U.S. Secretary of Education: Teachers should make between $60,000 and $150,000

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan turned some heads Monday by saying he believes the starting salary for teachers should be $60,000 per year and calling for increased standards for prospective teachers, according to an Education Week report.

Duncan said teachers should be paid between $60,000 and $150,000 per year in order to draw the best and brightest students into the teaching profession, according to the report. The lowest starting salary for a teacher in Ann Arbor Public Schools is $39,540.

The report, published in Education Week's Politics K-12 blog, stated Duncan also called on the nation's universities to increase the standards for students to enter their colleges of education. The report states the call for increased salaries and more stringent standards is a part of Duncan's initiative to not only attract better teachers but to challenge those teachers more in their profession.

To read the full Education Week report, click here.

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.