Another national ranking of average teacher pay is out, again showing North Carolina below the national average. At least education reporter Bruce Buchanan puts the finding in some context in the Greensboro daily by pointing out that North Carolina’s ranking, 23rd, is still way up from that evident in the mid-1990s.
Unfortunately, even Buchanan fails to note that these national rankings of national salaries are statistically useless. They don?t adjust for the composition of the workforce ? fast-growing states will be more aggressively hiring new teachers, which pulls the average down. They don?t adjust for the value of benefits. Most importantly, they don?t adjust for variances in the cost of living across the United States, thus offering the absurd suggestion that earning $35,000 in Manhattan is no different than earning $35,000 in Morganton.
When you adjust for such factors, as we?ve done on many occasions, you find that North Carolina?s teahcers have been paid better than most of their peers around the country for a long, long time.
