Teacher quality vs teachers’ unions

32 states, they say, don't offer higher pay rates for hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-staff subjects.

What might be those hard-to-staff subjects, you ask? Excellent question.

Three, three come to mind.

Special education, very difficult to staff.

Math, very difficult to staff.

And science, three very difficult, hard-to-staff subjects.

32 states don't offer a higher pay rate for these subjects, according to this report.

10 states, according to the report, require a performance measure, which essentially is merit-based pay.

Only 10.

This type of pay structure, by the way, is truly what rewards effective teachers.

It's what gives teachers an incentive to better themselves.

If there's going to be a pay for performance category or section in their contract, I would think this is what we want.

Only 10 states currently are doing this.

In 41 states, automatic teacher salary increases are based on seniority and credentials that research shows do very little to improve student outcomes.

One of those credentials are master's degrees.

Many states will offer a higher pay for teachers if they go back and get a master's degree.

And according to the council here, the data and the research on this doesn't improve student outcome at all whatsoever.

You've got a teacher with a master's degree versus teachers with bachelor degrees.

There isn't any number, there isn't any statistic that shows the mastered degreed teachers have students that are outperforming other teachers.

Salary and benefits make up about 80% of a school district spending.

Get this, California spent over $27.5 billion, billion with a B, on teacher salaries in the 2024-2025 academic school year, according to the report.

That's a lot of money.

And how many of those teachers I don't want to say are worth it.

I mean, that sounds very callous.

How many of those teachers are doing a good job? Let's put it that way.

32 states, they say, don't offer higher pay rates for hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-staff subjects.

What might be those hard-to-staff subjects, you ask? Excellent question.

Three, three come to mind.

Special education, very difficult to staff.

Math, very difficult to staff.

And science, three very difficult, hard-to-staff subjects.

32 states don't offer a higher pay rate for these subjects, according to this report.

10 states, according to the report, require a performance measure, which essentially is merit-based pay.

Only 10.

This type of pay structure, by the way, is truly what rewards effective teachers.

It's what gives teachers an incentive to better themselves.

If there's going to be a pay for performance category or section in their contract, I would think this is what we want.

Only 10 states currently are doing this.

In 41 states, automatic teacher salary increases are based on seniority and credentials that research shows do very little to improve student outcomes.

One of those credentials are master's degrees.

Many states will offer a higher pay for teachers if they go back and get a master's degree.

And according to the council here, the data and the research on this doesn't improve student outcome at all whatsoever.

You've got a teacher with a master's degree versus teachers with bachelor degrees.

There isn't any number, there isn't any statistic that shows the mastered degreed teachers have students that are outperforming other teachers.

Salary and benefits make up about 80% of a school district spending.

Get this, California spent over $27.5 billion, billion with a B, on teacher salaries in the 2024-2025 academic school year, according to the report.

That's a lot of money.

And how many of those teachers I don't want to say are worth it.

I mean, that sounds very callous.

How many of those teachers are doing a good job? Let's put it that way.