Oregon may set state salaries for educators. The discussions are ongoing and well, tricky.

It’s almost certainly going to cost the state more, not less. The unions representing teachers and other school personnel are going to be involved. And listening to the latest meeting of the state task force on educator salaries on Wednesday, it doesn’t sound like anything is going to happen quickly.

Arkansas implemented a new, minimum teacher salary in 2023. There may be a thing or two Oregon could learn.

There are key differences between the states. Unions do not have a major role in Arkansas in negotiating salaries and benefits. School funding also doesn’t work like it does in Oregon.

But Arkansas has had some of the same problems Oregon does in education. There’s been concern educators are underpaid. And it can be difficult to recruit staff in the state’s more low-income areas.

Before March 2023, Arkansas had salaries that increased by about $500 per year of experience. It also had a base salary for having a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

That is how teacher salaries are often set across the country — by degree and level of experience. Arkansas school districts were free to go beyond the minimum.

The minimum for a new teacher in Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree was $27,500 in 2004-2005. In 2022-2023, it was $36,000. Inflation was rising faster than salary growth.

After the pandemic, there was an increase in the number of teachers exiting the profession or switching to non-instructional positions. The Arkansas Legislature took action. It dumped the minimum salary schedule. It no longer required increases for degrees or years of experience. It put into place an overall minimum salary of $50,000 and gave teachers making more than $48,000 a $2,000 a year raise.

The changes were only for teachers, not for other school staff. Some districts in Arkansas were able to increase other salaries, as well.

There were other parts of the Arkansas education reform, including merit pay for teachers and allowing parents to use vouchers to cover private school costs with public funds. We are not going to discuss those changes.

What did Arkansas districts do after the minimum salary change?

If a salary schedule was entirely below $50,000, districts moved to a flat $50,000 schedule. That was true for about 55% of the district’s salary schedules for bachelor’s degrees.

Not surprisingly, that was controversial. A teacher with decades of experience was making more but was making the same as a brand new teacher.

A second group of districts with salary steps below $48,000, raised the minimum steps to $50,000 and increased other steps by $2,000. And a third group with steps at or above $48,000, raised all steps by $2,000.

The most immediate overall change was the greater equalization of salaries across the state. There are some indications since the switch in Arkansas that fewer teachers are exiting the profession or switching to non-teaching roles. There is some evidence that new teachers may be more likely to move into areas where there have been teacher shortages in the past. But it has not been very long since the changes.

Arkansas is just one example of a state with a new, state-driven salary schedule. It’s not the model Oregon should or must follow. It’s just an example to learn from.

We should note that almost every byte of information we have shared is based on a presentation by representatives from Brown University and the University of Arkansas that you can find here: tinyurl.com/Arksalaries. A video of the presentation is here: tinyurl.com/Arkteachervideo. It starts at about the 55 minute mark.