Utah teacher pay: How salaries compare to educators in other states

Utah teachers receive roughly 72 cents for every dollar earned by comparably educated professionals working in different careers, according to a recent study by the National Education Association. It’s called the “teacher pay penalty,” or the phenomenon where teachers earn significantly less than similarly educated individuals in other professions. “The compensation packages for those other professions have largely kept pace with [inflation,]” said Renée Pinkney, president of the Utah Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. “Those professionals are earning salaries that are competitive.” But teachers aren’t earning competitive salaries,...