In September 2005, the Governor’s Commission on Quality Education in Maryland released its 30 recommendations for revamping PK-12 education in the state. Topping the list is a call to “Develop a new compensation system for teachers and principals.” This recommendation has substantial promise to improve the way the state’s faculty and administrators are paid. Specifically, this proposal has a variety of advantages over the current “single salary schedule” often used:

• School employee compensation would be more in line with market compensation forces found in the private sector;
• Flexible pay arrangements would help staff hard-to-fill schools (especially in rural or inner-city locations) and hard-to-fill positions (such as those in math, science, and special education); and
• The best teachers would have the opportunity to earn substantially more than the current rigid schedules allow them to earn.

To read the entire Maryland Policy Report, please download the PDF version.