While that approach is already at work in a number of school districts around the country, the NEA opponents said bonus systems could increase inequities by drawing teachers away from schools with disadvantaged children. The NEA was united, however, in its appeal for higher teacher salaries overall. For most of the past 10 years, teacher salaries have been rising faster than the rate of inflation, reports a survey by the American Federation of Teachers, the nation's second-largest teachers union. The average teacher salary grew 3.3 percent last year. Many education experts agree that teacher pay is inadequate to retain and attract top-flight college graduates who can make more by becoming an accountant or an engineer.
Many teachers leave the region, or the profession, within their first three years in the classroom.
Some school districts are offering housing subsidies, and others are working to build their own apartments to make the economics work better for new teachers. With the nation's record economic boom, many education experts bemoan the meager progress on teacher salaries. But Mr. Odden says such an approach won't fly with either the public or policymakers. What that does is just make the current system more expensive. You don't get any change.