PUB TYPE Speeches/Conference Papers (150)

According to an initial study of finance equity in Georgia, the dominant cause of differences in resource indlces among school districts was differences in teacher salaries. Building on two other studies in Milwaukee County:Wisconsin) and Florida that explored factors determining teacher salaries, the Georgia study was replicated, using complete 1988-89 data. In addition, the measure of revenue generating potential was simplified to include only the local property wealth per full-time pupil. The null hypothesis, that there was no statistically significant difference in the proIerty wealth per FTE (full-time equivalent) pupil between districts paying teacher salaries higher than predicted (from the mean salaries of teachers in neighboring districts) and those paying teacher salaries lower than predicted, was tested at eight points correlating various combinations of educational attainment and experience levels. Based on regression equations for predicting local teacher salaries and on property wealth comparisons, the null hypothesis was rejected for each of the eight salary points. Results show that if salaries in contiguous districts are raised, the salaries::11 adjoining districts will also be raised. Also, the degree and experience level that superintendents considered most important when setting salaries is not always the beginning bachelor degree level. (32 references) (MLH) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document