The latest AFT salary survey was released last week, instigating the annual smattering of headlines in local newspapers around the nation announcing how their respective states stack up. Our favorite headline: "We're No. 51! S.D. last again in teacher pay." (The newspaper did not also point out that South Dakota ranks near the bottom on cost of living and tax burdens, but that just mucks up a good headline.) Using data from state departments of education, the AFT announced that the average national teacher salary in 2003 was $45,771, up 3.3 percent from the previous year.

Newly elected AFT president Edward McElroy described teacher compensation packages as "nothing short of insulting" and argued that teacher compensation "fail[s] to take account of growing healthcare and other out-of-pocket costs to teachers."