Florida Public School Teachers' Salaries Among Lowest In The Nation

​Yesterday the Sun-Sentinel ran a story about how some painters and grass cutters who work for the Broward County School District make more money than highly educated teachers with decades of experience. Well, it may get worse.

The Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy released its State of the State of Florida report today, which ranked teacher's salaries 37th in the nation. Furthermore, it found that over the last decade, public school teachers' salaries in the Sunshine State have dropped and keep dropping.

While the country's average salaries for public school teachers increased 3.5 percent over the last decade, Florida's was -0.3 percent. The nation's average one-year increase from fiscal year 2009 to 2010 was 1.7 percent while Florida's was -0.5 percent.            

The report from the FCFEP compares Florida's education, poverty rate, tax policies and health services to other states. Their ranking of teacher salaries was based on a December 2010 report from the National Education Association.

Here's some more highlights from the FCFP report:

• About 2.7 million Floridians live below the poverty line, including 850,000 with children. The number of Floridians living in poverty increased 550,000 in two years.
• Third highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.5 percent
• Third worst child health care system in the nation
  

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