Frequently Asked Questions
What methodology did Education Trust-West use in gathering this data?
Because neither the state of California nor individual schools or districts publicly release data on their expenditures for teacher salaries between schools in the same district, Education Trust-West researchers estimated school-level salary expenditures based upon other publicly available data. Researchers estimated the salaries of individual teachers at each school, and then aggregated these estimates into a school-level estimate using information about teacher salaries from the annual California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS) and 2003-2004 California Department of Education data on district salary schedules and bonuses. Researchers then examined the salaries as they relate to the demographic make-up of schools and compared estimates to actual teacher salary expenditures in two of California’s urban districts for accuracy. Using our estimates, we then compared the teacher salary dollars spent by districts on their schools with the highest- and lowest-poverty rates and the highest- and lowest-minority rates (top and bottom 25 percent).
Why are teacher salaries a central issue in closing the achievement gap for California’s low-income and minority students?
Numerous research studies have shown that the quality of teachers is the single most important contributor to student achievement. Indeed, teacher effectiveness has been found to matter more than the students’ income level, their race, or their parents’ level of education. While teacher salaries are not an infallible proxy for teacher quality, they are one of the best indicators we have of teachers’ experience, skills and knowledge. With over 40 of the 50 largest school districts in California spending significantly less on teacher salaries in schools serving the highest percentage of poor and minority students, we are shortchanging the students who are most in need.
Why is it important to track funding gaps within districts?
The methodology used in California to determine the distribution of education funds is flawed, and it misses important differences among schools within the same district. While California provides data on funding gaps between school districts, the State has failed to provide the public with basic information on the distribution of funding and of quality teaching within districts. For example, in the School Accountability Report Cards (SARCs), the state and districts average teacher salaries for whole districts instead of reporting the actual salary budgets at any particular school, even though SARCs is considered a school based report card. This creates a dangerous accounting blind spot. It’s as if we had two pots of water, one ice cold and the other boiling hot, and concluded that the average water temperature is warm: true, but not very informative about the conditions in each pot. In order to spend our education dollars fairly, the State must lift the veil on education spending on a school-level to provide real accounting transparency on funding within districts.
What’s the impact of these gaps on individual students?
The spending gap has a dramatic impact on a student’s academic career. A student attending the highest-poverty schools from the time of kindergarten through high school will have an estimated total of $135,654 less spent on all of her teachers (K-12) than is spent on the K-12 teachers serving the most affluent students. A student attending the schools serving the highest numbers of Latino and African-American students from the time of kindergarten through high school will have an estimated total of $172,626 less spent on all of his teachers (K-12) than is spent on the K-12 teachers in schools with the fewest Latino and African-American students.
What’s the impact of these gaps on schools’ budgets?
The teacher salary gap has a devastating impact on the resources available to individual schools. For example, in an average high-poverty elementary school with 34 teachers, the gap translates into an estimated $81,464 less in teacher salary dollars every year. In an average high-minority elementary school with the same number of teachers, the gap translates into an estimated $102,476 less in teacher salary dollars every year.
How can California close these spending gaps?
The Education Trust-West report makes three commonsense recommendations that can help us close the teacher salary and quality gaps in our schools:
1. California should make school-level teacher salary data publicly available. While maintaining teacher privacy, districts should reveal expenditures for teacher salaries for each school so we have a fuller and richer picture of the playing field. This transparency is critical if we are to analyze and develop sound education policy that will help ensure all students have an equal shot at reaching their full potential.
2. California should analyze the factors that contribute to the teacher-spending gap. Once we have access to the actual teaching budgets at individual schools within districts, the next step is to adopt a data system that helps us understand what factors contribute to — and perpetuate — inequities between high- and low-poverty and minority schools and arrive at the right solutions. One such system, known as a “value-added” system, examines students’ growth over each year while adjusting for the student’s prior performance. This system could provide a more accurate measure of teacher impact on student achievement than the traditional proxies of certification status, years of experience or college major. Additionally, we must examine what personnel and budgeting practices contribute to the gaps that separate low-income students and students of color from their peers.
3. Close the gap in teacher spending and quality within districts. If we are to level the playing field for all California students and raise achievement levels statewide, we have to close the teacher salary spending gap. Among the strategies California should consider are basing teacher salary budgets on school size or allocating school budgets based on the needs of individual students. We should also reexamine the single salary schedule to see if paying teachers more for taking on more challenges or reducing student/teacher ratios in high-poverty schools would have statewide benefits.