Teacher shortages in certain subject fields and in so-called hard-to-staff schools plague efforts to improve public education. Yet, the inability of educators and policymakers to think outside of the box of uniform wage rates for all teachers, regardless of supply and demand in various teaching fields, hampers any effective effort to address the shortage. Currently, any differentiation in teacher pay is based on years on the job and additional schooling, such as a master’s degree. Yet, as one education expert noted recently, “It’s crazy to pay the same salaries to people in high-demand subjects (e.g., high school science and math) as to those in high-supply fields (e.g., middle school social studies).” Staffing problems are also exacerbated by teacher placement based on seniority as opposed to the needs of schools and children.

In view of these ingrained problems, as part of my involvement as a member of the Professional Personnel Development Work Group of the California State Legislature’s Joint Committee to Develop a Master Plan for Education, I submitted to the working group the following recommendations on the issue of differentiated salary rates for teachers based on market demand.

Issue: There is a shortage of teachers in key fields such as math and sciences and a lack of adequate numbers of teachers in those fields from underrepresented groups.

The shortage of teachers is not uniform across fields. One does not hear of general teacher shortages in fields such as English/language arts or physical education. Rather, it is fields such as math and the sciences, where school districts are in vigorous head-to-head competition with private-sector businesses for a relatively small labor pool, that the teaching shortage really occurs. Because private companies, especially high-tech companies in the Silicon Valley and elsewhere, can offer math and science graduates higher salaries for entry-level positions, many graduates naturally decide to forsake lower-paid teaching positions for higher-paid positions in the private sector. For a variety of reasons, teachers from underrepresented groups are concentrated more in non-math and science fields.

Background: Where are teacher shortages felt most?

In addition to general teacher shortages in fields such as math and sciences, shortages are especially acute in rural and inner-city areas. In large urban districts, because collective bargaining contracts allow teachers with seniority to transfer to easier-to-staff suburban schools, many inner-city schools are staffed with more inexperienced teachers. The state’s class-size-reduction program has exacerbated this situation. There is, therefore, an equity issue in terms of where experienced teachers are placed.

Recommended Goals: The teacher shortages must be addressed vis-a-vis subject areas, geography, and minority representation.

The recommendations suggested here use differentiated compensation as a tool to attract individuals from shortage fields and underrepresented groups. In the case of the latter, there are relatively few math and science teachers from these groups. Differentiated compensation could be an incentive for college students who are members of these underrepresented groups to re-evaluate their majors, potentially shifting from liberal arts majors to math and science. This tool can also be used to address the geographic problems of teacher placement.

Necessary changes to the system: State versus local action must be examined.

Salary schedules are set in collective bargaining between local unions and local school districts. Also, issues such as teacher placement based on seniority rights are part of collective bargaining contracts. The state is not involved in setting the basic salary schedules or teacher placement. The state does, however, inject state dollars into teacher compensation through programs such as the Governor’s Performance Awards, the Certificated Staff Performance Incentive Awards, and other programs aimed at entry-level teachers. Local collective bargaining would have to change to accommodate differentiated compensation. Also, state funding programs would have to change to a more market-oriented approach.

1. It was state law (the Rodda Act) that established collective bargaining for teachers in California. The state could change the law to require that local collective bargaining contracts establish differentiated salary schedules, using market-based indicators, for different teaching/subject areas and hard-to-staff geographic areas. Such differentiated salary schedules could provide incentives for more individuals from underrepresented groups to concentrate on fields where there is a shortage.
2. Similarly, the state could require that local collective bargaining contracts re-evaluate the use of seniority in teacher placement. Other criteria, such as placing experienced teachers in schools that most need their experience, should be considered.
3. State add-on funding programs should target uniform salary schedules with the goal of making them differentiated. The state could increase funding for salaries for subject areas which are experiencing shortages and for geographic areas that are experiencing difficulty in hiring teachers.

Lance Izumi is a Senior Fellow in California Studies at the California-based Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. He can be reached via email at lizumi@pacificresearch.org.