A new report from NPR on how teachers are being paid places North Dakota just below the middle of the pack at 33rd. The study shows North Dakota teachers with a salary of 50-thousand-237 dollars annually with a slight upward adjustment when you factor in cost of living. North Dakota United President Nick Archuletta says the numbers match up with what they are seeing. He says 33rd is not a bad place to be in – especially after languishing near the bottom for many years…
“…Around (the year) 2000 or so, then-Governor Hoeven made a commitment to study equity and adequacy of funding of education in the state. And they brought experts in from the outside. And for the first time in a very long time there was a top to bottom examination of what it costs and what it should cost to educate students in North Dakota. And because of that we saw teacher’s salaries through the 2000’s tick upward.”
Archuletta says while we have been making progress in teacher’s salaries, the sagging ag economy and the need to take money from the Foundation Aid Stabilization fund last session could put schools back into challenging times…
“…In my view we don’t have a spending problem anymore. We have a revenue problem. And we need to take a long look and see what it is we can do to mitigate that.”
In the study, Minnesota is placed at number 11; Montana is 28th and South Dakota ranked third from last just behind Maine and Hawaii.