Unworthy Wages: State-Funded Preschool Teacher Salaries and Benefits

For state-funded preschool programs the compensation of teachers is a critical issue for program quality and effectiveness. If preschool programs are to attract and retain teachers comparable to those in primary schools, preschool teachers must receive comparable pay and benefits. This brief assesses compensation parity between state-funded preschool lead teachers and public school K-12 teachers. As state-funded preschool programs typically use mixed public-private delivery systems we separately examine compensation for preschool teachers in the public schools and in other (nonpublic) organizations (including for-profits and non-profits, some of which also offer Head Start). Data for this report are from the 2020-21 school year survey for NIEER's State of Preschool Yearbook.