NORFOLK, Va. — Teachers returning to the classroom are learning a tough lesson: their sluggish salaries will struggle this year to keep up with soaring inflation.
Nationally, on average, teachers make $2,150 less than they did a decade ago, when adjusted for inflation.
In Hampton Roads, we compared starting teacher salaries between this year and last year.
We found only Chesapeake City Public Schools offers a salary bump that offsets the current inflation rate of 8.5%. Starting teacher salaries in Chesapeake are 10% higher this school year.
Teachers in Virginia Beach still make the most overall, where the starting pay is nearly $52,000. That's up 5.5% from last year.
In Suffolk and Newport News, starting salaries are 6% higher this year, but that's still not enough to offset inflation.
Portsmouth and Norfolk salaries are up 5% this year for new teachers.
In Hampton, teachers will see a starting salary pay bump of just 4%.
All seven cities pay new teachers somewhere between $49,000 and $52,000.
Aside from salaries, school divisions are trying to recruit teachers with other incentives. Nearly every city is offering a sign-on bonus.
Virginia Beach is cutting employee health care premiums, and current teachers in Hampton got a raise of up to 20% in some cases.
