Nashville Mayor John Cooper announces teacher pay study to understand how to attract, retain educators

Jason Gonzales | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption Education Teacher Pay Third grade teacher Nikki Deese feels the financial burden of not earning enough working in Metro Nashville Public Schools.

Nashville will undergo a comprehensive teacher pay study to understand how to attract and retain teachers.

The study, announced Tuesday, is part of a three-way partnership between Mayor John Cooper, Metro Nashville Public Schools and the Nashville Public Education Foundation to better understand the issue. The public education foundation is paying for the study.

The national ERS Group, with offices in Florida and California, will undertake the review, according to an announcement from Cooper's office. The mayor's office announcement said the economic research and statistical analysis firm is one of a handful with the expertise to conduct this type of study.

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The study will be concluded in early 2020 and before the district's annual budget request process, according to the announcement.

"Ensuring that our children have excellent teachers is the single most important thing we can do to improve education,” Cooper said in a news release. “This study will help us understand how we can better attract and retain teachers through the creation and implementation of a strategic long-term compensation strategy. It will also develop concrete options for the school board and (interim Director of Schools) Dr. (Adrienne) Battle to consider as we work together to improve teacher pay and address the problems of the current teacher pay schedule.”

The announcement of the study follows along with the Metro school board's efforts to focus on boosting employee wages, especially after teacher protests in the last year.

Last month, the board heard from its human resources staff about a plan that would cost millions but bring midcareer teacher pay to about $64,000 a year — comparable to Nashville's median income.

"Our pay scale has not kept pace with the rising cost of living in Nashville, making it more difficult to recruit or retain great teachers and staff,” Batttle said. “I'm grateful for Mayor Cooper's attention to this issue and look forward to reviewing the results of this study.”

The mayor's office said the goal of the study is to present an analysis to develop an effective approach to compensation. This year, teachers received an overall 4.5% cost of living pay raise, although many said the effects of the raise aren't felt.

Board Chair Anna Shepherd said she is happy the mayor wants to take on the study and that he wants to work collaboratively with the school board.

"I look forward to working with the mayor's office on that initiative," she said.

The top complaint from educators about the city's pay scale is it doesn't properly reward the experience of midcareer teachers. And the district has already published a study on what increased wages for teachers could look like on behalf of the school board.

Shepherd said the study will not delay the school board's process to increase wages for district employees.

The evaluation of teacher pay in the Middle Tennessee area by Nashville public schools shows the district has the lowest wages for midcareer teachers with a bachelor's degree.

The district is also behind other large urban districts, according to the district study.

The announcement from Cooper's office said the current pay schedule doesn't reward teachers with regular pay increases.

"Providing our educators with the pay structure they deserve is a key element to giving our students an outstanding education,” Cooper said. “We all agree that our teachers deserve a pay raise. The common goal of my administration and MNPS in initiating this study is to look beyond a quick fix and create a lasting solution that will outlast even today’s generation of young minds.”

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Reach Jason Gonzales at jagonzales@tennessean.com and on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.