Teacher Salary Information

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Teachers’ Salaries and the QEO

This report is a collection of analyses which examine the impact of the QEO on teacher earnings. The report is organized in the following order:

• A case study comparing new teachers to experienced teachers shows the inequities of the QEO on earnings for those at the maximum steps on a salary schedule.
• A 20-year analysis of teacher earnings under the QEO shows that, by 2016, teachers at the MA Maximum level will be earning less than starting teachers would have earned 20 years from now without QEO restricted salaries.
• A 10-year “what if” scenario depicts the loss in earnings that teachers would have experienced today if the QEO was in effect for 10 years. At the MA Maximum level, for instance, teachers would have lost more than $65,000 in income over the 10 year period. The ramifications of this for retirement are examined next showing that in 20 years of annuities, teachers would have lost $116,640 in income because of diminished salaries.
• A discussion of how teacher salaries are tracked and analyzed to show that rates of increase in teacher pay have declined since the imposition of the QEO.
• A response to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards claims about teacher earnings -- claims which are not substantiated by our data.
• A series of analyses which graph rates of growth in Wisconsin teacher salaries and show that compared to personal income, inflation, and median household income, teachers are losing money.
• A comparison of growth in Wisconsin teacher salaries since the QEO to growth nationally and in the Midwest shows that Wisconsin received smaller increases.
• Wisconsin Retirement System information shows that teachers received a 1.9% increase in average salary last year, and Occupational Outlook Quarterly data show teachers to have the lowest starting pay of any occupation for college graduates.
• A comparison of the number of hours worked by educators to private sector employees shows that teachers work as much as their private sector counterparts.
• An analysis of the relation of teacher pay to property taxes questions the claim that teacher pay is why property taxes are increasing.