Teacher Salary Report Released
For Immediate Release: January 8, 2009
Contact: Mary Elizabeth Barrett, 800.580.8272, ext. 6421
Teacher Salary Report Released
(Austin) - Teacher salaries are up slightly according to the 2008–09 Salaries and Benefits in Texas Public Schools Teacher Report recently released by the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) and Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA). The TASB/TASA survey, conducted annually by the TASB HR Services Division, is the second of a series of four that is the most definitive study of compensation and benefits practices in Texas. This information is used by policy makers at the local and state levels to make decisions about educator pay and benefits.
Of the 1,031 public school districts asked to participate in the survey, 678 districts responded, representing 66 percent of total districts in the state.
This survey includes 91 percent (299,993) of the estimated total population of teachers in Texas public schools. Based on a projected growth rate of 2.5 percent, it is estimated that 329,971 teachers are employed in Texas in 2008–09. Seventy percent of teachers represented in the survey work in school districts with more than 10,000 students. Ninety of the 95 districts statewide in this enrollment category provided teacher salary data for this survey.
Teacher Salaries
The weighted average teacher salary in responding districts is $47,305 for 2008–09, up 2.4 percent from the 2007–08 average salary of $46,178. Weighted average salaries by enrollment size range from $39,993 in districts with less than 500 students to $49,898 in districts with more than 50,000 students.
- Education Service Center (ESC) Region XX (San Antonio) has the highest weighted average salary for 2008–09 at $50,028 and is the only region with an average salary above $50,000.
- ESC Region XIV (Abilene) has the lowest weighted average salary at $39,829 and is the only region with an average salary below $40,000. Less than 1 percent (0.9) of teachers in the sample work in Region XIV districts.
Pay Increases
Average pay increases dropped for all employee groups, including teachers, for the second straight year. While the average teacher salary increased 2.4 percent, school districts spent an average of 3.1 percent on pay increases for returning teachers this year, down from 3.5 percent last year and 8.6 percent in 2006–07. Seventeen districts did not provide a raise for teachers for this year.
Administrators received the lowest average pay increase at 3.0 percent. Professional support staff (excludes teachers) saw an average increase of 3.2 percent. Clerical/paraprofessional and auxiliary personnel saw the largest average increases at 3.4 and 3.5 percent, respectively. Eleven percent of respondents did not increase salaries of at least one employee group for 2008–09.
Starting Pay
The average starting salary for a new teacher is $34,252, a 3.3 percent increase from the 2007–08 average of $33,151. This year’s average starting salary is 25 percent higher than the state minimum starting salary of $27,320. The average starting salary in districts with more than 10,000 students is $42,247, a 2.8 percent increase from last year.
One hundred forty-seven responding districts (22 percent) have an entry-level salary of $40,000 or greater, up from 15 percent of districts last year. These districts employ 215,915 teachers, or 72 percent of teachers in the sample. Fifty-two districts (8 percent) pay teachers on the state minimum teacher salary schedule. These 52 districts employ less than one percent of teachers (1,758) in the sample.
Teaching Stipends
Seventy-one percent of responding districts (482) pay a teaching field stipend to teachers in at least one shortage area, up from 60 percent of districts in 2007–08. This is the most significant increase in the use of shortage stipends seen in one year. Most districts (88 percent) with more than 3,000 students pay shortage stipends in at least one teaching field.
Mathematics is the most frequently reported stipend paid with 45 percent paying an average stipend of $2,167. The number of districts paying a science stipend jumped by 25 percent to 272 districts. The average science stipend is $2,105. Math and science stipends are the most frequently paid but bilingual education stipends are generally higher at $2,512, on average.
Twenty-seven districts (4 percent) pay stipends to teachers for taking an assignment at a hard-to-staff campus. The average stipend is $1,661. There is a wide variation in the amounts paid and the regional location of these districts.
TASB is a nonprofit association established in 1949 to serve local Texas school districts. School board members are the largest group of publicly elected officials in the state. The districts they represent serve more than 4.7 million public school students.