BOISE, ID – The Idaho State Department of Education says the average teacher salary increased by 3.2% to $54,806 this school year, but when compared to teacher salaries in other states and after accounting for inflation, the pay is still relatively low. The average teacher salary has grown by $8,367 or 18%, since the career ladder was implemented in the 2016-2017 school year.
From IDEDNews.org:
Teachers in Idaho also make less than peers in other fields who have the same level of education.
The “inadequate pay,” as a 2021 report from the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy called it, has paired with “growing workplace demands” to drive teachers away from schools. The timing couldn’t be worse as learners continue to recover from pandemic-era learning disruptions.
Teachers are leaving Idaho for higher pay in other states and grappling with “sharply rising rents and home prices,” the report found.
The average value of single-family homes in Idaho has increased by about 173% since the third quarter of 2011, compared with nearly 80% nationally, according to a 2022 report from the Idaho Department of Labor. In communities like Hailey and Driggs, teachers are living in campers or turning away jobs due to the cost of living.
And, according to a 2022 report from the Economic Policy Institute, an independent, nonprofit think tank, Idaho teachers made 25.2% less than other comparable college-educated workers.
