Kansas teacher salaries slightly rebound compared to nation and region.

Posted Date: 06/01/2021

The first three years of the six-year Gannon school finance plan has helped Kansas school districts provide more competitive teacher salaries, but Kansas still has a lot of catching up to do compared to previous levels.

Key Points: since 2009, Kansas teacher salaries have fallen further behind the national average and fell from above to below the regional average. However, from 2018 to 2020, the first three years of the Gannon school finance, Kansas teacher salaries increased slightly more than the U.S. and regional averages. School leaders see teacher salaries as important for recruiting and retaining instructional staff who can increase student success.

The Gannon plan was passed by the Kansas Legislature and approved by the Supreme Court in response to a school finance lawsuit after school funding fell behind inflation for eight years (2009 to 2017). It was designed to restore school operating budgets to 2009 levels after adjusting for inflation over a six-year period, 2018 to 2023. The 2021 Legislature passed, and Governor Laura Kelly signed a bill to fund the final three years of the plan.

As this chart above shows, Kansas teacher salaries have consistently been lower than the U.S. average, and the gap widened from just under $7,000 per year in 2009 to over $11,000 in 2020. Kansas paid about $1,500 more than the average of states in the region in 2009, but $2,000 less than the regional states in 2020.

Nationally, teacher salaries increased by just over 18 percent between 2009 and 2020 and regionally by 20 percent, while Kansas increased just 11.8 percent, consistently less than the annual inflation rate.

However, over the first three years of the Gannon plan (2018 to 2020), as Kansas school funding rose more than inflation, Kansas salaries increased 9.5 percent, compared to 8.0 percent nationally and 9.3 percent regionally.

Kansas’ teacher salaries rank among states was 37^th in 2009 (excluding the District of Columbia), fell to 41^st every year from 2011 to 2017 except one, but has moved back to 37^th in 2020. That means Kansas’ national ranking has recovered to its 2009 level, but the state remains farther below the national average.

Among the nine states in the region, Kansas ranked 6^th in 2020, down from 4^th in 2009. Kansas had the smallest dollar increase over those years in the region, as well as the smallest percentage increase.