Teacher Compensation Policy
Shortage-Subject Areas: Nebraska offers a program entitled Attracting Excellence to Teaching, which provides high-achieving students who complete a teacher education program with loan repayments of up to $3,000 annually. Loan forgiveness is doubled if the teacher practices in shortage areas.
High-Need Schools: Nebraska's loan repayment program is doubled if the teacher practices in a high-poverty school.
Expand
differential pay initiatives for teachers in shortage-subject areas and
high-need schools.
Although the state's loan forgiveness program is a desirable
recruitment and retention tool for teachers early in their careers, Nebraska
should expand its program to include those who are already part of the teaching pool. A
salary differential is an attractive incentive for every teacher, not just
early career teachers with education debt.
Nebraska recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.
8B: High-Need Schools and Subjects
States should help address chronic shortages and needs. States should ensure that state-level policies (such as a uniform salary schedule) do not interfere with districts' flexibility in compensating teachers in ways that best meet their individual needs and resources. However, when it comes to addressing chronic shortages, states should do more than simply get out of the way. They should provide direct support for differential pay for effective teaching in shortage subject areas and high-need schools.[1] Attracting effective and qualified teachers to high-need schools or filling vacancies in hard-to-staff subjects are problems that are frequently beyond a district's ability to solve. States that provide direct support for differential pay in these areas are taking an important step in promoting the equitable distribution of quality teachers.[2] Short of providing direct support, states can also use policy levers to indicate to districts that differential pay is not only permissible but necessary.