Comparing School Financial and Academic Performance Part 2

Part 2 focuses on "Teacher Pay" and how Fayette County Public Schools (FCPS) compares to other counties of similar enrollment and funding.

The first chart is "AVERAGE SALARY COMPARISON". In every category, teacher pay was significantly less for Fayette County with the largest gap between Hardeman and Fayette for "Classroom Teachers" of $5,607, and Henry County and Fayette County for "Instructional Personnel" of $6,103 and "Licensed Teachers" of $5,361. However, note that the FCPS superintendent salary is the second highest in the study. Henry County has much higher teacher pay, and, in Part 4 of this series, it will be shown that Henry County has the best 3rd Grade ELA results in the study.

According to current state published data, Henry County has a lower economic rating than Fayette County. Even so, it is ranked #8 in education, while Fayette County is ranked #90. With roughly the same number of schools and enrollment, and $1,100 less in Per Pupil Expenditures (PPE), Henry County achieved a ranking of #8 of 95 counties.

In the second chart "Classroom Teacher Pay as an Average % PPE/Class", a comparison of PPE to Pay for "Classroom Teachers" shows that FCPS commits a much smaller percentage of funding for teachers. "Total PPE per Class" was calculated using average students per class multiplied by the PPE. "Teacher Pay % PPE/Class" was calculated by dividing "Classroom Teacher Pay" by "Total Class PPE."  On average, the other counties in the analysis contribute ~35% of the class PPE to teacher salary while FCPS, though having the highest total PPE/Class, contributes only 27%.

If FCPS contributed 35% of the PPE/Class to teacher pay, a clastsroom teacher would receive nearly $62,000 per year which would be competitive with nearby school districts. But, as long as FCPS funds classroom teachers at $48,670, it will be virtually impossible to hire and retain good teachers.