Note: This post was updated at 8:30 PM on March 1 to add the table data at the bottom of the page. It was unintentionally omitted from the original version. JDV
Summary: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
West
Virginia’s teachers have certainly faced challenges over the last
decade, as have nearly all Americans who are not independently
wealthy. While their claims of poverty and unfair treatment can be
proven statistically viewed one way, those claims do not stand up to
contextual analysis. Everyone wants a bigger paycheck, and there is
no harm in making a case for that. However, teachers in West Virginia
knew the terms of their contract when they signed on the dotted line.
Striking because one doesn’t like an agreement voluntarily entered
into can charitably be described as unethical behavior worthy of a
toddler. As long as a valid contract remains in force, these teachers
belong in the classroom. Once the contract expires, they are more
than welcome to negotiate changes to the conditions of their
employment, and refuse to return to the classroom until a
satisfactory agreement can be reached. There is no question that a
teacher strike under those circumstances would be every bit as
frustrating and disruptive to the lives of parents and schoolchildren
alike as is the current strike. The difference is that teachers would
be striking from a position of integrity rather than foreswearing the
obligations to the community they freely chose to accept.
There’s a funny
thing about statistics. Using exactly the same set of data, different
people can “prove” wildly different conclusions depending upon
the objective.
(Note: the data
set used here is not the same as the one West Virginia teachers cite,
but the numbers are close enough to make the illustration valid. The
data used in this piece ranks the WV teachers at 47th
nationwide in pay, and includes Washington, DC, for a pool of
fifty-one locations.)
Take the West
Virginia teacher strike. Among other concerns, they are outraged that
they are ranked 48th in pay nationwide. Concern has also
been expressed that compensation has been nearly flat over the past
decade, and over the fact that their insurance costs are increasing.
For the vast
majority of employees, wages have been flat to declining over the
past decade or longer. Inflation affects all income levels, though
without question it is the middle and lower income groups who
experience the greatest hardship. Inflation has officially been low –
except for those people who eat, heat and cool their homes, or drive
to and from work. WV teachers certainly have not been exempted from
these challenges, but then neither have all other folks in their
communities.
Health insurance
costs have risen for everyone in recent years, particularly since
2013. The two areas of direct out of pocket expense for the majority
of consumers, insurance premiums and deductibles (the amount that
must be spent before having the insurance provides meaningful benefit) have increased
dramatically from 2008 to 2017. For individuals, average premiums
rose 147% and deductibles 107% during that time. Those who married
and produced offspring fared even worse, seeing increases of 176% and
202% respectively. For WV teachers to be upset with rising health
care costs and expect taxpayers to cushion the blow for them is to
deny the realities of life in the United States in the second decade
of the twentieth century.
| Average | Average | Average Family | Average Family | |||||||||
| Individual Health | Individual Health | Health Insurance | Health Insurance | |||||||||
| Insurance | Insurance | Premium | Deductible | |||||||||
| Premium | Deductible | |||||||||||
| First two months of 2017 open enrollment | $393 | $4,328 | $1,021 | $8,352 | ||||||||
| 2016 open enrollment | $321 | $4,385 | $833 | $7,983 | ||||||||
| 2015 open enrollment | $286 | $4,120 | $727 | $7,760 | ||||||||
| 2014 open enrollment | $271 | $4,164 | $667 | $7,771 | ||||||||
| 2013 | $197 | $3,319 | $426 | $4,230 | ||||||||
| 2012 | $190 | $3,079 | $412 | $4,079 | ||||||||
| 2011 | $183 | $2,935 | $414 | $3,879 | ||||||||
| 2010 | $167 | $2,632 | $392 | $3,531 | ||||||||
| 2009 | $161 | $2,326 | $383 | $3,128 | ||||||||
| 2008 | $159 | $2,084 | $369 | $2,760 |
Then there are
wages, the high profile complaint teachers and their representatives
have been most vocal about. From the data here, teachers rank 47th
nationally in average pay. Devoid of any context it certainly sounds
as though they are receiving the rawest of raw deals – except
perhaps for their brethren in North Carolina, Oklahoma, Mississippi,
and poor, abused South Dakota whose teachers find themselves dead
last in the compensation rankings.
Providing a bit
of context for the compensation numbers paints a very different
picture, however.
