Large Supply of Elementary Teachers Waiting to Be “Underpaid”

Jason Richwine January 25, 2013 at 10:30 am

The supply of elementary school teachers greatly exceeds the demand for them among public-school districts, according to data collected by Education Week.

This fact has a number of implications for education policy, but one of them—not directly mentioned in the article—stands out: If elementary-school teachers are truly “underpaid,” as teacher unions and left-leaning scholars frequently assert, it’s curious that so many people are eager to sign up for such unfair compensation!

The Heritage Foundation published a long technical report in 2011 that compared the salaries and fringe benefits for public-school teachers with the compensation received by comparable private-sector workers. We found that teacher salaries are at roughly market levels, but fringe benefits—especially generous retirement and health care plans—far outstrip what is offered in the private sector……. The answer, of course, is that teachers are not underpaid in the first place. There is a better way to pay public-school teachers, and it doesn’t involve blanket raises....To Read More....