K-12 salaries have gone up, but so have the number of teachers to supervise, blog says

In his latest blog post for the Kansas Association of School Boards, Vice President for Advocacy Mark Tallman notes that K-12 salaries have gone up between 2005 and 2018.

“Teachers about 30.6 percent, principals about 32.4 percent, superintendents, 32.1 percent,” said Tallman. “Slightly higher increases for principals and superintendents in terms of an average salary.”

The reason for that difference is more teachers to supervise.

“There has been a significant increase in the number of teachers,” said Tallman. “These include kindergarten teachers as districts have gone to full-day kindergarten, preschool teachers, special education teachers, CTE teachers. There’s actually been about a six percent increase in the number of teachers in the state.”

There are about 6 percent fewer superintendents and about 2 percent fewer principals since 2005.

“The high mark for salaries in the state was 2009, which was the end of legislative funding after the Montoy lawsuit,” said Tallman. “The legislature approved increased funding. We have not recovered back to that point, but last year and what we’re expecting this year with increased legislative funding, it’s really been the first time since 2009 when salaries have been a little more than inflation, so they’re starting to move back.”

The hope is that if the funding goes up again with the inflation adjustment asked for by the Kansas Supreme Court, that those funds will assist in getting back closer to in line with inflation with regard to salaries specifically.