Item 125, paragraph B.12., Chapter 725, 2025 Virginia 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 Chairs 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.

Virginia Department of Education (Department) 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 2024 and 2025. The report shows salary information from fiscal years 2024, 2025, and 2026 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 2025 to fiscal year 2026.

• The average budgeted classroom teacher salary for fiscal year 2026 is $76,924; this is a 2.13 percent increase from fiscal year 2025 and a 7.20 percent increase from fiscal year 2024.

• The average budgeted assistant principal salary for fiscal year 2026 is $111,488; this is a 3.84 percent increase from fiscal year 2025 and a 8.67 percent increase from fiscal year 2024.

• The average budgeted principal salary for fiscal year 2026 is $134,672; this is a 5.44 percent increase from fiscal year 2025 and a 9.36 percent increase from fiscal year 2024.

The information in this report is based on certified financial data from school divisions in the Annual School Report. When significant variances exist, the Department seeks confirmation from school divisions and requests corrections to the Annual School Report when necessary. This outreach includes, but is not limited to, communication on December 12, 2025, asking 49 school divisions and regional programs to review data before publication in the required report. Of these 49 school divisions and programs, 20 submitted corrected data, 7 indicated that no changes were necessary, and 22 did not respond. School divisions that reconfirmed their data or did not respond have certified all data included in this report. There are two school divisions that have not submitted their annual school reports and are noted in the report as “Did Not Submit" beginning on page 6. 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 according to the 2022 National Council on Teacher Quality Teacher Compensation Strategies report. This provides divisions the flexibility to meet their own needs, and, as a result, teacher pay in Virginia is not uniform across the Commonwealth or regions. Many differences in pay can be associated with adjusting to the differences in labor markets and costs of living within school divisions. Due to this division variability, state averages mask differences in regional labor markets and the differences in roles, subjects, and divisions. An analysis provided by leading researchers for the 2023 workgroup on teacher salaries ("Competitive Teacher Pay" – see Appendix E) documented how differentiated pay based on local labor market needs and differentiated roles is more effective at recruiting, growing and retaining quality teachers that have a positive impact on student achievement.

Since the beginning of the Youngkin Administration, Virginia has made record-setting investments in K-12 education, including an 18 percent increase in teacher compensation, which is a compounded growth rate of 19.3% over the last four years.