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Redesigning Teacher Salary Structures

School Finance: A Policy Perspective, 4e

Chapter 12

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Redesigning Teacher Salary Structures

1. Changing the Way Teachers Are Paid2. Elements of Teacher Salary Structures3. Beginning and Average Pay Levels4. Wage Premiums5. Base Pay Progression Elements6. A New Salary Structure Emphasizing Teachers’

Instructional Practice7. Effective Processes for Designing and

Implementing Teacher Pay Changes

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Why Change the Teacher Salary Schedule?

• Changing the pay structure can help reinforce strategic goals of the organization

• Public support for paying teachers for merit or performance is high

• Proposals to change the way teachers are paid create headlines and are good politics for state and local policymakers

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Linking Teacher Pay Changes to Core Educational Goals

To accomplish the goals of NCLB and state standards-based reform, the nation must:

1. Put a high-quality teacher in every classroom in the nation

2. Ensure that each teacher covers the state and district’s curriculum standards (and meets unique learning needs of students)

3. Enhance the instructional practices used so that students learn content by thinking, problem solving and communicating it

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Linking Teacher Pay Changes to Core Educational Goals

A pay structure linked to these goals needs:1. An overall teacher salary level that would allow the state

and each of its districts to compete for talent in the labor market

2. A higher salary level for urban and rural districts to compete for talent (assuming more affluent districts will acquiesce)

3. Clear, ambitious but attainable student achievement goals that can be incorporated as an element of teacher compensation

4. An instructional vision to serve as a focus for professional development to improve teacher practice

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The Elements of Teacher Salary Structures

Five critical elements of total compensation for teachers:

1. Base Pay

2. Variable Pay

3. Benefits

4. Career Opportunity

5. Working Conditions

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The Elements of Teacher Salary Structures: Base Pay

• The monthly or biweekly paycheck

• Includes three important components:1. Beginning or starting pay

2. Base pay progression over time, mainly annual pay increases

3. Top pay – the highest salary a teacher can earn

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The Elements of Teacher Salary Structures: Variable Pay

• Almost always provided as a bonus• Conditional on meeting performance targets• Varies from year to year depending on

whether performance targets are met• Base pay plus variable pay equals total cash

compensation• (assumes elimination of longevity and

advanced lanes structure)

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Determining Adequate Beginning and Average Teacher Pay Levels

• Identify the salary benchmarks that would allow the state and local districts to compete for talent in the education labor market (and beyond)– Many states use the salaries in surrounding

states as benchmarks– Some states use regional benchmarks– Others use the national average teacher salary

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Determining Adequate Beginning and Average Teacher Pay Levels

• It is also necessary to identify the salary benchmarks that would allow the state and local districts to compete for talent in the broader labor market– To do so, states must look at teacher salaries

with respect to these other occupations and set benchmarks for average and beginning salaries

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Determining Adequate Beginning and Average Teacher Pay Levels

• States and districts must determine where in the market they want to compete– Many states in the past have set beginning

salaries at the average salary of college graduates with liberal arts degrees ~$31,000

– A more appropriate target today might be the average salary for all college graduates ~$40,000

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Determining Adequate Beginning and Average Teacher Pay Levels

• Although some argue that adjustments to teacher salaries are necessary because teachers work 9 or 10 months of the year (and some say 5 or 6 hours per day), a study by Allegretto, Corcoran, and Mishel (2004) argues against it

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Wage Premiums

• When are wage premiums necessary?– In high-poverty/low-performing schools to ensure that

students at these schools have high-quality teachers– For subject-area shortages such as math, science,

technology and special education, a wage premium can help alleviate the problem

– In urban districts that have trouble competing with surrounding districts

– In rural districts that have trouble attracting teachers to their isolated locations

– (assuming the rest of the marketplace remains static)

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Wage Premiums

• How large should wage premiums be?– Research suggests between 15 and 40 percent

premiums for high-poverty/low-performing schools

– For subject area shortages, the premiums paid around the country are generally small, ~$1,000-$2,000, and without much impact

• Study by Milanowski (2003) found that $5,000 was likely to have a more significant impact

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Wage Premiums

• Wage premiums should be coupled with an effectiveness criterion to ensure that the teachers they attract are effective– Such effectiveness criteria could include a

major, minor, or a certain number of credits in the subject as well as a measure of instructional effectiveness

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Base Pay Progression Elements

Redesigned structures often include these factors to provide base pay increases:

1. A major, minor, or master’s in the subject taught2. Engagement in professional development3. Years of experience4. Implementation of a project designed to improve

student performance5. Knowledge and skills, or a high score on a

performance assessment of teachers

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Step Within Level BA MA

MA 60/ Doct

Entry 1 $30,663 $31,890 $33,165 2 $31,123 $32,368 $33,663 3 $31,590 $32,853 $34,168 Emerging Professional 1 $34,749 $36,139 $37,584 2 $35,270 $36,681 $38,148 3 $35,799 $37,231 $38,720 4 $36,336 $37,789 $39,301 5 $36,881 $38,356 $39,891 6 $37,434 $38,932 $40,489 Professional 1 $41,178 $42,825 $44,538 2 $41,795 $43,467 $45,206 3 $42,422 $44,119 $45,884 4 $43,059 $44,781 $46,572 5 $43,705 $45,453 $47,271 6 $44,360 $46,135 $47,980 Master 1 $48,796 $50,748 $52,778 2 $49,528 $51,509 $53,570 3 $50,271 $52,282 $54,373 4 $51,025 $53,066 $55,189 5 $51,790 $53,862 $56,017 6 $52,567 $54,670 $56,857 Percent Increase for Step 1.5% Percent Increase for Skill Level 10.0% MA, MA60/Doctorate 4.0%

Knowledge- and Skills-Based Pay

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Bonuses Based on Improvements in Student Learning

1. What performance elements are included?2. How will these elements be measured?3. How are annual improvement targets set?4. How can a level playing field be created?5. Should bonuses be one-time, or added to base

pay?6. How large will the bonuses be?7. Will the awards be on an individual or whole-

school basis?8. How should the program costs be estimated?

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Effective Processes for Designing and Implementing Pay Changes

There are four major process steps:

1. Design

2. Implementation

3. Evaluation and change

4. Funding

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Effective Processes for Designingand Implementing Pay Changes

• All of these changes cost money– Many states finance them through either

natural growth in general-fund revenues or tax increases

• Arizona passed a half-penny sales tax increase

• Denver passed a multi-million dollar increase by referendum