Starting in 2004, we started to see salaries rise again. In 2002 and 2003 we saw a lot of decreases because of the economy, but it's really good news that we're continuing to see increases.

They have been hit so hard from 2000 on, that they are starting to make a comeback.

This was the first year that we started to see more increases overall and they were consistent throughout all four reports.

We looked back and this was the best year in the past three or four years.

They haven't seen an increase since 2001 and this is the first year, in all four reports, that they showed an increase. With the economy coming back, they are just starting to regain the ground lost in those two years.

[When compared with other Southeastern states,] we're behind most of them on starting salary, ... Clearly, targeting starting salaries is important because that's who you're trying to bring into the teaching profession.