Illinois Among Best States for Teachers, Missouri Among Worst

It's not easy being a teacher no matter where your school happens to be. However, there are some states that are better than others and a new study reveals Illinois is among the best while Missouri educators are near the bottom.

Thanks to WalletHub for allowing me to get an early look at a new study just published today about the best and worst states for teachers in America. There's a lot of science baked in to this new ranking. Their methodology said they looked at "24 key measures of teacher-friendliness, including income growth potential, pupil-teacher ratios, and public-school spending per student." They factored in starting teacher salaries in each state along with average pay overall. Pensions and the length of time before tenure kicks in were also scored. How teachers in each state felt supported (or not) by their administrations also played a role in the overall state ranking.

The results for Missouri and Illinois couldn't be more different

Overall, Illinois is rated as the 4th best state in America for teachers with their highest category being opportunity and competition rank. By comparison, Missouri is ranked 42nd in America with their worst category showing being the academic and work environment. Ouch.

I have family who have been teachers and served on school district boards. I can tell you that the teacher struggle is real, but the challenge of school boards dealing with budgets is also not an easy task. The bottom line is we need to find a way to do better somehow someway.