The annual "Survey and Analysis of Salary Trends" released recently shows the average teacher pay nationwide at $37,643 in 1995-96, up 2.1 percent from the previous school year.

Hawaii and North Carolina showed a decline in average salary from the previous year.

Hawaii's average teacher salary of $37,044 was 1.1 percent less than the previous year, according to the report, which uses state and U.S. Department of Education figures.

Danielle Lum, spokeswoman for the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said the salary decline reflects the loss of a significant number of teachers who took early retirement offered by the 1994 Legislature as a budget-cutting measure.

About 1,200 teachers at the high end of the salary scale left, making an impact on figuring average pay.

Lum said the teachers' union used the American Federation of Teachers figure for salary adjusted by cost of living in its bargaining for a new contract.

"We never use the other table" in which only salaries are compared, she said. "The reason is, the purchasing power of that dollar for anyone working here is not as strong as the rest of the states. If you were working California making the same amount, but it costs 30 percent more to live there, it's the same as a pay cut.

"The average salary will be $41,400 at the end of the contract. That would put us at 41 in the ranking in 1999. But that's assuming nothing else changes, no one else gets a raise," said Lum. "So, we still have our work cut out for us."

The Hawaii teacher pay was offset by cost of living figured at 132.5 percent of the national average.

At the top of the salary comparison was Connecticut, with $50,938, and at the bottom was South Dakota, with $26,369.

Michigan ranked fourth, but with the cost of living factored in, was at the top of the list with $47,430 as average salary.

The study also showed:

Hawaii is one of five states where teachers do not make contributions to their retirement plans.

The salary for a beginning teacher in Hawaii in 1995-96 was $25,436, ranking 14th. The beginning salary in top-ranked Alaska was $34,800, and bottom-ranked North Dakota, $18,225.

Nationwide, teachers earned 8 percent more than the average government worker in 1996, slightly below the 11 percent advantage they had in 1969.