[FloridaKash]

Originally Posted by Eveandk

Where do you find these stats? Looking to move with family. Good schools are important to us. Anyone know about private vs public

Private is almost always better. There are some great public schools. We based where we bought our home on the quality of the schools near by.

Check out Greatschools.org

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by FloridaKash

Private is almost always better. There are some great public schools. We based where we bought our home on the quality of the schools near by.

Check out Greatschools.org

The problem is that many of the private schools are religiously affiliated, and may not have things like ib or ap programs

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by chopchop0

But, but, but, we don't "spend enough" on education like states like NY or NJ. Our teachers have to make $60 K+/year to have an effective education system.

And FL teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation, coming in at #46 out of the 50 states.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

And FL teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation, coming in at #46 out of the 50 states.

Where did you get your stats from?

This indicates we are pretty much in the middle of the pack for both starting and average salaries. It's also important to keep in mind that FL also offers a lower cost of living, and that $10-20 K more in a place like NY or NJ isn't going to get you much farther.

Teacher Salaries By State | Average Salaries For Teachers | Beginning Salaries For Teachers | Teacher Raises | TeacherPortal.com

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by chopchop0

Where did you get your stats from?

This indicates we are pretty much in the middle of the pack for both starting and average salaries. It's also important to keep in mind that FL also offers a lower cost of living, and that $10-20 K more in a place like NY or NJ isn't going to get you much farther.

Teacher Salaries By State | Average Salaries For Teachers | Beginning Salaries For Teachers | Teacher Raises | TeacherPortal.com

You can Google the information, FL is listed along with 9 other states that make up the 10 lowest salaries for teachers in the nation.

Other states included are Mississippi and South Dakota.

And FL is not a cheap place to live, that's no longer true.

While purchasing a house is cheaper than many other states, homeowner's insurance is very expensive. Car insurance is not cheap here, groceries are higher here than many other states.

The problem with FL is the salaries have always lagged behind most of the nation while the COL is catching up with other states.

[Soup Not See]

ORPHANED

Maybe he got it from here ...

10 States Where Teachers Are Paid The Worst: 24/7 Wall St.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by leftee

Maybe he got it from here ...

10 States Where Teachers Are Paid The Worst: 24/7 Wall St.

Even that link gives a pretty decent figure for FL teachers:

Average Salary 2010/2011: $46,702

That's middle of the pack compared to all 50 states.

These are the states from my link where teachers make LESS than they do in FL:

State Starting Salary Average Salary 10-year increase Salary Comfort Index
South Dakota $26,111 $34,709 31.7 41
North Dakota $24,872 $37,764 40 43
West Virginia $26,704 $38,284 19.1 40
Oklahoma $29,174 $38,772 36.5 18
Montana $25,318 $39,832 35.6 46
Utah $26,521 $40,007 30.8 39
Louisiana $31,298 $40,029 45.4 20
Alabama $31,368 $40,347 28.9 13
Nebraska $29,303 $40,382 28.2 17
Missouri $29,281 $40,462 25.2 16
Mississippi $28,200 $40,576 46.5 19
Maine $26,643 $40,737 23.9 47
Iowa $27,284 $41,083 26.9 31
Idaho $27,500 $41,150 33.2 33
Kansas $27,840 $41,467 28.1 21
New Mexico $33,730 $41,637 43.2 29
Texas $33,775 $41,744 32.9 7
Tennessee $32,369 $42,537 28.4 9
Kentucky $30,619 $42,592 28.8 15
Arkansas $28,784 $42,768 44.8 11
South Carolina $28,568 $43,011 36 24

[Mike1306]

Originally Posted by leftee

Maybe he got it from here ...

10 States Where Teachers Are Paid The Worst: 24/7 Wall St.

He stated more than one item.
We have been through the insurance comparisons and other comparisons before so I will not get in to this.

The thread was about where education ranked in Florida against other states and contrary to many uninformed posts, Florida is ranked well. I'll take Education Week's opinion over uninformed opinions that always pop up here.

[doggiebus]

The local news today said Florida fell from 5 to 11th place now. The link below describes why the drop happened.

Florida's national education ranking drops from 5th to 11th place | Ocala.com

[Retiredcoach]

If someone would post the state's average income of a Floridia, I would question the credibility of the information. I would ask if/how the income was calculated (pensions,welfare,income earned from out-of state) and what population was counted (strictly residents, or were the non-residents, students, illegals, etc.) in the equation? Wouldn't the billionaires/millionaires completely skew the numbers and make Florida appear to be a much wealthier state than it really is? Would it not be much more meaningful to know the median salaries?

What both the Teacher Portal site and Education Weekly posted as average teacher salaries are truly bogus. Neither site states whether these are the salaries of strictly public school teachers, or are day care providers/ teachers, private school teachers, cyber school teachers, and/or parochial school teachers. If all are included in the equation, of course, states like Florida who pay their public teachers wages closer to the wages of the lowest tier of many of the northern states, will appear to be much closer to the "average" of many. A much more accurate comparison variable would be to define the population (eg. public school teachers only) at a median salary. Also, it might be more pertinent to compare teacher benefits nationally as part of the salary package, and then, see how great the discrepancies truly are.

"Lies, damned lies, and statistics" is a idiom that has been often used to describe the influential power of numbers. Nothing could be more true than many of the statistics that many of our leaders create to deflect attention from the truth. Average teacher salaries and the purported educational gains of students taking state tests are lies, damned lies, and statistics and are the simplest means to misguide those who trust.