Update: How do Nashville teacher's salaries really compare?

If you repeat a falsehood often enough people will accept it as the truth. The Tennessean in its editorial today in support of Karl Dean's proposed tax hike said, "Without a new starting salary of $40,000 for teachers, Nashville will continue to lose talented educators to districts (including 29 districts within Tennessee) that already pay more — at a time when Metro’s 80,000 students are just beginning to raise their level of educational achievement."

Yes, 29 districts do pay more. Twenty-nine of 133 districts pay more. That is 21% pay more. Nashville teacher starting salary is in the top 22% of all school districts. That is not that bad.

How much more do they pay? The one immediately above Davidson County in the ranking pays $119 more in starting salary. The next seven who pay more, pay less than $500 a year more. Not much difference.

Where are these better paying districts? Only one, Murfressboro City is this vicinity.  Others are Memphis which and Sevierville and Maryville and districts over 200 miles away. Several including Bristol, Johnson City and Kingsport are more than 300 miles away.

Nashville starting teacher salaries are competitive with starting salaries of middle Tennessee school districts. There are a lot of reasons people choose to live and work where they do. I do not believe we are losing talented educators to other districts, If we are, it is not due to starting salaries.

Please look at the chart below for a actual comparison of starting salaries. This information is available to the Mayor, the Director of Schools and the Tennessean. Why will they not tell the truth.

How do Nashville teacher's salaries compare?

 posted 04-14-2012

The Director of Schools is proposing that Nashville's starting teacher salary be raised to $40,000. That is going to be the one thing that will push a tax increase. Police and Fire and a few other departments want more funding also, but the biggest thing pushing a tax increase will be an increase for education. It will be "for the kids." 

Everyone would like more money but Nashville's starting salary for teachers is not out of line. If you look at the chart below, of Tennessee's 133 school districts there are 29 that pay more and 102 that pay less. I do not thing being in the top 30 of 133 is a bad place to be. 

The argument for raising starting salary is that we need to pay more to attract the good teachers. I really doubt that that many teachers would choose to teach in Memphis over Nashville just for the salary difference. There are other reasons people live and work where they choose to live and work. 

Also worth noting is that the salary difference between districts in many cases is very small.

I have highlighted in yellow the school districts surrounding Davidson County. Except for Murfressboro City Schools, we pay the highest.

Tennessee Education Association
Tennessee School Systems Profile Rankings

Ranking of Scheduled Salaries, Bachelor's Degree Minimum 2011-2012
Rank	System				Salary			Rank	System				Salary			Rank	System				Salary
1	Memphis City			$	41,310			47	Robertson County			$	33,576			92	Maury County			$	32,459
2	Shelby County				41,062			48	Sumner County				33,550			93	Greene County				32,441
3	Bristol City				37,870			49	Haywood County				33,537			94	Macon County				32,397
4	Johnson City				37,240			50	Houston County				33,525			95	Elizabethton City				32,374
5	Lebanon SSD				36,836			51	Stewart County				33,513			96	Alamo City				32,365
6	Tipton County				36,710			52	Tullahoma City				33,440			97	Overton County				32,324
7	Paris SSD				36,645			53	Warren County				33,437			98	Trenton SSD				32,253
8	Kingsport City				36,533			54	McKenzie SSD				33,385			99	Carter County				32,242
9	Manchester City				35,997			55	DeKalb County				33,376			100	Smith County				32,238
10	Bradley County				35,805			56	Huntingdon SSD				33,352			101	Jefferson County				32,051
11	Franklin SSD				35,571			57	Loudon County				33,344			102	Union County				32,044
12	Dayton City				35,525			58	Rhea County				33,312			103	Morgan County				31,974
13	Lenoir City				35,524			59	Decatur County				33,303			104	Lawrence County				31,940
14	Oak Ridge City				35,519			60	Washington County				33,285			105	Lewis County				31,862
15	Maryville City				35,306			61	Crockett County				33,265			106	Jackson County				31,845
16	Cleveland City				35,272			62	Dickson County				33,261			107	Grundy County				31,802
17	Meigs County				35,140			63	Coffee County				33,220			108	Humphreys County				31,758
18	Montgomery County				35,118			64	Lincoln County				33,171			109	West Carroll SSD				31,723
19	Roane County				35,085			65	Henderson County				33,166			110	Humboldt City				31,706
20	Athens City				34,981			66	Benton County				33,153			111	Campbell County				31,685
21	Murfreesboro City				34,968			67	Grainger County				33,148			112	McNairy County				31,664
22	Clinton City				34,916			68	Hamblen County				33,136			113	Giles County				31,641
23	Alcoa City				34,913			69	Lake County				33,041			114	Bledsoe County				31,586
24	Fayetteville City				34,900			70	Madison County				33,040			115	Union City				31,550
25	Rogersville City				34,823			71	Moore County				33,013			116	Hawkins County				31,510
26	McMinn County				34,810			72	Carroll County				33,006			117	Chester County				31,476
27	Sweetwater City				34,652			73	Weakley County				32,950			118	Scott County				31,450
28	Sevier County				34,600			74	Newport City				32,945			119	H-Rock-Bruceton SSD				31,448
29	Etowah City				34,593			75	Richard City SSD				32,885			120	Perry County				31,443
30	Davidson County				34,474			76	Lexington City				32,871			121	Marion County				31,390
31	Rutherford County				34,456			77	Bedford County				32,855			122	Trousdale County				31,257
32	Marshall County				34,413			78	Johnson County				32,814			123	Cocke County				31,230
33	Polk County				34,203			79	Cheatham County				32,770			124	Cumberland County				31,107
34	Hamilton County				34,198			80	Hardeman County				32,756			125	Bradford SSD				31,089
35	Sequatchie County				34,160			81	Milan SSD				32,752			126	Fentress County				31,076
36	Anderson County				34,155			82	Bells City				32,714			127	Claiborne County				30,970
37	Fayette County				34,128			83	Obion County				32,695			128	Oneida SSD				30,795
38	Greeneville City				34,097				Wilson County				32,695			129	Cannon County				30,688
39	Putnam County				34,092			84	Gibson County SSD				32,686			130	Van Buren County				30,680
40	Hickman County				34,065			85	White County				32,680			131	Hardin County				30,536
41	Williamson County				33,950			86	Unicoi County				32,677			132	Wayne County				30,282
42	Henry County				33,854			87	South Carroll SSD				32,661			133	Clay County				29,680
43	Dyersburg City				33,800			88	Blount County				32,582				Hancock County				29,680
44	Franklin County				33,790			89	Dyer County				32,566				Pickett County				29,680
45	Knox County				33,770			90	Sullivan County				32,561
46	Lauderdale County				33,617			91	Monroe County				32,558
																	Average				$33,287

Source:	Tennessee Education Association, Survey of Local Annual Salaries for Classroom Teachers, 2011-2012

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