As reported by The Dickinson Press on June 1, 2015
FARGO, N.D. - The average salary of a public schoolteacher in North Dakota has risen steadily in recent years, though it still falls below the national average.
A decade ago, North Dakota teachers made an average of $36,695, which was less than what teachers made in 48 other states.
“We used to say, ‘Thank God for South Dakota or we’d be dead last,’ ” said Jane Rupprecht, research director for ND United, the state teachers union.
But beginning in the 2010-11 school year, North Dakota teacher salaries began its climb from the bottom. The National Education Association ranked North Dakota’s teacher salaries the 36th highest in the nation in 2013-14, when the state’s teachers made an average of $48,666.
North Dakota salaries that year remained well below those in Minnesota. Teachers in the state ranked 21st highest for pay made an average of $54,752.
“We lost a lot of teachers to Minnesota,” Rupprecht said. “We’re closing the gap a little bit, but they’re still way ahead of us.”
She attributes the rise in salaries to the North Dakota’s oil-fueled economic growth.
“Even small rural schools are finding out that they’ve got to pay people more to get them to come,” she said, adding that beginning teachers in Tioga make more than $45,000.
The salary rise is pronounced in the state’s oil-soaked west, but the trend is seen in the east as well, she said.
The average teacher salary in Minnesota has consistently ranked in the high teens among states in recent years, according to the NEA.
From 2003-04 to 2013-14, the average salary rose from $45,375 to $54,752, and the state’s ranking dipped from 20th to 21st.
The trend in teacher pay is disappointing to Paul Mueller, the vice president of state teachers union Education Minnesota.
He says inflation erased pay gains and that lackluster per-pupil funding has led to teachers having to decide between salaries and benefits.
“They’re choosing benefits,” he said, “so our salaries have actually been somewhat flat, relatively speaking.”
Rupprecht said that while North Dakota teacher pay is improving, there is still a long ways to go.
“We’re still playing catch up,” she said. “This isn’t over by any means.
Teacher salaries in both North Dakota and Minnesota were below the national average of $56,610 in 2013-14.
The president of the Fargo teachers union did not respond to a message seeking comment.
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