It's Teacher Appreciation Week

Until a few years ago, a majority of parents in the US indicated that they would like their children to become public school teachers. That's not true anymore. According to a long-term poll by PDK, in 2022, the figure was down to 37%.

More than flowers

America observes Teacher Appreciation Week each year in the first full week of May. Thank you notes and presents are wonderful, of course, but gestures aren't enough. Over a period of generations, the teaching profession has become less attractive relative to other jobs. This post unpacks some of the reasons why this has happened, what might change it, and what parents and students can do about it.

Few high school students dream of becoming teachers. Can you blame them? It's a hard job, it requires years of college preparation, the pay isn't great, and the job feels insecure for new teachers. In a 2023 study, McKinsey found that teachers in the US are leaving the profession in favor of other career choices, but it isn't really true that teachers are quitting in droves — turnover rates as of 2024 are basically normal — but there's certainly a lot of negative energy. In 2026 many teachers in California felt sufficiently unsupported to threaten coordinated strikes.

Teacher compensation

Money is certainly part of the problem. In many parts of the country, teacher wages have not even kept pace with inflation. A big pay gap has developed between how much college graduates earn if they become teachers versus if they choose another profession. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) calls this gap the Teaching Penalty. The gap is big, and it's growing.

The EPI has updated and refined its analysis for many years, revealing patterns. For example, the teaching penalty is substantially worse for men than for women, and worse in California than in Mississippi:

According to the NEA report, the average teacher’s starting salary is less than a living wage. Salaries aren't the whole picture, of course. Teachers tend to have pretty good health plans through their employers, which counts when you need it. In California, those who work a full career as teachers also have the promise of a strong pension in retirement, a subject we unpack in Ed100 Lesson 8.11. Still, these benefits haven’t offset the growing wage penalty.

Nationally, EPI reports, “The teacher total compensation penalty in 2024 was 17.1% (a 26.9% wage penalty offset by a 9.7% benefits advantage)”. California’s figures are better than those in most other states, according to NEA, but the average teacher in this state still starts their career with less than a living wage. Aides and other education support personnel (ESP) earn far less than credentialed teachers.

What would it take to pay teachers well?

Pay isn’t the only thing that matters to a talented person making a career choice, but it does matter. College debt doesn’t just go away on its own, and rent can be gut-wrenching. About 60% of teachers borrow to attend college, and more than a third of all teachers currently owe some or all of their student loan balance.

Teachers in California are paid more than teachers in other states, but context counts. As we explore in Ed100 lesson 8.2, the cost of living in California is much higher than in other states, and it varies within the state.

Over time, market forces affect employment choices. Low average pay for teachers affects the reputation of the profession, which further damages its appeal. This is an issue that threatens the future of the United States as a whole.

Based on global research by the OECD, the selectivity of the teaching profession varies from country to country and from place to place. In the countries with the world's best education systems, teachers live well and enjoy public respect. In the US, by contrast, teachers make a little over half as much as graduates in other lines of work.

It’s a vicious circle, and a national problem.

Funding for public education is an effort problem

America’s public schools have a complex history. The US Constitution makes no mention of education — the tradition of free public education as a universal right emerged gradually and locally. Each state constitution has its own provisions, and most implementation decisions are local. Most funding for public education comes from state funds, with the federal government providing a relatively small, routine portion.

States vary significantly in the dollars that they invest in public education. The differences are largely driven by cost of living, but they also reflect varying levels of economic effort. In 2024, spending on public K-12 education accounted for about 3.4% of the economy in the average state, a big decline from a decade earlier, when the national average effort was 4.0%. California has historically been a low-effort state, but other states have decreased their spending effort.

The Shanker Institute has consistently advocated for state education systems to be evaluated in context.

Districts in high-poverty states like Mississippi face enormous challenges to fund high-quality schools. California, by contrast, is a higher-wealth state. It could afford to spend more on public education, but doesn’t. It's a political choice. Although Mississippi schools have lower absolute funding, they fund schools at a level that represents relatively high economic effort. Context matters. Exceptional educational results in Mississippi partly reflect a statewide commitment to economic effort in support of schools.

In order to boost funding effort and support equitable access to education across the states, the Shanker Institute has suggested the creation of federal matching funds. The proposal would provide additional federal funding to help states and local school districts reach a national level of adequate funding in context. To be eligible for this additional money, states would be required to spend a reasonable fair share of their economy on educating children.

Meanwhile

Short of a reinvention of federal funding for education, Linda Darling Hammond, Stanford Professor and long-time President of the California Board of Education, has suggested some targeted ideas to increase teacher salaries.

• Give teachers a significant refundable tax credit to work in high-needs schools and in early education. Other teachers could receive tax credits based on how many students from low income homes attend their schools.
• The federal government could offer matching grants for National Board certified teachers to work in high-needs schools. Right now, California offers $5,000 annually.

Let's appreciate California's K-12 educators

We live in a state where voters have generally supported teachers. The collective voice of teachers is relatively powerful here. Thanks to initiatives, state funding for public education has held up better than it might have otherwise.

Still, unfortunate circumstances have created a funding squeeze for school districts. They can’t print money. To find more money for education, schools need public support.

This Teacher Appreciation Week, please say "thank you" to teachers personally. But also remember teachers when you go to the ballot box.