Best Practices for Salary Schedules

Also see: Useful terms for understanding salary schedules.

1. Starting salaries should be increased by at least the same amount as maximums, and never decreased.

2. Increments should be paid without devaluing steps or adding steps.

3. Increments should be uniform throughout the salary schedule.

4. There should be as many columns as possible with appropriate differentials. 
The median hourly wages of all Pennsylvania workers with a Master’s degree is 23 percent higher than those with a Bachelor’s degree (Keystone Research Center analysis of Current Population Survey data). PSEA members believe that professional development should be one of the top two determinants of their salaries. The columns on a salary schedule represent the additional compensation that education professionals earn for obtaining additional professional development. Across the Commonwealth, the number of columns on a salary schedule varies from two (a bachelor’s degree column and a master’s degree column) to 18 (an additional column for every six credits from bachelor’s to doctorate).
 
5. Employees should reach maximum as quickly as possible. Salary schedule steps should be numbered to reflect actual steps to the maximum salary.