Dollars received
for the teaching job will never be the same across the country. The
cost of living, and the tax bases that support public employee
salaries, are dramatically different in New York City and Sioux
Falls, South Dakota. Perhaps a more accurate baseline for comparing
of the relative value of teacher compensation would be to evaluate
their salaries as a percentage of the Median Household Income (MHI)
for their state. That would identify how well off a teacher is as a
single income earner compared to the combined incomes of all members
of a household in their state. That is a far more accurate reflection
of how their compensation compares to the other citizens in their
community, and how that compensation “fairness” compares to their
peers in other states.
Looked at in this
manner, the teachers of West Virginia find themselves ranked twelfth
in the nation compared to their peers in average salary as a
percentage of MHI. Not bad at all for a state that ranks 48 out of 51
in MHI. Even better, for those who are taking their newly minted
credentials and entering the teaching profession for the first time,
West Virginia’s teachers enjoy an average starting salary that
comes in sixth in the nation.
Alas, South
Dakotans are still dead last in average salary as a percentage of
MHI, but they are a more respectable 43rd just starting
out.
Teacher Compensation Data
Teacher Compensation Data
| Rank | STATE | AVERAGE STARTING SALARY | AVERAGE SALARY | % of MHI | % of MHI Rank | Starting % MHI | Starting % MHI Rank | State MHI Rank |
| 1 | New York | $43,839 | $75,279 | 156.18% | 1 | 75.58% | 7 | 23 |
| 3 | District of Columbia | $51,539 | $70,906 | 150.16% | 2 | 73.55% | 8 | 5 |
| 27 | Louisiana | $38,655 | $51,381 | 135.42% | 3 | 84.18% | 1 | 45 |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | $41,901 | $63,521 | 132.91% | 4 | 69.39% | 16 | 20 |
| 28 | Kentucky | $35,166 | $50,326 | 130.83% | 5 | 82.96% | 2 | 50 |
| 11 | Michigan | $35,901 | $61,560 | 130.80% | 6 | 66.23% | 23 | 31 |
| 2 | Massachusetts | $40,600 | $73,129 | 130.04% | 7 | 59.83% | 35 | 8 |
| 29 | Montana | $27,274 | $49,999 | 129.43% | 8 | 53.07% | 45 | 37 |
| 14 | Oregon | $33,549 | $58,758 | 129.18% | 9 | 55.15% | 41 | 17 |
| 5 | California | $41,259 | $69,324 | 128.93% | 10 | 64.84% | 24 | 13 |
| 15 | Ohio | $33,096 | $58,092 | 126.74% | 11 | 62.09% | 27 | 32 |
| 47 | West Virginia | $32,533 | $46,405 | 124.65% | 12 | 75.97% | 6 | 48 |
| 39 | Alabama | $36,198 | $47,949 | 124.63% | 13 | 81.33% | 3 | 47 |
| 16 | Wyoming | $43,269 | $57,920 | 122.64% | 14 | 71.02% | 12 | 15 |
| 10 | Rhode Island | $39,196 | $63,474 | 122.06% | 15 | 70.37% | 14 | 27 |
| 40 | South Carolina | $32,306 | $47,924 | 121.47% | 16 | 69.69% | 15 | 44 |
| 13 | Illinois | $37,166 | $59,113 | 119.95% | 17 | 61.52% | 29 | 19 |
| 50 | Mississippi | $31,184 | $41,994 | 119.09% | 18 | 77.89% | 4 | 51 |
| 36 | Tennessee | $34,098 | $48,289 | 118.72% | 19 | 72.04% | 9 | 42 |
| 4 | Connecticut | $42,924 | $69,766 | 116.33% | 20 | 58.89% | 37 | 4 |
| 26 | Indiana | $34,696 | $51,456 | 114.84% | 21 | 66.74% | 21 | 35 |
| 12 | Delaware | $39,338 | $59,679 | 114.30% | 22 | 68.11% | 17 | 24 |
