In their annual study on government funding of education to be released today, the National Education Association finds that throughout the 1990's teachers' salaries across the country only rose 0.5 percent above inflation on average, and in many states fell behind inflation. Despite increased spending on education from 1990 to 2000, and an overwhelmingly strong economy, teachers in many states suffered losses in their real wages of up to fifteen percent. U.S. Department of Labor statistics show that in the last decade, increases in the nominal pay of elementary school and high school teachers fell short of national averages for all full-time workers by two percent and seven percent, respectively.
See "Teachers' Salaries Barely Match Living Costs, NEA Says", The Associated Press, The Washington Post, April 7, 2002