How Do New Orleans Educators’ Salaries Differ by Role and Across Racial Groups?

This study from Tulane Uni­ver­si­ty’s Olivia Carr exam­ines how New Orleans’ edu­ca­tors’ aver­age salaries dif­fer by race and role based on data from the the 2018 – 19 and 2019 – 20 school years. The tran­si­tion from a tra­di­tion­al dis­trict to New Orleans’ cur­rent char­ter mod­el has received both praise and cri­tique. Com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers have voiced con­cerns about racial pay equi­ty and the bal­ance between salaries for admin­is­tra­tors, teach­ers, aides, and coun­selors. This study com­pares the salary ranges of var­i­ous job roles and exam­ines dis­par­i­ties in aver­age salaries between racial groups (all salary dol­lars are adjust­ed for infla­tion). Focus­ing on 2018 – 19 and 2019 – 20 and account­ing for fac­tors such as years of expe­ri­ence and edu­ca­tion lev­el, the study finds: 1. Admin­is­tra­tors have the largest salary ranges of all job roles exam­ined. 2. Black school admin­is­tra­tors’ salaries are low­er than those of their white coun­ter­parts, on aver­age. How­ev­er, there are no sig­nif­i­cant dis­par­i­ties in salaries between Black and white admin­is­tra­tors who pro­vide instruc­tion­al sup­port or char­ter man­age­ment orga­ni­za­tion admin­is­tra­tors. 3. Black teach­ers’ and Black coun­selors’ salaries are low­er than those of their white coun­ter­parts, on aver­age. How­ev­er, Black aides have high­er aver­age salaries than their white coun­ter­parts. These find­ings build on pri­or ERA-New Orleans research on salary spend­ing for edu­ca­tion­al staff and pro­vide new insights into racial wage gaps at local pub­lic schools.

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