Small: On teacher pay, perception and reality often clash

On teacher pay, perception and reality often clash

By Jonathan Small

In a press release issued earlier this year, House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson of Oklahoma City declared that Oklahoma ranks “last in the region for teacher pay.”

That claim may align with longstanding stereotype, but not with reality. By any measure, Oklahoma teacher pay is not the last in the region nor anywhere near the bottom. And nationally, our average teacher pay is in the middle-tier of states.

It’s not “right wing” entities making that claim, but data from liberal entities including the National Education Association (NEA), a teachers’ union, and the Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA), a lobbying entity employed by public schools.

A report issued in April by the NEA showed that Oklahoma’s average teacher salary in 2023-2024 was $61,330, which was higher than the average in three of the six states bordering Oklahoma.

OSSBA reports the average teacher pay in Oklahoma surged from $45,292 in the 2016-2017 school year to $61,686 by the 2024-2025 school year.

In raw terms, OSSBA also showed the average teacher salary in Oklahoma is higher than the average in three of six bordering states – beating out Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri – and trailing Texas by less than $2,100.

Based on the raw dollar figure, the NEA ranked Oklahoma’s average teacher pay 34th highest among the 50 states.

But the raw figure isn’t the end of the story because there are significant differences in cost-of-living from state to state.

While Colorado teachers may be paid an average $68,647, due to cost-of-living differences the buying power of an Oklahoma teacher’s salary is actually slightly greater than the Colorado salary.

The same thing holds true when comparing the NEA-reported average salary for teachers in Texas ($62,463) and Oklahoma ($61,330). A modest cost-of-living difference means Oklahoma teachers come out slightly ahead.

In some cases, the differences are stark. Oklahoma’s average teacher pay of $61,330 is equivalent to around $86,000 in both Hawaii and Rhode Island.

Once you adjust for cost-of-living differences, Oklahoma’s average teacher salary ranks about 29th and is within a few thousand of the five states (or so) ranked above us.

Admittedly, the cost-of-living comparisons I cite are rough figures, and they don’t account for other differences, such as the impact of state tax burdens or differences in teacher benefits. A 2021 report from the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) found that when you included those factors, Oklahoma’s teacher pay ranked 21st highest at that time.

Rankings will shift as states adjust teacher pay each year. (Indeed, Oklahoma just boosted pay for veteran teachers this year.) And cost-of-living differences can also shift based on state policy.

Even so, Oklahoma’s teacher pay is highly competitive in our region and nationally. Whatever the rationale for potential future raises may be, getting “out of last place” is no longer among them.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.