Between 1991 and 2011, spending on compensation—including salaries and benefits—for public school instructional staff increased by more than 50 percent, with most of that increase going toward the cost of benefits, according to a new data point from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The new publication, Instructional Staff Salary and Benefits Spending: 1991–2011, describes expenditures on elementary and secondary education, expenditures on instructional staff salaries, and instructional staff benefits.
This Data Point uses expenditure data from the Common Core of Data (CCD) “National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS)” for fiscal years 1991 to 2011, and instructional staff data from the CCD “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education” for school years 1990–91 to 2010–11. Key findings include:
- Between 1991 and 2011, spending on instructional staff compensation increased nationally by $101 billion (54 percent);
- From 1991 to 2011, average total compensation for instructional staff increased from approximately $66,800 to approximately $75,200 (in constant 2011 dollars). About 77 percent of the $8,400 increase went to benefits while 23 percent went to salaries; and
- Spending on benefits per instructional staff member increased 49 percent, from $13,200 in 1991 to $19,600 in 2011. During the same period, spending on salaries per instructional staff member increased 4 percent, from $53,600 in 1991 to $55,600 in 2011.
To view the full report, please visit http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2016156
