INDIANAPOLIS — The fight over boosting teacher pay in Indiana continues.
The average teacher salary is now ranked 39th in the United States by the National Education Association.
While many educators feel starting pay has improved, there is still one problem.
"As teachers continue in their career, wages become very stagnant very quickly," said Keith Gambill, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association.
Gambill said that can make it difficult to attract and retain teachers.
According to a 2021-2022 state teacher compensation report by the Education Employment Relations Board, the lowest teacher salary reported was $35,000.
The highest is $105,000, and the average teacher salary is nearly $57,000.
Teachers in Wayne Township make the most, with an average salary of $67,000.
The lowest is Frontier School Corporation in White County. During that time, teachers reportedly made just below $39,000 on average.
Today, according to the Frontier School Corporation superintendent, teachers now make an average of $43,000.
Gov. Eric Holcomb has said he wants to make teacher pay competitive with surrounding states.
"We have, in the last two budgets, increased K-12 public school funding by a record amount," Holcomb said.
That record amount, he said, was more than $1 billion.
"We set a goal to make sure that the starting pay was $40,000. We've achieved that," Holcomb said. "We also set a goal to make sure the average teacher pay salary was $60,000. We're very close."
Indiana borders four states, three of which outrank Indiana for pay and benefits.
"And Governor Holcomb's Pay Commission found that we were last in our region." Gambill said.
The commission also found a $60,000 average salary for teachers would increase Indiana's rank from ninth to third in the Midwest, and third among bordering states.
"It really is a sad state of affairs when a state is doing as well as we are, that we are allowing the salaries for our educators to continue to fall behind," Gambill said.
To view teacher salaries in your area, click here.