Salary & Benefits Schedule and Teacher Tenure Study

Abstract

House Bill 278, passed by the legislature in spring 2014, instructed the Department of Administration to “present to the legislature a written proposal for a salary and benefits schedule for school districts, including an evaluation of, and recommendations for, teacher tenure” (Sec. 52). In order to meet this mandate, the Alaska Department of Administration contracted with the UAA Center for Alaska Education Policy Research (CAEPR) to produce the following deliverables: Develop geographic cost differentials for different school districts Develop base salary and benefit schedules for teachers and principals Describe superintendent duties, compensation, and responsibilities in Alaska districts Prepare a list of different benefit options school districts offer their employees and their associated costs Provide recommendations regarding teacher tenure policy Describe similarities and differences between the certified and classified labor markets in Alaska Each section of this report responds to a specific task or responsibility from this list.Alaska Department of Administration, State of AlaskaIntroduction / Report overview / Research activities / Context / The landscape of teachers in Alaska / Key findings / Recommendations / Methodology /Key informant interviews / Focus groups / Literature review / Teachers survey / District data compilation / Statistical analysis / Superintendent interviews / Base salary schedule and community salary differentials / Findings: Modeling salaries and differentials / Salary schedule development / Salary differentials estimation / Cost of living and the community salary differentials / Superintendent duties / Benefits / Tenure / Research tasks / Defining tenure / Tenure's historical origins / Current context for tenure / Empirical studies of tenure / Certified and classified labor markets / Summary and recommendations / teacher salary schedule / Teacher tenure / Final thought