Item 137, paragraph B.12., Chapter 1, 2023 Special Session I Acts of Assembly directs the Superintendent of Public Instruction to provide a report on the status of teacher salaries, by local school division, to the Governor and the Chairmen of the Senate Finance and Appropriations and House Appropriations Committees. Beginning in 2008-2009, the report also includes information on starting salaries by school division and average teacher salaries by school.

Department of Education staff prepared the report based on Annual School Report (ASR) expenditure data submitted by each school division and regional program. Statewide and school division salary averages were computed for fiscal years 2023 and 2024. The report shows salary information from fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024 for comparative purposes. Year-to-year percentage change in salary averages is shown for statewide and division data.

According to these calculations, average salaries are expected to increase for classroom teachers, assistant principals, and principals from fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2024.The average budgeted classroom teacher salary for fiscal year 2024 is $70,441; this is a 3.12 percent increase from fiscal year 2023.

The average budgeted principal salary for fiscal year 2024 is $124,352; this is a 6.21 percent increase from fiscal year 2023.

The average budgeted assistant principal salary for fiscal year 2024 is $102,734; this is a 5.95 percent increase from fiscal year 2023.

Competitive teacher compensation is a complex topic that is confounded by many different variables. Virginia is one of 29 states that allows teacher salaries to be set by individual school divisions. This allows divisions the flexibility to meet their own needs, and as a result, teacher pay in Virginia is not uniform across the state. Many differences in pay can be associated with adjusting to the differences in markets and costs of living and support school divisions recruitment. Due to this division variability, state averages mask differences in regional labor markets and the differences across roles, subjects, and divisions.

Note, these averages will not match exactly to the averages shown in the How Does Virginia Compensate Teachers companion report to the SB 1215 Competitive Pay Study because the averages utilized in that companion report were from the FY 2022 Superintendent’s Annual Report for Virginia.