JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A study by the National Council on Teacher Quality shows lifetime earnings for Duval County Public School teachers rank among the lowest of America's largest school districts.

According to the report by the D.C.-based group, the district's average starting pay for a teacher with a master's degree is $39,059 and teachers in Duval County end their careers making an average of $69,427. That lands the district in 98th place out of 125 nationwide.

The study, released Tuesday, analyzed teacher salary schedule data from over 100 of the largest districts in the country, examining where teachers with master's degrees earn the most over their career and where they can climb the salary ladder fastest. The study adjusts for the cost of living in each district.

"The teaching profession is traditionally pushing the reward to the back end, when you're going to retire," said Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality. "We just make an argument that maybe that back end isn't nearly as important as the point in which the teacher needs to buy a house."

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In Duval County, it takes the average teacher about 24 years to earn a maximum salary of nearly $70,000 a year, while the average teacher in Hartford, Conn. could reach the same annual salary in half that time, the findings show.

The amount Duval County teachers earn over a 30-year career comes up significantly short compared to other large districts, according to Nancy Waymack, NCTQ managing director of district policy.

"Duval County -- after we adjust for the cost of living -- comes out to about $1.5 million. At the other end of the spectrum, we look at Columbus, Ohio and Atlanta, who are closer to $2.3 [million] and $2.4 million, respectively," Waymack said.

Tara Rowe, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in special education at the University of North Florida only to learn she wasn't going to make enough money to pay rent and her student-loan payments.

"So I was like, 'Forget it, I'll go on and get my masters.' Which I did," Rowe said.

Duval County pays teachers with a master's degree $10,000 extra each year.

A competitive salary

Some teachers and others in the community feel that too much of Duval County School District's personnel budget is spent on administrators.  The base salary for a principal is $75,277, while assistant principals start at $48,624. 

Superintendent Vitti is paid $275,000.

Duval County's elected school board members -- who work part time -- are paid $41,686, more than beginning full-time teachers get paid.

This NCTQ report comes amid criticism from some teachers over a move by the Duval County School Board to raise the salary of board auditor Michelle Begley.

The board recently elected to bump Begley's annual salary from $89,000 to $112,000. School Board Chairwoman Cheryl Grymes said the decision came after analyzing the salaries of board auditors in the state's other large districts, like Orange County.

"We'd been talking about it for a couple of years," she said.

Begley received a 1.3 percent raise along with all other district employees last year, according to the district. Before that, district officials said the auditor had not received raise in at least five years.

Grymes said she believes teachers in the district should also receive more competitive salaries, but the district has limited revenue.

"I can understand the angst around it," she said. "I think teachers should start at $50,000 a year. I wish we could do that... but unfortunately, we're not in a position to do that."

Grymes said the district is currently in talks with Duval Teachers United union to negotiate the next round of teacher salaries and raises.

Florida teacher earnings rank low

Trey Csar, president of education research and advocacy group the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, noted that most of Florida's other large district's rank fairly low in teacher pay.

In the NCTQ study, Broward County, for example, ranks 101 out of 125, and Brevard County falls to 109.

"In Florida, the per student funding is not as high as it is in much of the rest of the country, and that puts a crick all the way through the system," he said.

Hillsborough County, however, places significantly higher than other districts in the state, the study shows. The district ranks 59 in the report. An average Hillsborough teacher can reach a peak annual salary of about $71,000 after 22 years and earn a total of nearly $1.8 million over the span of his or her career.

Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Pinellas, Polk, and Orange counties also all rank slightly higher than Duval County.

Teacher retention

But the lack of earning power for districts like Duval could have a deeper impact.

A 2013 study by JPEF found that most teachers in the district list compensation as the top reason for electing to leave or stay. Locally and nationally, about half of new teachers leave their job within the first five years.

"Members of that profession have to earn a reasonable salary and that has to be part of the overall consideration for how a district manages its human capital pipeline," Csar said.

That might provide some districts with the impetus to rethink their salary schedule model, said Nancy Waymack, with the National Council.

"Think about whether or not it's competitive and think about whether or not it makes sense for a person who is going through that pay scale," she said. "We don't want teachers to be in a situation where they're buying their first home when others are looking to downsize."

For some districts that might entail shifting to a performance-based pay scale, but that does not always guarantee more earning power, Waymack said.

She noted three of the study's top-ranking districts use traditional experience-based salary schedules.

"Columbus, Ohio; Atlanta and Jefferson County, Ky. are all at the very top of the list and they all have traditional pay scales," she said. "They're just structured a little differently... Teachers' earnings accelerate fairly quickly within their career."