DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – Robin Jennings is a teacher in the Detroit Public Schools district. Her gross pay in 2018 was $74,249 in 2019 and that jumped to $96,631 in 2023, according to data from the state of Michigan.

Gross pay includes extra money teachers are allowed to get, including bonuses and taking on extra responsibilities, such as teaching a class during their off periods.

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Jennings is an example of an effort by the district when in 2020, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said he wanted to make Detroit’s teachers the highest paid in the country. There’s still work to do to reach that goal.

Detroit Public Schools expenditures on instruction, which include teacher salaries, have increased from $300.5 million in 2017 to $517.2 million in 2024, according to a report released by the school district.

Detroit’s average teacher salary was $73,211 in 2022-23. The state’s highest paid teachers were Warren Consolidated Schools with an average of $93,168. The state average was $67,012. The Detroit teachers’ contract has a maximum base salary for a teacher at $87,000 after 15 years, but teachers can earn extra money.

“We must overcome a legacy of inequitable funding to be fully competitive with surrounding districts at every experience level, but it is undeniable that we are making tremendous progress,” Vitti said in a 2020 press release. “We will continue to work at this until our teachers are the highest paid in the country. This is what they deserve and more importantly, this is what our children deserve to receive the education they need.”

The district’s per-pupil funding has increased from $10,844 in 2009 to $15,767 in 2024, when adjusted for inflation. That’s a 45% increase in funding over that 15-year span when adjusted for inflation.