Wages in the private sector are generally determined by labor supply and demand. In education, wages are frequently conditioned by political processes leading to severe irrationality in the salary policies of the institution. Hypotheses were tested that saw a school district's salary level as a function of the community's socioeconomic, cultural, and educational statuses; the levels of teacher experience; teacher training; and other teacher quality characteristics. Surveys showed that teacher salaries were unrelated to a community's cultural and educational levels and to the level of teacher training. Salaries varied directly with teacher experience and with community socioeconomic status except in very low status communities. Teaching quality was related to teacher salaries, but the direction of the relationship varied with the measure of quality. From an economic perspective, teacher salaries in New York State are determined irrationally and without information as to the influence of teacher quality on the learning process. (RA)