HD60 - Public School Teacher Compensation


Executive Summary:
The 1987 Session of the General Assembly amended Section 22.1-289.1 of the Code of Virginia to require a biennial review of the salaries paid to public school teachers in the Commonwealth. A preliminary report was prepared in December, 1987 and the first biennial report was published as House Document Number 4 in June, 1989.

The legislation states that the review of teachers' salaries shall be reported to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the Board of Education by June 1 of each odd-numbered year. The legislation specifies that: "It is a goal of the Commonwealth that its public school teachers be compensated at a rate that is competitive in order to attract and keep competent teachers."

In order to comply with the legislative requirement, three indicators of competitiveness were reviewed:

• comparison of Virginia teachers' entry-level salaries with those of jobs in private industry and state government that have similar qualification requirements;

• comparison of the average Virginia teachers' salaries with the average teachers' salaries nationally; and

• turnover and recruitment of Virginia teachers.

In comparing Virginia public school teachers' entry-level salaries with entry-level salaries for other jobs with similar qualification requirements in Virginia state government and private industry, the 1991 data show that the competitive position of Virginia public school teachers' salaries has improved since the 1989 biennial report was published. In the 1990-91 school year, teachers' entry-level salaries are 0.5% below entry-level private salaries and exceed entry-level salaries of Virginia's state employees by 5.8%. The 1989 report revealed that, in the 1988-89 school year, teachers' entry-level salaries were below entry-level salaries in private industry by 6.1%, but above the entry-level salaries of Virginia state employees by 2.8%.

Virginia teachers' average salaries have maintained the same competitive position in comparison to teachers in other states. In the 1990-91 school year, and in 1988-89, the national average salary for teachers exceeded the Virginia average by 2.0%. In comparison to other states, Virginia's average teacher salary ranked nineteenth nationally in the 1990-91 school year. Virginia's average salary ranked twenty-second in the nation in 1988-89.

Turnover among Virginia teachers increased, from 2.5% in the 1988-89 school year, to 6.1% in 1989-90. Localities reported that most teachers were leaving because of relocation or retirement. The only significant turnover and recruitment problems noted by the localities were for special education teachers.