Analysis: Florida is a tough place to teach

Florida is the fifth-worst state in the country to be a teacher, according to a new analysis from financial site WalletHub.

The survey compiled data from numerous categories, including salaries, pensions, student-teacher ratios, public-school spending per student, teacher turnover, safety and union strength, according to the organization's website. Florida ranked above only four other states overall: Louisiana, North Carolina, Arizona and Hawaii.

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WalletHub’s data also found that Florida teachers were paid on average less than teachers in 45 other states, when cost of living was taken into account. Florida ranked 41st for public-school spending per student, 25th for average starting salary for teachers and 26th for quality of school systems.

The survey adds context to a debate that has continued to play out locally after teachers and district employees picketed outside of Sarasota County district headquarters last year asking for a raise. Contract negotiations between the teachers’ union and the district lasted more than five months before an agreement was reached that instituted both merit-based pay and eliminated the district’s previous salary system in which teachers received raises based on their experience level. 

Before the teachers' union was set to picket outside of the Landings, the district's administrative offices, administrators posted a message on the street-facing sign calling Sarasota County teachers the "best paid in the state." That phrase came from data that indicated Sarasota's teachers were the second-highest paid in the state based on average salary, but took into account the fact that they receive additional benefits like free health insurance and longevity pay raises.

Voters in Manatee County earlier this year passed an optional property tax referendum after district leaders said much of the added revenue would go to boost teachers' salaries. Manatee’s starting wage for a first-year teacher of $44,405 surpasses slightly Sarasota's $44,340.

While Manatee and Sarasota teachers may stack up well compared to other districts in Florida, WalletHub's survey found that salaries in Florida, both starting and average, did not compete well with many of the country's other states when factoring cost of living into the analysis.

In Michigan, the state that ranked highest for annual salaries adjusted for cost of living by WalletHub, teachers on average were paid about $62,000 a year in the 2016-17 school year, according to the Michigan Department of Education. In Sarasota County, the average teacher was paid about $54,000 last year, but the median salary, which reflects the exact middle of all salaries paid to all Sarasota County teachers, came to about $48,000 last year, making Sarasota County the seventh-highest paid traditional county in Florida by median salary.

But Sarasota's teachers are still making more than the average numbers for teachers across the state. Teachers in Florida made on average about $48,000 last year, according to data from the state. Sarasota County teachers also have an average of about 12 years of experience, about a year more than the state average of 11 years.

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