Pulling out educator salaries, whether administrative, teaching, pre-or post-secondary is suddenly trendy. Apparently, we shouldn’t value the time and money those folks have put into developing their knowledge and skills or, at least, not too much. Never mind a Wyoming resident will spend $81,032 to receive the degree required to teach in our K – 12 system. Your reward is an average teaching salary of $59,775.

Are you surprised to learn 41.3% of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years?

If you believe an educated populace is necessary for a republic to function, then things look ugly. If you’re like me and still wondering what happened to all the teachers, you might look to the relentless attacks and attempts to dismantle education in America. Maybe if every time you turn around you were told $100,090 is a ridiculous wage for an attorney, $60,070 for an electrician, $56,210 for a plumber, $78,803 for a miner, or $90,570 for a civil engineer and that your profession has failed or is actively bad, you might look elsewhere. Maybe if you grow up in an environment where teaching is derided, regulated, and picked apart, you wouldn’t see it as a career opportunity either.

Education matters. As a state, we had decades of not paying our share with industry paying our bills. If we had contributed all along, our state budget and savings would be the envy of our nation. We made the decision not to and now we must decide to support the services we depend on, including education, or to continue with the fantasy that we don’t receive bang for our buck. This decision fortunately and unfortunately rests with you and me. We can blame school board members. We can blame county commissioners or city council members. We can blame legislators. We can wring our hands and say it’s a shame but it’s not my fault. If we do, our children will not be prepared to compete intellectually and economically. We will own that regardless of who we blame. The time to stand and support education is now.