Teacher Salary

I was intrigued by the article entitled “Teachers’ Cost of Living Matters More.”  According to the article, teacher salaries in some states are misleading, and you must take the cost of living into consideration.    This article was especially interesting to me because I am considering moving to Chicago in a couple of years and would be teaching there.  Obviously the cost of living is higher in Chicago than it is in Nashville, but does the teaching salary take that into account?  To use Chicago as an example, the article shows the average teaching salary is $47,436 ranking the 16^th in the nation.  If I were to just see that number, I would think that’s pretty good.  However, after the salary is adjusted according to the cost of living there, the salary is actually only $36,183.  That’s not so good.  That puts Chicago at number 42 out of 50 states in how well teachers are compensated (Georgiou, Villarreal, & Moore, 2005).  In comparison, according to another article I found, the average teacher salary in Tennessee in 2009 was $45,927 (Average Teacher Salary in TN, 2011).  The salary is slightly less than in Chicago; however the value of a dollar goes farther in Nashville. 

I am aware that teachers don’t teach for the money.  That is not the reason I want to be in this profession either.  I can see, though, how the pay can deter individuals who may be great teachers but just cannot live off of that salary.  Single parents would struggle and families with a single income.  I think it is important for states to take into consideration the cost of living when deciding the salary.  The article by Georgiou, Villarreal, and Moore makes a good point: “Because the cost of living varies widely from city to city and region to region, public officials and teacher unions should consider how much a teacher's dollar can buy, not just numerical pay, when discussing teachers' wages” (Georgiou, Villarreal, & Moore, 2005). The cost of living is considered in other professions so teaching should be no different.

References:

Georgiou, D., Villarreal, P. & Moore, M. (2005, October 24).  Teachers Cost of Living Matters More.  Retrieved from https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2975445&tId=19133317

Average Teacher Salary in TN. (2011).  Retrieved from http://www.teachersalaryinfo.com/average-teacher-salary-tennessee.html