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.