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The average increase in teacher pay slipped below the rate of inflation in 2003-04, the latest year for which data are available, the American Federation of Teachers said last week in releasing its annual salary survey.
The average U.S. teacher salary in the 2003-04 school year was $46,597, a 2.2 percent increase from the year before, according to the report. The rate of inflation for 2004 was 2.7 percent.
Over the 10 years ending in 2003-04, the report concludes, teachers鈥� salaries increased much more slowly than pay for other professionals. Teacher pay went up just more than 2 percent after inflation during that period, while compensation measured in the same way for other professionals grew between 5 percent and 14.4 percent, the report says.
Among the states, Connecticut posted the highest average teacher salary, at $56,516, while South Dakota had the lowest, at $33,236.