| 46 | New Mexico | $31,960 | $46,573 | 114.07% | 23 | 70.83% | 13 | 46 |
| 7 | Alaska | $44,166 | $65,468 | 113.58% | 24 | 58.80% | 38 | 2 |
| 23 | Georgia | $33,664 | $52,880 | 112.89% | 25 | 66.31% | 22 | 39 |
| 20 | Wisconsin | $33,546 | $55,171 | 112.88% | 26 | 60.53% | 33 | 28 |
| 45 | Arkansas | $32,691 | $46,632 | 111.88% | 27 | 76.38% | 5 | 49 |
| 38 | Texas | $38,091 | $48,110 | 110.79% | 28 | 67.45% | 19 | 26 |
| 49 | Oklahoma | $31,606 | $44,128 | 110.32% | 29 | 67.14% | 20 | 43 |
| 18 | Nevada | $35,358 | $55,957 | 110.11% | 30 | 67.99% | 18 | 34 |
| 48 | North Carolina | $30,778 | $45,947 | 109.24% | 31 | 60.59% | 32 | 38 |
| 25 | Iowa | $33,226 | $51,528 | 108.51% | 32 | 54.60% | 42 | 16 |
| 43 | North Dakota | $32,019 | $47,344 | 108.21% | 33 | 55.77% | 40 | 25 |
| 42 | Kansas | $33,386 | $47,464 | 107.23% | 34 | 60.85% | 31 | 30 |
| 6 | New Jersey | $48,631 | $68,797 | 107.21% | 35 | 71.14% | 11 | 7 |
| 33 | Idaho | $31,159 | $49,734 | 107.20% | 36 | 60.36% | 34 | 36 |
| 37 | Maine | $31,835 | $48,119 | 106.84% | 37 | 62.72% | 26 | 40 |
| 30 | Arizona | $31,874 | $49,885 | 106.75% | 38 | 61.01% | 30 | 33 |
| 41 | Missouri | $30,064 | $47,517 | 106.42% | 39 | 50.79% | 46 | 22 |
| 44 | Florida | $35,166 | $46,944 | 105.62% | 40 | 72.02% | 10 | 41 |
| 8 | Maryland | $43,235 | $65,265 | 104.64% | 41 | 58.75% | 39 | 3 |
| 24 | Vermont | $35,541 | $52,526 | 101.75% | 42 | 59.74% | 36 | 21 |
| 35 | Nebraska | $30,844 | $48,931 | 101.67% | 43 | 50.77% | 47 | 18 |
| 22 | Washington | $36,335 | $53,571 | 100.25% | 44 | 54.04% | 44 | 9 |
| 17 | Minnesota | $34,505 | $56,268 | 98.09% | 45 | 50.20% | 48 | 6 |
| 32 | Colorado | $32,126 | $49,844 | 92.24% | 46 | 48.24% | 50 | 10 |
| 19 | New Hampshire | $34,280 | $55,599 | 91.92% | 47 | 45.30% | 51 | 1 |
| 31 | Virginia | $37,848 | $49,869 | 90.49% | 48 | 61.56% | 28 | 14 |
| 34 | Utah | $33,081 | $49,393 | 89.51% | 49 | 49.93% | 49 | 11 |
| 21 | Hawaii | $41,027 | $54,300 | 89.48% | 50 | 63.59% | 25 | 12 |
| 51 | South Dakota | $29,851 | $39,580 | 88.70% | 51 | 54.21% | 43 | 29 |
National Median Household Income Data
| Rank | State | 2015[42][43] | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2004–2006 |
| 47 | Alabama | $44,509 | $40,489 | $42,666 | $40,554 | $38,473 |
| 2 | Alaska | $75,112 | $66,953 | $68,460 | $64,333 | $57,639 |
| 33 | Arizona | $52,248 | $48,745 | $50,958 | $49,889 | $46,729 |
| 49 | Arkansas | $42,798 | $40,489 | $41,393 | $42,229 | $41,679 |
| 13 | California | $63,636 | $58,931 | $61,021 | $59,948 | $53,770 |
| 10 | Colorado | $66,596 | $55,430 | $56,993 | $55,212 | $54,039 |
| 4 | Connecticut | $72,889 | $67,034 | $68,595 | $65,967 | $59,972 |
| 24 | Delaware | $57,756 | $56,860 | $57,989 | $54,610 | $52,214 |
| 5 | District of Columbia | $70,071 | $59,290 | $57,936 | $54,317 | $47,221 |
| 41 | Florida | $48,825 | $44,736 | $47,778 | $47,804 | $44,448 |
| 39 | Georgia | $50,768 | $47,590 | $50,861 | $49,136 | $46,841 |
| 12 | Hawaii | $64,514 | $64,098 | $67,214 | $63,746 | $60,681 |
| 36 | Idaho | $51,624 | $44,926 | $47,576 | $46,253 | $46,395 |
| 19 | Illinois | $60,413 | $53,966 | $56,235 | $54,124 | $49,280 |
