School Choice Would Increase Teacher Pay

December 04, 2012 JBudget & Spending

Today an expert witness for the school districts suing the State of Texas (wanting more money) Jacob Vigdor an economist from Duke University, said that; “School choice would increase teacher salaries.”

Dr. Vigdor told the judge that ISD’s have monopsony power which allows them to keep pay lower than it would otherwise be in a competitive setting.

This testimony is consistent with the testimony of the Efficiency Intervenor’s expert Joseph Bast and his recent study on competition and teacher pay published by the Heartland Institute.

Bast concluded that teacher pay in Texas could be significantly higher if the Taxpayer Savings Grant program (a school choice plan in which a percentage of the per-student funding is available to parents for tuition to the school the parents choose) were passed into law.

So while educators often oppose school choice, good teachers would actually benefit from such a plan. That is most significant in light of recent testimony which pointed out how fewer and fewer college students are deciding to get a teacher degree.

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