Tennessee state teacher salary schedule, 2026-27

State Salary Schedule, Licensed Instructional Personnel (FY 2026-27). This is the schedule the state itself publishes; districts add local supplements on top.

Tennessee's 2026-27 state teacher salary schedule runs from $50,000 (Bachelor's Degree, years of experience 0) to $61,380 (Advanced Degree, years of experience 11-15), per Tennessee Department of Education / Tennessee State Board of Education (effective July 1, 2026).
Bachelor's lane (Bachelor's Degree): $50,000 at 0 years of experience to $56,900 at the top.
The grid has 2 lanes and 4 years of experience rows.

State Salary Schedule, Licensed Instructional Personnel (FY 2026-27)

Official sourceDocumentTennessee Department of Education / Tennessee State Board of EducationSchool year2026-27EffectiveJuly 1, 2026

Years of experience \ Degree	Bachelor's Degree	Advanced Degree
0	$50,000
1-5	$50,645	$53,605
6-10	$53,370	$57,365
11-15	$56,900	$61,380

highest celllowest cell4 years of experience rows x 2 degree columnshover or tap a cell to trace its row and column

Find my cell

Degree

Years of experience

Annual salary

$50,000

Per month (12)

$4,166.67

Next 5 steps in this degree

Years of experience	Salary	vs. selected
1-5	$50,645	+$645
6-10	$53,370	+$3,370
11-15	$56,900	+$6,900

Worked example as rendered: Bachelor's Degree, years of experience 0 = $50,000 a year, $4,166.67 a month spread over 12 months. Monthly and daily figures are arithmetic on the published annual cell, before any supplement, stipend or deduction.

The schedule states: 'Figures represent minimum salary requirements. Local education agencies (LEAs) should provide additional compensation increases to the base salary for factors including aiding in staffing hard to staff subject areas and schools and in hiring and retaining highly effective teachers [Tenn. Code Ann. 49-3-306(h)]. In addition, LEAs may provide additional increases for years of experience and educational attainment.'

The schedule also states that adopting it 'shall not result in a reduction of pay by an LEA for any teacher employed by the LEA at the time of the schedule's adoption [Tenn. Code Ann. 49-3-306(a)(1)]', so the minimum required for such personnel may be greater than the figures shown.

Tennessee publishes the grid as a base plus a dollar add-on, not as a table of dollar amounts. Base salary (bachelor's degree, zero years of experience) is $50,000. The bachelor's lane is BASE, BASE + $645, BASE + $3,370, BASE + $6,900; the advanced degree lane is BASE + $3,605, BASE + $7,365, BASE + $11,380. The dollar values here are those sums.

The experience bands differ by lane: the bachelor's lane bands are 0, 1-5, 6-10 and 11-15 years, while the advanced degree lane bands are 0-5, 6-10 and 11-15 years. The advanced degree lane has no separate zero-years figure, so its cell in the '0' step is null; its 0-5 band is recorded on the '1-5' step alongside the bachelor's 1-5 band.

The board cover memo notes the FY2026-27 minimum rose to $50,000, a $3,000 increase over the prior $47,000, and that most districts already exceed the state minimums.

Soft spot: Because the advanced degree bands (0-5, 6-10, 11-15) do not line up with the bachelor's bands (0, 1-5, 6-10, 11-15), the four step labels are the bachelor's bands; a reader looking at the advanced degree lane should read step '1-5' as the state's 0-5 band.
Soft spot: landing_url is the State Board of Education meetings index; the July 31, 2026 special-called meeting page for this item was not resolvable at a stable URL.

Tennessee district schedules indexed

All Tennessee districts, with enrollment and what is indexed, are on the Tennessee page. Other statewide schedules: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia.