Most public school teachers in the United States are enrolled in defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Using administrative micro data from four states, combined with national pension funding data, we show these plans have accumulated substantial unfunded liabilities -- effectively debt -- owing to previous plan operations. On average across 49…

It is widely recognized that teacher quality is the central input in school performance. This insight has put human resource and compensation policies, including performance pay, tenure, alternative route recruitment, and mentoring, at center stage in school reform debates. Some school administrators have been innovators and reform leaders in…

This report presents data on the Missouri teacher labor market, using existing administrative records about the state's public schools, teachers staffing them, and students attending them from 1994-95. Data are presented on: enrollment growth (size and distribution of public school enrollment changes); Missouri's teaching workforce (size and…