by Jim Brown
A new study strikes at the heart of the widely-held belief that America's public school teachers are underpaid. In fact, the study reveals that on average, teachers receive better pay than some nurses, accountants, and engineers.
The report on teacher pay was conducted by Michael Podgursky, chairman of the University of Missouri's Economics Department. His research indicates that when salaries are calculated on an hourly basis, public school teachers typically earn more than other middle-class workers. The report also finds that teachers enjoy fringe benefits that are superior to those in the private sector.
Jay Greene, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and an education reform advocate, concurs with Podgursky.
“Overall, it's clear that teachers are being paid salaries that are comparable on an hourly basis to other public sector professionals like publicly employed engineers, accountants, auditors,” he says.
Greene says the most important change regarding teacher pay should be to attach teacher compensation to student performance.
“Right now, teachers are paid in ways that are completely independent of how their students perform and learn,” he states. “In most occupations, the pay that people receive is somehow related to how well served their customers are — and that simply is not the case in teaching.”
Greene says teacher pay-for-performance can be made possible through mechanism like school choice and providing bonuses to teachers whose students perform well or make exceptional progress on standardized tests.
Greene says teachers will remark that they often take extra work home, so the number of hours they work is greater than the number of hours they are required to be in school. But Greene points out that other professionals take work home too.
(This article courtesy of Agape Press.)
