A Report on the Current State of Compensation for La Canada Teachers
 February 23rd, 2005

The negotiations update posted on the LCUSD web site as of 1/12/2005 posts some suggested comparisons of of La Canada teachers' salaries to salaries of 47 other Los Angeles County School Districts.  (A local link to this posting is available if this link is not available.) 

However, the nature of these comparisons are unclear, as are their sources of information.

We have taken pains to extract information from the Ed-Data web site, which collects its data from the California Department of Education (CDE).  The CDE in turn gets its data directly from the districts themselves.  A description of Ed-Data's data collection and sources is available online.
Compensation Summary: LCUSD compared to the other LA County Districts
Item
 LCUSD Rank
Lowest-Offered Salary
 14th out of 43
Highest-Offered Salary
 26th out of 43
Mid-Range Salary: BA+60, Step 10
 17th out of 43
Average Salary
 5th out of 44
Average Salary per Year of Experience
 34th out of 44
Benefits: Single Plan
 6th out of 21
Benefits: Family Plan
 7th out of 21

The districts considered for this report were the same as presented on the LCUSD web site: ABC, Acton-Agua Dulce, Alhambra Elem, Arcadia, Azusa, Baldwin Park, Bassett, Bellflower, Beverly Hills, Bonita, Burbank, Charter Oak, Claremont, Compton, Covina-Valley, Culver Cty, Downey, Duarte, El Rancho, El Segundo, Glendale, Glendora, Hacienda LP, Inglewood, La Canada, Las Virgenes, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Lynwood, Manhattan Beach, Monrovia, Montebello, Norwalk La Mirada, Palos Verdes, Paramount, Pasadena, Pomona, Redondo Beach, Rowland, San Gabriel, San Marino, South Pasadena, St. Monica-Malibu, Temple City, Torrance, Walnut Valley, West Covina

These data are for the 2003-4 fiscal year; this is a year out of date, but since no raise was given last year within LCUSD, the rankings for 2004-5 have remained either constant or slipped due to other districts receiving raises.  (Nine districts out of 43 reported raises in the 2003-4 fiscal year, ranging from 1% to 5%, with an average of 2.2%.)

For some of the comparisons below, information was not available on all 47 districts listed above, and rankings were done based solely upon the districts for which the information was available.

Lowest-Offered Salary
LCUSD offers $38,520 for teachers with a bachelor's degree and no continuing education credits.  LCUSD ranks 14th out of 43 in this category.  The maximum lowest-offered salary is $41,716 (Arcadia), with a minimum of $32,575 (South Pasadena).

Highest-Offered Salary
LCUSD offers $73,680 for teachers with a master's degree, 15 continuing education credits, and 25 years of experience.  LCUSD ranks 26th out of 43.  The maximum highest-offered salary is $81,967 (Long Beach), with a minimum of $67,268 (South Pasadena).

Mid-Range Salary: BA+60, Step 10
The LCUSD web site discussing teachers' compensation puts forth a "BA+60, Step 1" salary (at $44,100) as one worth considering in relation to other districts.  This level is a teacher with a bachelor's degree plus 60 continuing education credits, or a master's degree with no continuing education, both with no experience.  Most first year teachers in our district have 45 or fewer education credits beyond their BA.

For a more realistic comparison, we will cite the level that is used at the Ed-Data web site: "BA+60, Step 10", which is a teacher with a bachelor's degree plus 60 continuing education credits, or master's degree with 0 continuing education credits, and 10 years experience.  For this level, LCUSD offers $60,450; LCUSD ranks 17th out of 43.  The maximum BA+60, Step 10 salary is $65,709 (Baldwin Park), with a minimum of $52,260 (Pasadena).

Average Salary
The average salary within LCUSD is $60,862; LCUSD ranks 5th out of 44 in this category.  The maximum average salary is $62,342 (Beverly Hills), with a minimum of $50,255 (Acton-Agua Dulce).  We note that this figure - as reported by the district to the CDE - does not agree with the $63,585 number cited on the district web site as of 2/23/2005.  Additionally, this figure has actually dropped by over $1,000 over the previous two years.

At first glance, LCUSD appears to be quite well off in this category.  However, this statistic appears to penalize teachers for being experienced.  The District recruits teachers by offering a higher beginning salary than other districts (8 out of 41), but by the time they have been teaching in LCUSD for five years they are among the lowest paid in the County (27th out 41) (Reference: 2003-04 District Survey of Salaries and Fringe Benefits in Los Angeles County).  We suggest the next category as a more reasonable figure of merit for our teachers' salaries:

Average Salary per Year of Experience
Teachers in LCUSD have an average salary that is slightly higher than many other districts because they are highly experienced: the average years of experience of a LCUSD teacher is 15.5, which ranks 8th out of the 47 school districts, and is 2.5 years more experience on average than the other districts. 

The expectation is that highly experienced teachers translates to a better quality of education for the students of LCUSD, and LCUSD's API scores reflect that presupposition.

For teachers in LCUSD, they currently receive on average $3,927 of annual salary for every year of experience they have, which ranks LCUSD at 34th out of 44.  The maximum annual salary for every year of experience is $5,737 (Norwalk La Mirada), with a minimum of $3,135 (San Marino).

Benefits - Single Plan
LCUSD has an employer contribution of $6,627 for individual plans; LCUSD ranks 6th out of 21.  The maximum single plan employer contribution is $9,595 (San Gabriel), followed by South Pasadena at $8,417, with a minimum of $2,889 (Compton).

Benefits - Family Plan
 LCUSD has an employer contribution of $9,288 for family plans; LCUSD ranks 7th out of 21.  The maximum family plan employer contribution is $13,310 (Walnut Valley), followed by Glendale with $12,115, with a minimum of $4,248 (Beverly Hills).

Our data are freely available; please click here for an Excel file of the actual numbers discussed herein.

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