Compensation, Benefits & Pensions
Teacher salaries and benefits make up roughly 80 percent of all K-12 spending in the United States. We analyze the complex interplay of policy and practice on salaries and benefits, including states’ soaring pension debt. We develop cost models for promising approaches toward financial sustainability, equity and improved student outcomes. These include giving bonuses to effective teachers who take on more students and raising pay in teachers’ earlier years (without changing their lifetime earnings) to strengthen the teaching force and reduce runaway pension debt.
Research has shown that teachers and salaries are inequitably distributed within school districts, but the same rationale has yet to be applied to pension wealth. This new paper by Marguerite Roza shows how high-minority schools receive fewer dollars in pension wealth than low-minority schools within the same district, and makes the case for including this metric in policy discussions about equitable...
Breaking tradition: A fixed-dollar pay raise strategy that benefits teachers and school districts In this analysis Marguerite Roza examines both the degree to which pay systems for teachers are more heavily back-loaded than for many other professions and the ramifications of this steep salary curve for teachers, states and school districts. She details how teachers and school districts could benefit...
Turning a Benefits Conundrum into a Potential Opportunity for Teachers and Students Teacher benefit costs are rising faster than salaries and new revenues are unlikely to appear. This new analysis by Marguerite Roza shows how a longer work year could increase teachers’ annual salaries and improve student outcomes. This unique solution works best as a flexible option for districts. Read...