WASHINGTON, DC - The National Education Association (NEA) has released its annual report on public school teachers' salaries within each state. The average U.S. teacher salary for 1995-96 was $37,685, up 3% from 1994-95.

On releasing the statistics, the NEA announced that public school teachers' salaries are "barely keeping up with inflation."

"The salary for teachers is troubling," lamented NEA President Bob Chase in a press release accompanying the report. "Teaching is an emotionally, physically, and intellectually challenging career that today garners too little respect and low pay relative to comparable professionals."

However, the NEA report omitted a critical factor - the number of workdays per year - that dispels Chase's assertion that teachers' pay is low "relative to comparable professionals."

Teachers work approximately 185 days per year, while other professionals work approximately 235 days per year (365 days per year less weekends, 3 weeks vacation, and 11 holidays). A professional with an annual salary of $37,000 earns $157.45 per workday, whereas a teacher with the same salary collects $200 per workday. The "low pay" that Chase laments is actually greater per day of work than that of the majority of U.S. workers.

Although teachers may spend extra time at home grading papers or supervising extracurricular activities, other professionals also spend many uncompensated hours of personal time on their careers. Also, most teachers' union contracts typically cap teachers' weekly work hours between 37 and 39 hours.

If making more money is the goal, teachers should go to work for the NEA. NEA staff members in Washington, D.C. earned an average salary of $68,346 during 1994-95, with 126 of the 608 employees making over $100,000. The NEA has a $41.6 million payroll.