School funding and teacher pay drove at least 177 teachers to run for election in recent midterm elections, and at least 42 of them won, mostly in statehouse races. Only one of those teachers ran in Massachusetts, where the average teacher salary is one of the highest in the country.
In Massachusetts, the average salary was $79,710 in the 2017- 2018 school year, ranking third among U.S. states. Nationally, teachers were paid an average annual salary of $60,483, according to the most recent data available from the National Education Association.
The average Massachusetts salary wasn’t quite as high when taken in the context of earning power in the state, but it still fared well. The $79,100 was 103 percent of the state’s median household income, behind 14 other states.