HD79 - 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, two 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; 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 1993 data show that the competitive position of Virginia public school teachers' salaries has remained relatively constant since the 1991 biennial report was published. In the 1992-93 school year, teachers' entry-level salaries are 1.8% below entry-level private salaries and exceed entry-level salaries of Virginia's state employees by 5.8%. The 1991 report revealed that, in the 1990-91 school year, teachers' entry-level salaries were below entry-level salaries in private industry by 0.5%, but above the entry-level salaries of Virginia state employees by 5.8%.

Localities reported that most teachers who left were leaving because of relocation or transfer to higher paying localities. The only significant turnover and recruitment problems noted by the localities were for special education teachers.