teacher is hard work and you should be properly paid for that but some states around the USA do not agree to that.
Unites the States of America is 12 in the list of thirteen countries where the salaries for teachers are highest. However, there are some states where teachers make way less as compared to other states. This parity is the major cause of lack of proper education is some states. Low teacher salaries have left many states with a serious shortage of good teacher. This is very problematic because there is an increase in demand because of the increasing population that needs to be educated.
West Virginia is one of those states where the teachers do not make as much money as teachers from other states. The average salary for teachers in West Virginia is $44,090 which can be rightly rated as one of the worst averages in the USA. Due the state has minimal job opportunities and suitable places to work. However, the plus side is that the student teacher ratio is also less as compared to the other states in the USA.
A state that has an average lower than West Virginia is Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, a teacher annually gets about an average of $41,600. Conditions are not exactly ideal for teachers in Oklahoma due to various circumstances. It has been very recently that someone has chalked out a plan to raise their salaries. But still, it wasn’t a good news for the teachers there as their health benefits are on the line. This awful announcement took away the reason for the educators on Oklahoma to celebrate.
Nonetheless, the state where the average for annual teacher’s salary is lowest is South Dakota. In South Dakota, the average annual salary of a teacher is about $40,827 which is something to be ashamed of. So because of this, the state is in serious trouble as there is a shortage of teachers. There are some parts of the states where this dearth of teachers is so severe that the South Dakota Department of Education is doing special work to attract teachers there. Since the pay is very low, so far not a significant success has been noted in any of those areas.
If you are looking for more states that do not pay their teachers well, check out the list on Insider Monkey of 10 States Where teachers Earn the lowest salaries.