Loudoun is the Optimal Destination for US Teachers

Loudoun County is the most attractive destination for a public school teacher in the United States. We have beautiful landscapes, a well-educated populace, supportive parents and outstanding educational facilities. LCPS also has one of the most competitive compensation packages for its teachers in the region and indeed, the nation. However, we are competing with one arm tied behind our back.

When a company or organization recruits highly effective personnel, it must use all assets at its disposal. LCPS compensation is not only competitive to regional schools, it is competitive across all industries nationally. But teaching candidates have a difficult time quantifying the value of a "pension". Competing companies put the overwhelming majority of their compensation into their salary offers. Since much of a teacher's salary is provided in deferred compensation via a pension, it appears teachers earn less than they really do. But when you calculate the private sector equivalent pay for teachers by adding in the pension values, teaching becomes very competitive. Consider the following equivalent salaries in LCPS:

Step 1 Step 30

Bachelors $57K $115K

Masters $64K $123K

Doctoral $71K $131K

We all know Loudoun ranks near the top of the nation in household incomes. But incomes have been dropping as the federal government has trimmed costs. Census data from FY13 shows the median household income was $116.8K in 2013 and the median family income (2 adults in household) was $129.6K. You'll notice our teacher salaries are very competitive with the median incomes of our affluent county: -

Two Step 1 Masters teachers earn $128.5K in private sector equivalent pay (nearly equivalent with the family median in Loudoun)

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A single Step 30 Doctoral teacher earns $130.5K (above the equivalent household/family medians)

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Two Step 30 Doctoral teachers earn $261K per year or 2.2 times the median household income

Since our teachers' work year follows the school schedule, a 197-day year is also very enticing for candidates. If consultants worked the same schedule, he/she would need to charge $153K/yr to equate to a single Step 1 Masters teacher income or $311K/yr to equate to a two-earner Step 30 Doctoral income based on a standard 235-day work year.

LCPS should not recruit with one arm tied behind its back. Publishing private sector equivalent pay scales will provide Loudoun with a competitive advantage when we recruit highly effective teaching candidates, including STEM majors who may be considering other professions. We should be proud of the compensation we provide our teachers and leverage it to recruit all world-class teaching candidates. Brian Davison Lansdowne