Average salaries for teachers in Minnesota and nationwide continue to lag behind the rate of inflation, the National Education Association reported in its annual Rankings & Estimates survey Dec. 10.

Stagnant salaries make it difficult for schools to attract and retain high-quality teachers, NEA President Reg Weaver said. “Each year we lose excellent teachers because they can’t afford to make ends meet,” he said. “Low teacher pay shortchanges the teaching profession, and students end up paying the price.”

The study had these findings:

National average teacher salary, 2005-06: $49,026
Increase from 2004-05: 2.9 percent
Inflation, 2004-05 to 2005-06: 3.9 percent

Minnesota average teacher salary, 2005-06: $48,489
Increase from 2004-05: 3.4 percent
National ranking: 17th (down from 16th in 2004-05)

A 10-year review of salaries by the NEA also showed that in constant dollars, Minnesota’s average teacher salary rose by only 2.1 percent from 1995-96 to 2005-06. Minnesota ranked 24th on that measure.

The salary averages do not reflect the corrosive effect of soaring health insurance costs, which greatly exceed the general inflation rate and increasingly are being shifted to school employees. As a result, the take-home pay of some Minnesota teachers and other educators has actually gone backwards in recent years.

The NEA rankings also showed:

• Minnesota ranks 20th in average per-student expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools based on 2005-06 fall enrollment. Expenditures in Minnesota were $9,675, while expenditures in the top states of New Jersey and New York were more than $13,000 per student.
• Minnesota enrolls more students per teacher than the national average.
• Minnesota ranked ninth in per capital personal income in 2004, but 26th in expenditures for K-12 public schools per $1,000 of personal income.
• In 2005-06, Minnesota ranked eighth in the percentage of teachers who are men – 28.5 percent. The national average was 24.4 percent.