HD7 - 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 the 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:

1. a comparison of Virginia teachers' entry-level salaries with salaries of jobs having similar qualification requirements in private industry and state government; and

2. turnover and recruitment of Virginia teachers.

In the 1996-97 school year, teachers' entry-level salaries are 2.24% below entry-level private salaries, but exceed entry-level salaries of Virginia state employees by 4.32%. The 1997 data show that the competitive position of Virginia public school teachers' salaries has not changed significantly since the 1995 biennial report was published. The 1995 report revealed that teachers' entry-level salaries were below those of private industry by 2.4%, and were above entry-level salaries of Virginia state employees by 3.0%.

Localities report that most teachers who leave do not leave for competitive reasons, but for reasons such as retirement, family responsibilities, medical, and relocation. However, a significant turnover and recruitment problem is noted by the localities for special education teachers; this has been a continuing problem since the original report in 1987.

For informational purposes, the average salary for Virginia teachers and a comparison with other states are provided in Appendix 3.