Straight from the National Education Association website.. This is a .org pro teacher and pro education website that is actively trying to increase teacher pay.

The National average for NEW teachers is $44,530. 28 percent of districts that staff a total of 300,000 teachers start at below $40,000. However, 23 percent of districts start at over $50,000, and those districts staff a total of 1,300,000 teachers. So over four times more teachers start over $50k, compared to the under $40k crowd.

Furthermore, Montana and Missouri have the lowest average starting teacher salaries and they are still at $34,500 and $36,800. So even if you're in the dead last worst off state in the country, you're still average new teacher salary is about $35,000.

So your numbers you have are a far, far, cry from reality for all but the lowest paid teachers in the lowest paid areas and are like a decade back from today's rates.

As a completely superficial note, my friend just got her first full time teaching job for grade school and is in the 2nd lowest paying state for new teachers in the country; Missouri. Her starting salary is $51,000.

So if you want to have any argument or discussion about my original statement for teacher salaries being incorrect, do as I have and back it up with facts and sources.