Every few years, school districts and labor unions agree on a pay raise for teachers.

But most Franklin County teachers received raises this year that are more than double those negotiated raises, which are typically worth an extra 2 percent or 3 percent. The same is true every year.

Here's how: Most teachers get automatic salary bumps that are tied to their education levels and years of experience.

In Bexley, for example, the salary of a starting teacher with a bachelor's degree would climb an average of nearly 9 percent a year during the next 10 years if current conditions did not change, moving from $34,832 to $63,743 over the span.

Bexley offers the richest "step increases" among Franklin County districts, but all public school systems in Ohio give them.

"It's only fair that people be aware of this when they're voting for school levies, rather than being deceived and thinking that most of this money is going to go to curriculum and things that will touch the students," said Ron Soldwish, a Columbus resident who addressed the Columbus school board last week.

Next month, Columbus and eight other Franklin County districts will be on the ballot with operating levies. Most of that money will be spent on salaries and benefits, the largest chunk of school budgets.

Ohio law requires districts to use a salary schedule that spells out annual raises through at least the 11th year of employment and sets the minimum salary for a new teacher with a bachelor's degree at $20,000. Many districts offer more steps, including some that include a raise at year 30.

Based on current data, a starting teacher in Franklin County would receive average raises of at least 5.9 percent through his or her 11th year. (The exception is Canal Winchester. Base salaries did not increase this year, so teachers are receiving a raise only if they are eligible for a step.)

Nationally, the average raise this year in all industries is 3.8 percent, according to Mercer, a human-resources consulting company with offices worldwide.

Unions and districts often say that the salary formula offers a level playing field for teachers. But critics say that rewarding teachers for longevity is outdated; they say performance is more important.

"Why we continue (to use it) is comfort with the status quo," said Allan Odden, a teacher-pay expert at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. "It's not strategically probably good to do. These old factors -- years of (education), experience -- isn't aligned with where we need to go."

The salary schedule was born decades ago to create equal pay for women, minorities and elementary-level teachers, who typically were paid less than peers who were male or white or taught high school.

Now, every local district's schedule is different. Some offer larger raises to newer teachers so that their pay will escalate quickly. Others shift rewards to teachers who are deep into their careers.

"There's no magic or wisdom in having it one way or the other," said Greg Scott, a Columbus lawyer who negotiates teachers' contracts on behalf of school districts. "The 'why' in every district varies."

In Groveport Madison schools, the goal was to keep employees longer, said spokeswoman Chris Bowser. So the district added extended-service payments for those who have been there for 15, 19 and 23 years.

"There were a lot of young women teaching a couple of years and then dropping out to raise families," she said.

It takes longer for teachers to reach their earning potential when districts offer pay bumps well into their careers. For instance, Columbus offers an increase at year 30.

"School boards would be more than happy to delay those payments because it's much cheaper," said Andy Jewell, a researcher with the Ohio Education Association. The union prefers larger salaries earlier in teachers' careers.

Decisions about how many steps to have and how big they should be are made at the bargaining table, but schedules aren't rewritten in a typical negotiation year, Scott said.

"We don't go to the table and say, 'How do we invent a wheel?' We go to the table and say, 'What color should we paint it?'  " he said.

Starting salaries are another variable.

Columbus schools offer the highest starting salary for new teachers in the county while Bexley schools -- which paid the highest average salary last school year -- have the fourth-lowest starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor's degree. That's because Bexley typically doesn't hire first-year teachers, said Superintendent Michael Johnson.

"That's why we don't compare favorably to the lower steps," he said. "We accelerate later on. We're pretty competitive after five or six years."

Few other professions use such schedules, said Robert Heneman, a human-resources professor at Ohio State University.

"I think we're going to see it going by the wayside here in the not-too-distant future," he said, in favor of systems that pay teachers for their results.

Columbus and Reynoldsburg are experimenting with such plans.

Last year, 16 Reynoldsburg teachers earned $2,000 bonuses because their students performed "significantly higher than expectations," Superintendent Steve Dackin said.

Odden said, "Efforts to change teacher compensation are all over the country. And I don't think that ferment's going to die out."

jsmithrichards

@dispatch.com

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