The left-wing Center for American Progress is out with a report lamenting the low pay of America’s public school teachers.  (Imagine what they must think of private school teachers’ even lower pay!)  In some states, teachers in government schools are eligible for up to seven social service programs if they are the “head of household” sources of income for families of four.

Given the source, I’m sure plenty of arguments against the report are possible, but being from Rhode Island, my interests go in another direction — namely, the appendix table on page 6 that shows the “average teacher base salary (bachelor’s degree and 10 years of teaching experience)” for all of the states.  Wouldn’t you know it, Rhode Island leads the nation, at $67,700.

That’s 15% more than second place Massachusetts, which comes in at $58,800.  It’s 51% higher than the national average of $44,900.

When it comes to the “highest possible step on the salary schedule,” Rhode Island’s $78,200 comes in fifth, after New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland.  By that measure, Rhode Island is 20% higher than the national average.

Yet, as the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s Competitiveness Report Card shows, the Ocean State’s median household income is fifteenth in the nation.  Our unemployment rate is worst.

Despite all this spending (which Rhode Islanders can’t afford), our students’ scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests are generally below average for the nation and, under the current governor and Board of Education, reversing some progress from the last decade.

At the very least, paying teachers beyond taxpayers’ means is not proving to be a benefit to our students, and one could plausibly argue that such the pay scale is actively harming the quality of education in Rhode Island.