Teacher Retention and Teacher Pay
Communities across the country are struggling to fill teaching vacancies. Teacher retirements, growing enrollments, and class size reduction efforts are creating an urgent need for more teachers.
At the same time, NCLB requirements to place a "highly qualified" teacher in every classroom this year are further complicating the teacher recruitment challenge faced by many local school districts.
| Maryland schools struggle to find, keep and retain qualified educators Average teacher salaries* increased 23.6 percent from ‘94-’95 to ‘02-’03 compared to all Maryland workers whose salaries increased 36.6 percent for the same period. 
*Without benefit of compounding Source: MSTA Center for Affiliates & Advocacy |
One of the determining factors considered crucial to the recruitment and retention issue facing Maryland and the nation is undoubtedly teacher pay.
According to an NEA study, the failure of school districts to significantly raise employee salaries to compare favorably with other professions has serious consequences in efforts to place well-qualified teachers in classrooms.
Of course, many factors influence the choice of whether to become a teacher or to pursue another career. For many, teaching is a calling —"Those who can, teach"—yet for just as many, the compensation relative to education, stress, professional status and respect becomes difficult to reconcile.
There was a time when it—literally—paid to be a teacher. Unfortunately, that was 60 years ago. Take a look at these figures:
- In 1940 the average male employee with four or more years of college earned 3.6% less than the average K–12 male teacher.
- In 1940, the average female with four or more years of college earned 15.8% less than the average female teacher.
- In 2000 the average male with four years of college made a whopping 60.4% more than the average male teacher.
- In 2000, the average female with four years of college made 16.4% more than the average female teacher.
- In 2000, when the average earnings of male and female teachers are combined and compared with the average pay of all non-teachers with at least four years of college the difference is 53.5 percent*.
In 1959, NEA argued that teaching was "priced too low" and that "other employment for college-trained people offered greater financial rewards" resulting in "a substantial number of trained, qualified teachers drawn off yearly for other occupational pursuits. "
Since then, compensation has further declined. Teaching is now priced even lower. Unfortunately, the 1990s represented a decade with one of the steepest deteriorations in the comparative pay of teachers. The average teacher salary would have to be nearly 10 percent higher than it was in 2000 to equal the pay gap that existed 10 years earlier.
* This actually understates the pay gap because a large proportion of teachers have master’s degrees, making them more educated than their comparison group.
