Teachers' Pay: Top Salaries For Top Performers?

A recently released analysis of teacher’s salaries in New York State for 2010-2011 showed that Scarsdale teachers are the highest paid teachers in the state, earning an average of $126,261 per year. Edgemont was also in the top ten, with average teacher salaries reported at $107,652. Westchester County has the highest average salaries in the state, with County teachers earning an average annual salary of $96,088.45. For these calculations the salaries are for teachers only, not administrators.

We spoke to Scarsdale Schools Superintendent Michael McGill about the salary data, and here is what he told us:

Scarsdale has offered highly competitive teacher salaries for decades, a practice that's been discussed at Board meetings, in other public forums and in publications. The objective has been to attract, hold and reward excellent teachers.

The number one ranking also goes back many years. An investment in teachers has seemed sound, especially in view of the salaries paid in other fields, like professional athletics. Further, past boards, and by extension, the community, have historically taken the view that salaries, and thus the quality of teachers we are able to hire, are the most important factor leading to the success of the Scarsdale school system and its students. Additionally, somewhat higher salaries have bought the district unusual flexibility with regard to contractual work rules.

The salary levels reflect many factors. Among them:

• The district tries to hire seasoned, proven teachers with excellent track records; it rarely hires people with little or no experience.
• Many teachers have advanced education beyond the MA, and the district creates financial incentives to encourage and reward professional growth throughout teachers' careers.
• Salary incentives are also used to reward master teachers and teacher experts for providing their colleagues with extensive mentoring, peer coaching and other extended professional development.
• A number of positions that would be classified as administrative in many districts are held part-time by teachers in Scarsdale. This reduces administrative costs -- Scarsdale has one of the lowest, per pupil, in the region -- but it also has a material impact on the level of teachers' salaries.

In the last round of negotiations, both the Board and the faculty organization recognized that Scarsdale risked getting too far out in front of the rest of the market and made a specific goal of bringing salaries into closer alignment with the top of the market. In its first year, the new contract began to reduce the disparity. However, the recession intervened. Salary growth in other districts flattened in ways nobody could have predicted, so that even with the $2 million plus reduction teachers took voluntarily in 2009 and 2010, salary growth in Scarsdale has been larger than growth elsewhere, relatively speaking, since the start of the recession. The size of the gap will be a priority in the next negotiations, which occur next year.