In an attempt to make wages fair and transparent, are salary schedules creating other types of inequities? That’s the case made by a new report by the Brookings Institution.
Teachers’ salary schedules are so rigid in their reliance on education attainment and experience to determine pay increases that they inadvertently end up creating pay gaps between teachers in wealthy areas and those who teach in poor areas, the analysis argues. For example, suburban and wealthy districts tend to employ more experienced teachers, and those teachers are being compensated for that experience. Potentially, that means that schools with higher needs, where turnover is higher, are getting inexperienced—and less highly paid teachers.
