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NEA/TSTA: Texas Teacher Pay Averages $9,236 Less than National Average

Image: Blue square logo of TSTA. Says TEA/NEA.
Image: TSTA

The Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) — citing newly released National Education Association (NEA) data — reported on Tuesday that:

  • The SY 2023-24 $62,463 Texas average teacher pay reported by TEA (see this prior TexEdNews article and graphic) is $9,236 less than the NEA calculated national average teacher pay of $71,699 — ranking Texas 29th among the nation’s states and District of Columbia.
  • When inflation is considered, Texas teachers’ average salaries are now 6 percent lower than they were in 2015.
  • Texas spent an average of $12,781 per student in average daily attendance (ADA) from all revenue sources in SY 2023-24.

    This is $5,220 less per child than the national average of $18,001, and ranks Texas near the bottom, in 46th place.
  • Both deficiencies, for Texas (in average teacher pay and ADA spending) are greater than they were in 2022-23, when average Texas teacher pay was about $8,800 less than the national average and per student ADA funding was nearly $4,400 less.

Meanwhile, just released NEA data for the 2022-23 school year reflects that:

  • The average salary for first‐year teachers in Texas was $47,195. This was $2,665 more than the national average, ranking Texas 15th nationally.

  • The average top salary for Texas’ most experienced teachers was $66,461. That was $14,565 less than the national average of $81,026 and ranked Texas 41st, near the bottom, of the 46 states that reported a top teacher salary.

TSTA President Ovidia Molina cited the data in blasting “Gov. Greg Abbott and his legislative allies” for “miserably failing the educators and school children of Texas and undermining our state’s future.”

“Now, school districts are cutting programs to fight inflation and balance their budgets and are finding it harder to
attract and retain qualified teachers, while Abbott continues his drive for vouchers,” Molina said, adding: “This public
education crisis will continue to worsen if the governor’s plan to ship billions of our tax dollars to private schools ever
becomes law.”

The NEA data can be accessed beginning here.