Washington state leads the nation in adjusted teacher pay, but critics say academic performance is not keeping pace. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, kindergarten teachers in Washington earned a median salary of $87,530 in 2024, while elementary, middle, and high school teachers earned just under $100,000 annually. The national median for pre-K–12 teachers is $63,000.
Despite the top-tier pay, Washington students are underperforming. Vicki Murray, director of the Center for Education at the Washington Policy Center, warned that the state has prioritized spending over outcomes. “We only look at how much we’re putting in; we’re not looking at what we’re getting out,” she said.
Reports from the National Council on Teacher Quality reinforce Murray’s concerns. A 2024 analysis ranked Washington among the lowest in preparing elementary teachers in math. A 2023 report also placed the state near the bottom in teacher training for reading instruction.
Murray supports tying compensation to results. “We’ve divorced pay from performance,” she said, pointing to successful incentive models like the one used in Washington, D.C., that rewarded both individual and group teacher performance through multiple academic metrics.
While the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) defends the state’s approach, citing a highly qualified and experienced workforce, Republicans in the state legislature argue that the return on investment is lacking. “Student performance on national test scores has been trending down over the last decade,” GOP lawmakers said. “More than 60% of Washington students do not meet grade-level standards in math, and half do not meet standards in English language arts.”
Washington’s schools receive an average of $18,944 per student, with over 73,500 certificated instructors and more than 5,000 administrators employed statewide. Critics argue that despite record-high education funding, the state is failing to deliver acceptable academic results.
