By Brian Gilliland

DOVER — Delaware schools maintained the rank of 16th in the nation for teacher compensation, and they rose to first from second for education support professionals’ pay, according to an annual study by the National Education Association.

States within easy commuting distance rank higher in teacher salaries, though, with Maryland at eighth, up from ninth; Pennsylvania holding steady at 11th; and New Jersey ranking seventh for the past two years, the report noted.

For support employees, Maryland slid from ninth to 10th this year, Pennsylvania jumped to 14th from 15th, and New Jersey held at fourth.

Shelly Meadowcroft, communications manager for the Delaware State Education Association, the local affiliate of the NEA, said those numbers came from the top down, rather than from the local offices up to the parent organization.

She disputes the numbers provided for support employees published by the national group, since one job heading under that collection, paraeducator, skews the results for everyone else. In terms of other employees like custodians, she explained, she wouldn’t be surprised if the numbers were closer to the bottom of the national rankings, but high demand for paraeducators has increased their salaries more than others’.

The National Education Association reports than Delaware pays its school support employees an average of about $44,000 annually, up about $500 from last year.

As for teachers, the average starting salary for a teacher is about $45,000, good for 10th in the nation, with the average of all teachers coming in at just under $68,000. The association’s report also cites the Economic Policy Institute’s number of $71,500 as the income needed for one adult and one child to have a modest but adequate standard of living in the most affordable Delaware metro area.

Further, the state’s higher-education salary was ranked third in the nation, averaging almost $119,000. And Delaware ranked 18th in the nation in per-student spending, at about $17,000 each.

First State educational salaries are set through a referendum process, which has been ongoing in certain districts, like Cape Henlopen and Smyrna. They have been recently completed in Appoquinimink, Brandywine, Colonial and Red Clay Consolidated.

Generally, the state funds 70% of operations, with the local contributions making up the difference, but this amount must be ratified by the electorate, via referendum. Salaries and the like are organized under operational expenses, while items such as school construction are capital costs.

In Appoquinimink, voters approved operational and capital expenses by roughly the same margin, about 2,000 votes; Brandywine’s referendum was a landslide, with triple the number of approvals than denials in a 9,000-plus-ballot race. Colonial’s was closer, but about 1,000 approvals outweighed the denials in a 3,500-ballot contest, and Red Clay’s proposal was also a blowout, about 6,900-3,000.

Cape Henlopen’s first referendum this year failed by 660 votes; it has now scheduled a second vote on a pared-down request later this month. The May 21 ask changes the operational expenses request slightly, but capital requests have been significantly reduced.

Smyrna’s referendum was also defeated by less than 10% of the almost 2,000 votes cast, and the district has scheduled another in June.

According to the National Education Association, even with record-breaking increases in some states for teacher salaries, members are making 5% less than 10 years ago.

Nationwide, starting teacher salaries have seen an increase of 3.9% over last year, the association stated.