Note to those who are interested in the details of the data I used: The salary comparison is of all full-time classroom teachers in each district during the 2023-2024 school year. If there are significant and systematic differences in average years of experience or average education level between the teaching pools in different districts, this would impact how we should think about the salary averages. I checked for this and did not find differences big enough to change the overall conclusion I draw in the article. So, for example, the average number of years of experience of teachers in Parkland is 15.9, while in East Penn it is 16.7, and in Easton it is 17.0. Comparability of education level is a little trickier to measure because every district uses slightly different different categories in their pay scales. But based on the overall percentage of teachers with BAs, MAs, and Doctorates in each school district, it does not appear to me that there are systematic differences in the average education level of teachers in different districts that can account for the overall average salary differences.
Note to those who are interested in the details of the data I used: The salary comparison is of all full-time classroom teachers in each district during the 2023-2024 school year. If there are significant and systematic differences in average years of experience or average education level between the teaching pools in different districts, this would impact how we should think about the salary averages. I checked for this and did not find differences big enough to change the overall conclusion I draw in the article. So, for example, the average number of years of experience of teachers in Parkland is 15.9, while in East Penn it is 16.7, and in Easton it is 17.0. Comparability of education level is a little trickier to measure because every district uses slightly different different categories in their pay scales. But based on the overall percentage of teachers with BAs, MAs, and Doctorates in each school district, it does not appear to me that there are systematic differences in the average education level of teachers in different districts that can account for the overall average salary differences.
Well reasoned and well said.