Chicago public school teachers are overpaid

by Lawrence J. McQuillan, PhD  Chief Economist The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is on strike to get, among other things, more pay. They originally asked for a 30 percent pay raise. The current offer on the table is a 16 percent pay hike over four years. They don’t deserve a penny increase. In fact, they deserve a...

by Lawrence J. McQuillan, PhD 
Chief Economist

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is on strike to get, among other things, more pay. They originally asked for a 30 percent pay raise. The current offer on the table is a 16 percent pay hike over four years. They don’t deserve a penny increase. In fact, they deserve a 30 percent pay cut based on market comparisons.

One way to measure whether Chicago public school teachers are overpaid is to compare their pay to public school teachers in states where teacher salaries are determined more by individual merit and competition than forced collective bargaining.

Five states prohibit collective bargaining by public school teachers – Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly earnings for full-time Chicago primary, secondary and special education public school teachers is $49.13. This figure does not include benefits.

The table below shows that Chicago’s public school teachers are paid, on average, 52 percent more than public school teachers in large cities in non-collective-bargaining states.

Calculations by Dr. Lawrence J. McQuillan

But don’t Chicago teachers deserve the higher pay because the cost of living is more in Chicago? 

On average, the cost of living is 21 percent more in Chicago than the other cities, according toCNNMoney. After this cost of living adjustment (COLA), Chicago public school teachers are still overpaid by a whopping 31 percent! This is morally indefensible.

And for our overly generous teacher pay we get a tragic 40 percent dropout rate for children who enter a Chicago public high school.

Don’t be fooled by CTU President Karen Lewis or the angry protestors in the streets. CTU teachers don’t deserve a pay raise of even a penny. They deserve a cut of at least 30 percent.