roanoke, virginia – The Virginia Education Association would like to clarify statements made by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to 10 News about future teacher pay.
This week, the governor signed the state's next two-year budget. One of his highlights of this budget was the record amount of investment in education, including teacher salaries.
“The focus of the investment is to bring teacher salaries from well below the national average to national average this year and expected to rise above the national average over the next two years,” Youngkin said in an interview with 10News. He spoke at on tuesday.
Following the 10News article, the Virginia Education Association (VEA) contacted the governor saying the governor's statements were inaccurate.
“The Governor is relying on the Virginia Department of Education's Annual Salary Survey Report, which takes into account averages for career guidance counselors and other technical positions,” VEA's Chad Stewart said.
VEA also sent a letter to the Governor's Office stating the following:
VDOE's Annual Salary Survey Report includes all salary expenditures (including supplemental salaries) for classroom teachers, tutors, career guidance counselors, librarians, and educational technology positions. The NEA only includes classroom teachers, substitute teachers, and home-based teachers (in the same way in each state) and does not include additional salaries.
VEA letter to Governor Youngkin
“This is not an apples-to-apples comparison. We're kind of taking this orange from the Virginia Department of Education's number and inserting it into the National Education Association's report,” Stewart said.
According to the latest NEA Rankings and Estimates report released two weeks ago, Virginia's estimated average teacher salary this year is $65,058, $6,641 below the estimated national average of $71,699.
Stewart also said the state would need to propose a 14% increase in the next budget cycle to meet the promised legislative goal of achieving the national teacher pay average by the 2027-28 school year. Stated.
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