Bernie Sanders: All Teachers' Salaries Should Start at $60,000

Sanders: “The historic teacher strikes of the past few years have showed us that teachers are paid totally inadequate wages. We're the richest country on Earth and can afford to pay educators decent wages."

The US average salary for teachers is $61,730. NY teachers get an average salary of $85,889, while educators in Mississippi have an average salary of $45,589. Gaps between the highest-paid teachers in NY, CA, MA, and DC remain enormous from those at the bottom — MS, WV,  NM, and FL, according to this report. OK's teacher salaries went up after a nine-day Spring 2018 walkout. In MS, the starting salary for a public school teacher with 0 years of experience was $34,390, according to the MS Department of Education. A $60,000 starting salary would be a jump of $25,610 for someone with no experience and the lowest level of certification, a 75 percent pay raise.