Everyone knows that teachers are underpaid, overworked, and often unappreciated. In a time when education in the U.S. is undergoing a serious transformation from the top down, educators are in a particularly vulnerable position. With Teacher Appreciation Week approaching, the National Education Association’s (NEA) release of its annual reports on educator pay provide a comprehensive look into just how much teachers are making. While the pay gap between teachers and similarly educated professionals is stark, unionization and the power of collective bargaining are highlighted as a consistent vehicle for ensuring that educators are paid what they deserve.
As the nation’s largest labor union, the NEA has over three million members and affiliates in every state. It represents a wide range of personnel who work in education: public school teachers, education support professionals (ESPs), and higher-education faculty. Each year, the organization releases several reports that examine educator pay, as well as issues that impact schools and, consequently, their students.
In 2023-2024, the average public school teacher was earning $72,030, with the highest-paying state, California, at $101,084 and the lowest, Missouri, at $55,132. Between 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, the average change in salaries was about 3.5 percent. However, after factoring in inflation, teachers actually have seen a 5 percent decrease in real earnings, or constant dollars, compared to ten years ago. Across the board, Americans are feeling the effects of the rising cost of living, with research from the Urban Institute showing that 49 percent of American families don’t have the resources to pay for crucial expenses.
Public school teachers are particularly feeling the squeeze. For every dollar that similarly educated professionals earn, teachers received 73.1 cents in 2024, creating a teacher pay gap of 27 percent. Nationally, teachers entering the workforce in 2024-2025 received a salary of $48,112, and the average top teacher salary was $87,331.
Schools rely on more than just teachers to run smoothly and efficiently; the education ecosystem is heavily dependent on a variety of other professionals. They include, but are not limited to, paraeducators, custodial and maintenance service workers, food service workers, nurses, and bus and shuttle drivers. In 2024-2025, ESPs earned an average of $38,494. Similar to teachers, ESPs working full-time saw a small rise in pay ($1,400 more) between 2023-2024 and last year, but inflation has caused actual earnings to fall nearly 8.9 percent in the last ten years. Although most ESPs do hold full-time positions, nearly a quarter of them earned less than $25,000 in 2025, which is not a living wage.
At colleges and universities, full-time faculty on nine- and ten-month contracts averaged a salary of $105,657 in 2024-2025. It’s a 3.6 percent increase from 2023-2024. However, faculty purchasing power only increased 1 percent after considering a 2.6 percent inflation rate. Faculty at historically Black colleges and universities earned 75 percent ($79,192) of what their counterparts at other institutions did.
The NEA’s report also emphasizes the unprecedented context in which these trends are occurring. As the Trump administration attempts to reshape higher education through policy decisions, dissection of academic programs, and changes to research funding, those who work at universities are in a particularly vulnerable position. Hiring freezes, abandoning diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) frameworks, and visa restrictions have influenced workforce stability as well.
ADVOCATING FOR HIGHER PAY and better working conditions through collective bargaining has been tremendously successful. The NEA’s research shows that unionized K-12 teachers in states with collective-bargaining rights (CBAs) earned 24 percent more ($80,176) than their counterparts without them ($64,500). ESPs earn 13 percent more than those without protections, and union faculty across all higher-education institutions saw higher earnings as well. Where an educator lives can provide substantial long-term benefits as well; both starting and top salaries in states with CBAs are notably higher than in states without them.
We saw the power of collective bargaining a couple of weeks ago, when teachers at Los Angeles Unified School District (part of United Teachers Los Angeles, an NEA affiliate) agreed to go on strike if ESPs weren’t given better terms on their contract, including ending the subcontracting of their positions to non-union temps. In the end, ESPs got a 24 percent pay increase in their contract and limits on their contract, along with increased work hours so employees qualify for health benefits. Teachers got a nearly 14 percent raise and an increase in starting salaries.
Nevada saw the highest one-year change in public school teacher salaries: 11.8 percent. It was largely due to the Nevada State Education Association’s (NSEA) 2022-2023 “Time for 20” campaign, which called for a 20 percent salary increase for educators, a $20 minimum wage in schools, and an average classroom size of 20 students. It was successful: 9 out of 17 counties were able to bargain for 20 percent more pay, and in Clark County, ESPs saw their minimum wage jump to $15 from the $10.72 that many were receiving.
Nevada has the largest classroom sizes in the country, with some classes having 45 students or more. Although that has yet to change, Alexander Marks, the deputy executive director of the NSEA, is proud of “Time for 20”’s impact on education in Nevada. “Organizing, lobbying efforts, and the mobilization engagement from our members really proved that when we invest in educators, we can move the needle.”
Currently, the NSEA is focusing on another ambitious organizing campaign called “Pass the Plan,” which advocates for increasing education funding over the next ten years. Schools in the state are significantly underfunded, and per-student spending is roughly $4,000 below the national average. “Pass the Plan” calls for at least a $700 per-pupil funding increase in each of the next two years.
“Everyone sees the problem,” says Marks. “What’s missing is the political will to fix it.”
In Virginia, collective bargaining and collective action has been illegal for decades. Permissive collective bargaining, or when a group of employees informally work with local school boards to bargain on certain issues, was legalized in 2020, and has allowed the Virginia Education Association (VEA) to work on 22 different contracts. Now, the state is close to passing more legislation that will establish statewide collective bargaining for teachers and other public-sector employees, creating stronger workplace relationships and improved protections.
Two bills, SB 378 and HB 1263, currently are awaiting Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s signature.
“We’re at a really unique cusp of opportunity to really do organizing, really improve working conditions and student learning conditions,” says Carol Bauer, the president of the VEA. “We’re on the cusp of doing some real historic work here, we need to get over that hurdle of getting the governor to sign it.” Spanberger could choose to let the bills become law without her signature, but Bauer is hopeful that the governor will sign off. “We have a lot of community support, a lot of public support for public education, and a lot of folks recognize the importance of having a strong public education system,” says Bauer.
Several other pieces of legislation that aim to improve public education funding, raise teacher salaries, and better support students are highlighted in the VEA’s ongoing “Strong Schools, Strong Communities” campaign.
Despite the difficulty of permissive bargaining, the VEA has successfully gained contracts that support ESPs. A custodial worker in Montgomery County was able to receive a winter jacket and boots for when he shoveled snow. “He was so thankful for that because he had never had that before,” Bauer said. “That’s very clear how important it is to make sure folks have safe conditions and proper equipment.”
Such success stories further affirm the necessity and power of bargaining. The NEA’s annual reports on teacher pay indicate that unions are able to stand strong against the changing political and economic tides in the U.S. Protecting the rights of those who work in education can be, and will continue to be, possible through sustained collective action.
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