The national average immediate cost of employing a public school teacher is $80,145. This varies from a low of $57,000 in South Dakota to a high of $105,000 in New York. These figures do not include non-immediate costs like unfunded pension liabilities and post-employment benefits like health insurance. They also don't account for the fact that full-time public school teachers work an average of 1,490 hours per year, as compared to 2,045 hours per year for full-time private industry employees.