Gwinnett Schools Studying New Teacher Pay Plan

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — Gwinnett County's school system is studying a new teacher pay plan it hopes will make it more competitive with its neighbors.

Administrators hope to have the new teacher-pay system in place by the start of the 2017-18 school year, Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks said Wednesday in his State of the System address.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Wilbanks said Gwinnett teacher pay must be competitive with pay in surrounding school districts.

The starting pay for a Gwinnett teacher with a bachelor’s degree and a professional certificate is about $42,000 a year, which is lower than several area districts. Average pay for all Gwinnett teachers is behind other area districts such as Atlanta, Buford, Cobb and Marietta, the AJC reported.

Wilbanks said current teachers “will not lose pay” once the new pay scale is implemented and that the new system must "reward teachers who are delivering superior performance," the paper reported.

Gwinnett currently has about 10,500 teachers.

To read the full AJC article, click here.

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