| 35 | Indiana | $51,983 | $45,424 | $47,966 | $47,448 | $44,806 |
| 16 | Iowa | $60,855 | $48,044 | $48,980 | $47,292 | $47,489 |
| 30 | Kansas | $54,865 | $47,817 | $50,177 | $47,451 | $44,264 |
| 50 | Kentucky | $42,387 | $40,072 | $41,538 | $40,267 | $38,466 |
| 45 | Louisiana | $45,922 | $42,492 | $43,733 | $40,926 | $37,943 |
| 40 | Maine | $50,756 | $45,734 | $46,581 | $45,888 | $45,040 |
| 3 | Maryland | $73,594 | $69,272 | $70,545 | $68,080 | $62,372 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | $67,861 | $64,081 | $65,401 | $62,365 | $56,236 |
| 31 | Michigan | $54,203 | $45,255 | $48,591 | $47,950 | $47,064 |
| 6 | Minnesota | $68,730 | $55,616 | $57,288 | $55,082 | $57,363 |
| 51 | Mississippi | $40,037 | $36,646 | $37,790 | $36,338 | $35,261 |
| 22 | Missouri | $59,196 | $45,229 | $46,867 | $45,114 | $44,651 |
| 37 | Montana | $51,395 | $42,322 | $43,654 | $43,531 | $38,629 |
| 18 | Nebraska | $60,747 | $47,357 | $49,693 | $47,085 | $48,126 |
| 34 | Nevada | $52,008 | $53,341 | $56,361 | $55,062 | $50,819 |
| 1 | New Hampshire | $75,675 | $60,567 | $63,731 | $62,369 | $60,489 |
| 7 | New Jersey | $68,357 | $68,342 | $70,378 | $67,035 | $64,169 |
| 46 | New Mexico | $45,119 | $43,028 | $43,508 | $41,452 | $40,827 |
| 23 | New York | $58,005 | $54,659 | $56,033 | $53,514 | $48,201 |
| 38 | North Carolina | $50,797 | $43,674 | $46,549 | $44,670 | $42,061 |
| 25 | North Dakota | $57,415 | $47,827 | $45,685 | $43,753 | $43,753 |
| 32 | Ohio | $53,301 | $45,395 | $47,988 | $46,597 | $45,837 |
| 43 | Oklahoma | $47,077 | $41,664 | $42,822 | $41,567 | $40,001 |
| 17 | Oregon | $60,834 | $48,457 | $50,169 | $48,730 | $45,485 |
| 20 | Pennsylvania | $60,389 | $49,520 | $50,713 | $48,576 | $47,791 |
| 27 | Rhode Island | $55,701 | $54,119 | $55,701 | $53,568 | $52,003 |
| 44 | South Carolina | $46,360 | $44,625 | $43,329 | $40,822 | $39,454 |
| 29 | South Dakota | $55,065 | $45,043 | $46,032 | $43,424 | $44,624 |
| 42 | Tennessee | $47,330 | $41,725 | $43,614 | $42,367 | $40,676 |
| 26 | Texas | $56,473 | $48,259 | $50,043 | $47,548 | $43,425 |
| 11 | Utah | $66,258 | $55,117 | $56,633 | $55,109 | $55,179 |
| 21 | Vermont | $59,494 | $51,618 | $52,104 | $49,907 | $51,622 |
| 14 | Virginia | $61,486 | $59,330 | $61,233 | $59,562 | $55,108 |
| 9 | Washington | $67,243 | $56,548 | $58,078 | $55,591 | $53,439 |
| 48 | West Virginia | $42,824 | $37,435 | $37,989 | $37,060 | $37,227 |
| 28 | Wisconsin | $55,425 | $49,993 | $52,094 | $50,578 | $48,874 |
| 15 | Wyoming | $60,925 | $52,664 | $53,207 | $51,731 | $47,227 |
None of this
necessarily suggests West Virginia teachers are not deserving of
greater compensation and benefits. What the broader data picture does
show is that they are not as ill treated as the case they are making
claims. They have left the classroom at the wrong time and for the
wrong reasons. The ones most harmed by this poorly considered strike
are the children they claim to place above all else in this world and
their friends and neighbors in every community from Morgantown to
Bluefield and Charles Town to Huntington.
Source for
teacher compensation data:
Source for Median
Household Income data:
