Dive Brief:
- A 2023 Arkansas law improved teacher retention after boosting teachers’ minimum annual salaries from $36,000 to $50,000 and ensuring at least a $2,000 raise for teachers statewide, a University of Arkansas study found.
- The average raise spurred by the LEARNS Act was $4,246, while 1 in 4 teachers received over $5,940, the study said. And the larger the raise, the less likely teachers were to leave the Arkansas public education workforce.
- At the same time, the researchers warned that the law's impact “may fade over time” unless salaries are continually raised and keep pace with inflation.
Dive Insight:
The law's effects on retention were most significant in the first year of implementation, with retention gains slowing in the second and third years, according to the study released last month.
“One possible explanation is that districts have not provided additional meaningful raises beyond the initial increase,” the researchers wrote. “As inflation erodes the real value of those salary gains, their influence on teachers’ employment decisions may diminish.”
Even as teacher salaries have risen, inflation continues to erode those increases.
The nation’s largest teachers union, the National Education Association, reported that teachers nationwide actually made 5% less in 2025 than a decade earlier due to inflation. That’s despite average teacher salaries having jumped an average 26.9% in those 10 years, NEA said.
In Arkansas, the LEARNS Act — named for Literacy, Empowerment, Accountability, Readiness, Networking and School Safety — closed teacher pay disparities among certain types of districts, the University of Arkansas study found.
After the LEARNS Act was implemented in the 2023-24 school year the starting salary gap between rural and urban districts in Arkansas “nearly disappeared,” the research found. Before that, starting salaries were about $2,000 lower in rural districts than in urban districts. The starting pay gap was also largely eliminated for higher poverty districts.
Before the law, more than 90% of Arkansas districts paid starting teachers less than $50,000 a year.
Once the law took effect, 55% of districts with salary schedules below $50,000 moved to a flat $50,000 salary for teachers regardless of their experience. Another 36% of districts adjusted salary schedules to reflect the $50,000 minimum for some lower salary steps while also providing $2,000 raises to teachers already above the threshold. The remaining 9% with salary schedules above the new starting salary requirements added $2,000 raises across the board.
Meanwhile, a November Gallup survey found that 76% of Arkansas teachers are satisfied working at their schools — exceeding the national average satisfaction rate of 69%.
Together, the salary and satisfaction research “suggests that Arkansas is making meaningful progress in strengthening the teaching profession,” said Gema Zamarro, a co-author of the University of Arkansas study and a professor in the university's Department of Education Reform, in an April 16 statement.
“Improving compensation is an important part of that effort, but so are the day-to-day working conditions teachers experience in their schools. Continued investment across both areas will be key to sustaining this momentum,” Zamarro said.
At least 64 bills have been introduced this year across 22 states to increase teacher pay, according to FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy that tracks the issue. Although many of the bills propose raising salaries overall, FutureEd said some propose targeted incentives for teachers in high-need subjects or schools.
At the University of Arkansas, researchers said they plan to study other provisions of the LEARNS Act, including its Merit Teacher Incentive Fund program.
That program offers up to $10,000 annually in additional pay to teachers who have “demonstrated outstanding student growth” over three years, taught in a critical shortage area or mentored future teachers. Over 4,200 teachers participated during the 2024-25 school year, according to the Arkansas Department of Education.
Dive Awards
