I did just that. There is a loose data chart on page 76 that did list your figure. However, if you had read the page a little more carefully, you would have found the word, "estimated" for the most recent year figure (i.e. 2001-2002). Further, you would also have found a more extensive data chart on page 92 where it lists "ESTIMATED AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARIES OF TOTAL INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF AND OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS, 200001 (REVISED) AND 200102." Again, we have the word estimated sticking out at us. Further, the chart lists the average by state and at the top, the total US average. I don't trust this, as I think they simply took a state average, then averaged that, which is a very inaccurate way to measure things.
I went to the web site of the American Federation of Teachers. They listed average salaries for 2000-2001. "According to AFTs survey for the 2000-01 school year, the average beginning teacher salary was $28,986, up 4.4 percent from 1999-2000. The average teacher salary was $43,250, up 3.4 percent from the previous year -- among the smallest increases in 40 years. Teachers had an average 15.8 years of experience." Frankly, I don't trust either data. I think the AFT is about as competent as the NEA and wonder why we have nice charts and a wealth of statistics, but we can't seem to find anyone that can teach math or statistics. My guess is that the median teacher salary is somewhere around $38,000.
Whether teachers are adequately paid for what they do would be a real good debate. I would say that in some ways they are, and in some ways they aren't. I certainly wish teachers were paid more, because that would benefit me greatly. My only point here is that we can't blindly follow the myth that teachers are well paid since they get 3 months off, etc. Go find reasonable estimates of what college gradutes with an average of 15 years of experiece (AFT teacher average), including about 30% who have graduate degrees, earn and then back out 11-12 weeks off their yearly salary. I would bet that teachers still are pretty low on that list.
The problem is that based on the performance, many deserve to be low.