Teacher Compensation Policy
Shortage-subject Areas: New Mexico supports differential pay by which a teacher can earn additional compensation by teaching certain hard-to-staff subjects in a high-need school. The state's STEM and Hard-to-Staff Teacher Initiative provides $5,000, $7,500, and $10,000 stipends per year to effective, highly effective, and exemplary STEM (grades 6-12), special education (K-12), bilingual (K-12), or other hard-to-staff teaching positions to serve in low-performing (D/F) schools.
High-need Schools: New Mexico's STEM and Hard-to-Staff Teacher Initiative requires teachers to teach at high-needs schools.
As a result of New Mexico's strong high-need schools and subjects policies, no recommendations are provided.
New Mexico recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state added that it requires districts to use equity data to determine serving underserved populations with effective or better teachers. Districts may use Title II funding to establish other differentiated compensation systems to enhance equity for students.
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.