Wisconsin Educator Salaries: An In-Depth Analysis

Wisconsin's education sector is facing significant challenges, particularly concerning educator compensation and workforce demographics. This article delves into the statistics surrounding Wisconsin educator salaries, drawing primarily from the state Department of Public Instruction's (DPI) 2022 Educator Preparation Program and Workforce Analysis Report, as well as other relevant data sources. It examines median salaries, changes in compensation over time, demographic trends, areas of critical need, and comparisons to national averages and living wages.

The State of Wisconsin's Teaching Workforce

The hundreds of vacant teaching positions clearly indicate the troubles of Wisconsin's teaching workforce. A recent state report crystalizes the problem with data from the 2021-22 school year.

Median Teacher Salaries and Compensation Trends

In the 2021-22 school year, the median salary for Wisconsin teachers was $57,279. When benefits are factored in, the total median compensation reached $81,566. However, when adjusted for inflation, these figures reveal a concerning trend: a 13% drop in median pay and a 19% drop in median compensation since 2010. In 2010, Wisconsin teachers had a median salary of $66,086 and compensation of $100,217, when adjusted for inflation.

The DPI report highlights a significant shift: teacher salaries used to exceed the average salaries for other college graduates, but this trend reversed after 2020. School districts have reported that compensation was one of the top reasons they had lost teachers based on surveys administered by the DPI.

State Superintendent Jill Underly has urged lawmakers to increase funding allowances for public schools, particularly after years of capped funding that has failed to keep pace with inflation. According to Underly, Wisconsin’s kids are suffering from losing quality teachers, and solving this challenge starts with upholding the state’s responsibility of funding public schools.

Read also: GPA Insights: UW-Madison

Teacher Program Enrollment, Licensing, and Retention

Wisconsin has experienced an increase in students enrolling in educator preparation programs, surpassing other states and its own numbers from the last decade. However, several factors appear to be deterring students from entering and remaining in the profession.

One significant hurdle is the Foundations of Reading Test (FORT), which students must pass to gain full licensure. In Wisconsin, only 48% of test-takers passed the FORT on their first attempt, and just 56% passed on any attempt, according to the DPI report. These passage rates have significantly declined over the past decade, which the report notes is undoubtedly impacting the workforce.

Teachers are allowed to work before passing the FORT by obtaining a one-year Tier I license while working toward full licensure. About 4% of Wisconsin's teachers were working with Tier I licenses, with a higher rate in charter schools: 14%, according to the report.

Of those aspiring teachers who completed their educator preparation programs, just 79% went on to be licensed and only 68% went on to work in a Wisconsin public school. From there, retention is a problem. Only about 60% of new Wisconsin public school teachers are still teaching in Wisconsin public schools six years later, according to the report.

School districts reported to DPI that the top reasons they were losing teachers were: personal reasons, work-life balance, leaving for another profession and workload, in addition to compensation.

Demographic Disparities in the Teaching Workforce

The DPI report indicates that there have been "no significant changes" in the demographics of Wisconsin teachers. As of the 2021-22 school year, approximately 95% of Wisconsin's public school teachers were white, and 76% were female. The report emphasizes that these demographics are starkly different than the makeup of the student population in the state, which matters in terms of student outcomes. The report cited a 2022 study that found Black students who had at least one Black teacher were 13% more likely to graduate from high school.

Critical Shortages in Special Education

Based on licensing data, the teaching area with the highest shortages is special education, which has consistently been a shortage area for the state. Approximately 74% of school districts that responded to a DPI survey reported having vacant special education positions.

New programs are working to fill the gaps. For example, a new University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Education Teacher Residency Program covers the cost of an in-state resident's master’s degree in special education and provides a stipend for students who agree to work at Milwaukee Public Schools.

Salary Variations by Grade Level and Specialization

Teacher salaries in Wisconsin vary based on the grade level taught. In 2024, preschool teachers earned around $46,100 annually, while middle school teachers made the most at around $62,000 per year. In other words, middle school teachers earned about 35% more than preschool teachers.

Pay also varies by specialization. Teachers of students with disabilities (collected in the data as “special education”), earn about the more than general education teachers at 3 of 5 levels in Wisconsin. In 2024, the median wages for teachers of students with disabilities ranged from 1% lower to 37% higher than those of other teachers at the same grade level. The largest difference for teachers of students with disabilities was at the Preschool level, where they earned $63,000 per year compared to $46,100 for other Preschool teachers, a 37% difference.

Some schools, primarily middle and high schools, also employ technical teachers who provide vocational and technical training in fields such as automotive repair, culinary arts, cosmetology, and information technology, to help students develop career skills.

National Comparisons

Teacher salaries vary nationwide. In 2024, Wisconsin teachers earned less than the national median for every grade level reported. The largest percentage difference was among preschool teachers, who earned 13% less than the national median. Middle school teachers - typically the highest-paid group - earned about 2% less than their counterparts nationwide.

While the national average K-12 teacher salary is $66,397, this varies significantly by state. Some of the best states for teachers are Washington, Utah, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. The highest pay in the nation for new teachers is in New York, where the average teacher salary is $92,222. Mississippi has the lowest average teacher salary of $47,162.

Early Childhood Education Workforce

Early educators are engaged in incredibly difficult and complex work that has been recognized as essential to children’s learning and development, supportive for families, and foundational to the economy. Nonetheless, no states paid early educators a living wage in 2022.

In 2022, the median wage for the Early Childhood Education (ECE) workforce was $12.99. From 2019 to 2022, the change in median wage for the ECE workforce was 3.0%, adjusted for inflation in 2022 dollars. The living wage for a single adult was $15.10. The living wage gap for the ECE workforce was 14% or $2.11.

The ECE workforce was 8.2 times more likely to live in poverty than elementary and middle school teachers. Early educator households participating in one or more public safety net programs: 39%.

Early Childhood Workforce Policies in Wisconsin

Wisconsin's performance on early childhood workforce policies varies across different areas.

Qualifications & Educational Supports: Edging Forward
Work Environments: Making Headway
Compensation & Financial Relief Strategies: Stalled
Workforce Data: Making Headway
Public Funding: Stalled

Additional Factors Affecting Educator Workforce

Each year, DPI identifies schools with high fractions of inexperienced or ineffective and out-of-field teachers teaching in schools that disproportionately serve economically disadvantaged students or students of color. This report provides student-to-staff ratio data. Student data is based on enrollments as of the Third Friday of September and staff data is presented as full-time equivalency (FTE) by working agency and staff position classification.

WEAC President Peggy Wirtz-Olsen has emphasized that teachers are struggling with salaries that lag behind inflation, positioning Wisconsin at 38th in the nation.

tags: #Wisconsin #educator #salaries #statistics