Are Teachers Getting Paid Enough?

By David Boze Education Policy Analyst

Which of the following statements are true?

1. Teachers lost 15 percent of their wages to inflation since the 1991-92 school year.

2. Between 1983-84 and 1997-98, teachers lost .2 percent of their salaries to inflation.

3. Between 1991-92 and 1997-98, teachers lost 8.9 percent of their salaries to inflation.

4. Between 1991-92 and 1997-98, teachers lost 5.2 percent of their salaries to inflation.

5. Between 1989-90 and 1998-99, teachers lost 5.9 percent of their salaries to inflation.

6. Between 1989-90 and 1998-99, teachers lost 15 percent of their salaries to inflation.

Answer: All the statements could be true, depending on how the impact of inflation on teacher salaries is calculated. The only exception may be the first one, an assertion of the Washington Education Association. In a radio interview on KVI’s Weissbach show on February 9th, WEA President LeAnn Prelipp indicated that they used the Seattle Consumer Price Index (Seattle CPI) and salaries that have been extrapolated a couple of years into the future to achieve their number.

Statistics can be misleading. In this case, one can use statistics to maximize or minimize the loss in teachers’ salary. For example, the Seattle CPI used by the WEA to calculate losses in teacher salaries tends to exceed other commonly used measures of inflation, thus exaggerating the impact of inflation on teachers statewide.

Most teachers wages have lost some value to inflation—and the salaries of beginning teachers are noticeably low—but reaching the appropriate level of compensation for teachers requires consideration of more than just inflation.

When teachers’ pay is discussed, the total package must be considered as well. In the 1996-1997 school year, the average total compensation received by teachers in Washington state was $51,900 which included an average supplemental contract of just more than $2,000 for each teacher. Teachers also receive yearly step increases in salary irrespective of other increases passed (or not passed) by the legislature. Another attractive benefit to the teaching profession is the calendar: Most teachers are able to enjoy long stretches of non-classroom time during the summer months. A reasoned discussion about teacher compensation requires a straightforward understanding about teachers’ complete salary packages.

Other Issues to Consider Regarding Teacher Salary

Typically, discussions of teacher salary prompts some variation of the maxim, "If Washington’s teacher salaries are not improved, we will be unable to attract and retain the best and the brightest." Attracting the "best and the brightest," though, will require more than simple across-the-board salary increases.

The current system rewards the best and worst teachers equally. This type of system is inherently more attractive to the slothful and mediocre than the "best and the brightest." If ambition and talent are not rewarded, what incentive do teachers have to maximize their talents? On the other hand, less talented teachers have a powerful incentive to resist efforts to link job performance and salary. We should not only attract and retain the best teachers, but also repel and dismiss the worst teachers.

Market scarcity should also play a role in determining teacher salaries. For example, if there is a shortage of math teachers and an overabundance of P.E. teachers, districts should be able to use higher salaries to attract the needed teacher. Teachers’ expertise could then result in a higher or lower salary depending on the relative scarcity of their chosen field.

We all want excellent teachers. But money is limited. We also want the "best and the brightest" building bridges, designing cars, performing medical surgery, administering our government, etc. In short, most professions need "the best and the brightest" and all of these needs compete for our limited dollars. The key is designing a system of rewards and consequences that attracts and retains those who excel at their chosen profession. Obviously, salary is not the only consideration, but it is clearly a major factor in employee decisions.

Talk of retaining the "best and the brightest" doesn’t help increase student achievement in our state if it remains mere rhetoric designed to continue the status quo. An across-the-board raise in teacher salary is, at best, only a temporary fix. It does not address some of the more fundamental flaws in our current system, namely, that excellence and mediocrity are equally valued.

1 WEA Calculation

2 Result achieved by calculating the effect of inflation on average teacher salaries using the U.S. CPI.

3 Result achieved by calculating the effect of inflation on average teacher salaries using the Seattle CPI.

4 Result achieved by calculating the effect of inflation on average teacher salaries using the U.S. CPI.

5 Result achieved by calculating the effect of inflation on legislated increases in teacher salaries using the U.S. CPI.

6 Result achieved by calculating the effect of inflation on legislated increases in teacher salaries using the Seattle CPI.

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org