Empirical evidence on the effects of compensation reform is somewhat scarce. Most U.S. public school teachers are paid according to rigid schedules that determine pay based solely on seniority and academic credentials. In unionized school districts, these schedules are set by collective bargaining agreements. In 2011 when the Wisconsin state…

The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) is affiliated with over 400 schools across the globe. WELS schools are experiencing a teacher shortage and concerning teacher attrition levels like other school systems. Research indicates that job satisfaction is a predictor for organizational commitment, and principals' leadership style has a…

We study the equity-efficiency implication of giving school districts control over teacher pay using an equilibrium model of the market for public-school teachers. Teachers differ in their comparative advantages in teaching low- or high-achieving students. School districts, which serve different student bodies, use both wage and hiring strategies…

The academic and economic benefits of school spending are well-established, but focusing on these outcomes may underestimate the full social benefits of school spending. Recent increases in U.S. child mortality are driven by injuries and raise questions about what types of social investments could reduce child deaths. We use close school district…

Considering the enrollment decline in university teacher preparation programs, this phenomenological study explored the experiences of seven southeastern Wisconsin public high school juniors and seniors, who were interested in a pursuing a teaching degree, but have changed their minds and dismissed their original career path. The purpose of the…

The U.S. Supreme Court's 2018 decision in "Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees" (AFSCME) (referred to as "Janus" hereafter) prohibited state and local government worker unions from negotiating collective bargaining agreements with fair share fee arrangements. In this report, the authors…

Twenty-five Wisconsin school districts were located that had undertaken compensation reforms after state law drastically curtailed collective bargaining for teachers. Document reviews and interviews determined (a) the impetuses for pursuing compensation reform, (b) change process characteristics, and (c) the specific compensation reforms.…

Compensation of most US public school teachers is rigid and solely based on seniority. This paper studies the labor market effects of a reform that gave school districts in Wisconsin full autonomy to redesign teacher pay schemes. Following the reform, some districts switched to flexible compensation and started paying high-quality teachers more.…

This study created a typology of alternative teacher-compensation plans in use in Wisconsin as of the fall of 2015. Eight plan types were identified with defining, common, and unique components. Of 125 districts that reported alternative plans, the most prevalent reported type was a hybrid type that combined components. Hybrid plans were found to…

Teachers are one of the most important inputs in the production of student achievement, and their impact persists throughout adulthood. Attracting and retaining high-quality teachers to the profession is thus a policy issue of highest importance. More attractive compensation packages are often proposed as a possible tool to achieve this goal. In…

The Teacher Compensation Survey (TCS) was a research and development effort by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to explore the possibility of developing an administrative records survey that would compile compensation and demographic data on all public school teachers in the nation. A pilot survey in 2007 collected data from…

On February 24, 2017, all of the authors of the state-of-the-state manuscripts published in the "Journal of Education Finance" met in Cincinnati, Ohio, to participate in a roundtable discussion focused on recent legislative actions in 38 states. A majority of those papers were revised to reflect a final report on legislative actions…

Over many decades, teachers' compensation has been determined through standard practices, commonly represented by the single salary schedule. While these practices served districts well in a number of respects, many argue that new forms of teacher pay could provide powerful levers for changing teacher performance and improving student achievement…

This paper studies teacher attrition in Wisconsin following Act 10, a policy change which severely weakened teachers' unions and capped wage growth for teachers. I document a sharp increase in turnover after the Act was passed, driven almost entirely by the exit of older teachers, who faced strong incentives to retire before the end of…

We use data from 2015-2016 to document faculty representation and wage gaps by race-ethnicity and gender in six fields at selective public universities. Consistent with widely available information, Black, Hispanic, and female professors are underrepresented and White and Asian professors are overrepresented in our data. Disadvantaged minority and…