Proof, teachers paid TOO LITTLE

You’ve probably heard the Republican/Tea Party lie that teachers are paid too much.  Wrong.  Teachers are paid too little.  That’s the conclusion in a new study from the Economic Policy Institute comparing teacher pay to the pay of others with comparable education in non-teaching professions.  Here are some of the key findings:

• In 2010, public school teachers earned about 12% LESS than comparable workers.  Male public school teachers earned  23% LESS.
• Teachers did receive better benefits but even when benefits are included in the calculation, public school teachers made 9% less than their counterparts. 
• Since 1979, the pay discrepancy between public school teachers and comparably educated workers in the private sector has gotten progressively worse.  The earnings disadvantage for public school teachers increased by 10.5% between 1979 and 2010 with most of that erosion occurring since 1996.
• The wage erosion was much worse for mid- and late-career teachers.  In other words, the longer you had been a teacher the WORSE off you were in terms of pay.
• In 19 states, teachers have a wage disadvantage of 25% or more.  The pay disadvantage is less than 10% in only three states.

No wonder we have a hard time recruiting the best and brightest young people to the teaching profession.

AND, what do Republicans and Tea Partiers want to do?  They want to cut teacher pay.

Read the full report here:  http://epi.3cdn.net/91c523e88aaf7494e2_vem6ibvjn.pdf