Teacher Salaries and the States.

Recent trends do not indicate that teachers' traditionally low salaries are improving dramatically, though several states have taken steps to raise salaries and make teaching more attractive. As student enrollments fell by almost 15 percent between 1974 and 1984, the number of teachers decreased by less than one-tenth of 1 percent. The resulting growth in per pupil costs may have held salaries down. Teachers' pay rates are low compared with those of other professionals and other school personnel, have a very limited potential for growth, and have failed to keep pace with inflation. Variations among the states in salaries and salary growth have been wide. While overall educational expenditures have increased by 140 percent since 1974, teacher salaries have decreased as a percentage of current operating expenses. While few states play a central role in determining teachers' salaries, many play an indirect role through such policies as providing aid or establishing minimum salary levels. These findings are based on data (presented in five tables) on the numbers of teachers and pupils, the average salaries, the current expenditures, and the relationships between salaries and expenditures in each of the states. (PGD)