But without a teaching credential, that engineer cannot teach in a traditional public school. The advantage of being able to hire professionals without teaching certificates is illustrated by a college preparatory charter school in Arizona that has teachers with graduate degrees in biology, literature and foreign languages from Johns Hopkins, St. John's College, Notre Dame and the University of Chicago. Higher Pay for Teachers. One reason charter schools can hire this caliber of teacher is that, in Arizona, beginning charter school teachers earn an average of 6 percent more than beginning teachers in traditional public schools. If the teacher is not performing at that salary level, the contract should not be renewed.
Contract terms differ drastically between charter and traditional schools.
An examination of charter school teacher contracts in Arizona failed to find any that is longer than one year. By contrast, in most states teachers in traditional schools receive tenure in three to five years and have a job as long as they want one regardless of their performance or that of their students. Performance incentives are built into many charter school teacher contracts. A survey of a majority of the Arizona schools found 16 percent with student performance incentives. This means a teacher gets a bonus only if students achieve at a certain level or gain a certain percent in test scores.