Throughout my fifteen years and counting of education, I have heard several teachers and educators say something along the lines of that teachers are not paid enough. As I got older, I always questioned why they would say that and continue to work their job if they feel they are underpaid. As I kept questioning it more and more, I started to ask the teachers and professors why they said this so I could actually hear the reasoning instead of just assume that they are arrogant. The most standard answer that I received was that they were important for the future of America because they educate today's youth.
My senior year of high school is when I got sick and tired of hearing this because at this point I was well into paying taxes, which pretty much meant I was paying teachers because they get their salaries from the school budget, which comes from taxes. Because I was paying taxes, I decided to really look into where taxes went into the school budget, which then led to me finding out that the average teacher salaries based off of which level they taught at were also public information. I was ecstatic when I discovered this because I could fight back with facts and numbers instead of just saying "I doubt you are."
So here it is ladies and gentlemen, I am going to say it loud and clear; Pennsylvania public school teachers are not underpaid and here are numbers to prove it.
Southern Lehigh School District
Kindergarten: Average pay is $51,650
Elementary: Average pay is $57,330
Middle School: Average pay is $58,560
High School: Average pay is $54,460
Emmaus School District
Kindergarten: Average pay is $51,744
Elementary: Average pay is $56,242
Middle School: Average pay is $58,273
High School: Average pay is $54,937
Allentown School District
Kindergarten: Average pay is $51,390
Elementary: Average pay is $55,113
Middle School: Average pay is $56,813
High School: Average pay is $54,514
Quakertown School District
Kindergarten: Average pay is $48,010
Elementary: Average pay is $53,790
Middle School: Average pay is $62,060
High School: Average pay is $58,270
Parkland School District
Kindergarten: Average pay is $51,650
Elementary: Average pay is $57,330
Middle School: Average pay is $58,560
High School: Average pay is $54,460
Now, I know that these are not scattered around the state of Pennsylvania, they are in the Lehigh Valley, but I think you are seeing the point. On top of this nice salary where every check is 100% guaranteed, they also get health benefits, paid time off, don't have to work in the summer, and sick time. So unless teachers are living extravagant lives, I would say in my personal opinion that Pennsylvania public school teachers are not underpaid because they have enough means to live a comfy lifestyle and don't have to worry about money.
* Just an FYI I got this data off of a website called www.teachersalaryinfo.com. You can see more statistics there. You just have to simply type in the school district name that you would like to see, or you can type in a school district name followed by teacher salary and you will see it as the first result on Google.(example: Palisades School District Teacher Salary).*
