SEATTLE — Every year, American schools pay more than $8.6 billion in bonuses to teachers with master’s degrees, even though the idea that a higher degree makes a teacher more effective has been mostly debunked.
Despite more than a decade of research showing the money has little impact on student achievement, state officials have been reluctant to tackle this popular way for teachers to earn more money.
That could soon change, as school districts grapple with shrinking budgets.
Last week, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the economy has given the nation an opportunity to make dramatic improvements in the productivity of its education system and to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
Duncan told the American Enterprise Institute on Wednesday that master’s-degree bonuses are an example of spending money on something that doesn’t work.
Billionaire Bill Gates took aim Friday at school budgets and the master’s degree bonus.
“My own state of Washington has an average salary bump of nearly $11,000 for a master’s degree, and more than half of our teachers get it,” he said. “That’s more than $300 million every year that doesn’t help kids.”
As of 2008, 48 percent of public school teachers had a master’s degree or above, and nearly every one got a bonus of $1,423 to $10,777 each year, according to research from the University of Washington.
Most school budgets have been tight for years, with districts trimming everything from printing to teachers.
Michael Podgursky, an economics professor at the University of Missouri, said the economic downturn might force payroll reform in some places where the political will has been lacking. And they don’t have to blow up the old system to do it, he said.
“We’re experimenting now,” he said, noting pay-for-performance experiments in New York City, Houston and Nashville.
Marguerite Roza and Raegen Miller, with the Center on Reinventing Education at the University of Washington, found more than 2 percent of total education spending in 13 states — Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Ohio and South Carolina, plus Washington and Nebraska, where the dollars topped 3 percent — went to master’s-degree bonuses.
The American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second- largest teachers union, doesn’t oppose changes in the way teachers are paid and is willing to talk about just about any reform idea, said Rob Weil, deputy director of educational issues.
Numbers
48 percent The amount of public- school teachers in the U.S. who have master’s degrees
$8.6 billion Amount paid in bonuses to teachers with master’s degrees each year
90 percent The amount of teachers’ master’s degrees earned in education, not subjects such as English or math
