Listen to any campaign within the Commonwealth and the cries are the same: We need to do more for our teachers.

Whether it’s on the local or state level, every person with aspirations of winning their primaries and general elections have made it a foundation of their campaigns. This was echoed even louder by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe during a recent speech.

“If you look at the average teacher pay compared to the average pay of your citizens, Virginia ranks last,” said McAuliffe. ““We’re 50th out of 50 states. That is a disgrace.”

Agree or disagree with his policies, he’s right. According to NPR, there was a study done by business.org called “The Best and Worst States for Teachers.” It compared each state’s average teacher’s salary in the 2018-19 school year to its average 2019 salary for all full-time, year-round employees. Average teacher salaries were taken from data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics; average employee salaries came from the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the study, Virginia’s average teacher salary of $52,466 was 28% lower than the $72,833 average of all full-time workers – the largest discrepancy in the nation. The average pay of full-time, year-round employees was $73,890 – 29% higher than the average teacher salary of all workers. Nationally, the average for full-time employees was $67,787 compared to $61,730 for teachers – a 9% difference.

Unfortunately, according to the article there was a bill that would have raised teacher salaries to at least the national average over five years died this winter in the House Appropriations Committee. The increase, when fully phased in, would have cost the state $755 million a year, according to the Department of Planning and Budget. Although legislators agreed to a 5% teacher raise for the 2021-22 school year, the fact that it still has taken this long for the state to realize the value of educators is appalling on so many levels. This, despite the fact that they have to spend several years just to get a Master’s degree in order to teach. The low salaries forces many of them to take second jobs in order to make ends meet.

It goes deeper than just in the wallets. Even before the pandemic, teachers were subjected to mostly abhorrent conditions and in most cases indifference by administrators. Their attempts to have their voices heard during the county’s plan for re-opening this past year was met with scorn from some board members and even from some parents in the community. The fears and concerns are real, and even as Governor Northam’s plan to re-open at full capacity this fall seems like an absolute certainty, one has to wonder if this desire to “get back to normal” is another way of silencing the ones who are impacted the most.

Our teachers deserve better.