Research has shown that the quality of teachers and leaders are the most important school-based factors in driving student achievement and success. Aurora Public Schools (APS) recognizes that the success of its students will depend on the district’s ability to recruit, develop, promote, and retain the highest-quality teachers and leaders. Human capital-driven pressures, including but not limited to impacts of inflation and Colorado’s overall cost of living, competition with other career paths and a reduction in teacher graduates nation-wide have driven intensified recruitment and retention in Aurora.
Upon receiving voter approval in 2018 for a new mill levy to help recruit and retain quality teachers, APS established a Licensed Salary Committee tasked with redesigning a new licensed salary schedule. At that time, the district prioritized funding stipends for hard-to-fill positions such as mental health and special service providers – and prioritized accelerating salary increases for teachers in years 3-10.
Subsequent to the global pandemic, the focus has shifted to the front end of the salary curve as districts are competing with one another for an increasingly smaller supply of new teachers. APS has lagged behind many of its neighbors in terms of its starting salary; at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, the APS starting salary (BA1) is $46,894, while Cherry Creek School district’s starting salary is $58,710.
As a part of the 2023-24 collective bargaining process, the District and the Aurora Education Association (AEA) agreed to re-establish the Licensed Salary Committee to once again rethink and redesign the licensed salary schedule. As a part of this process, it was agreed that the starting salary in 2024-25 shall be no less than $59,000 in order to maintain market competitiveness. It was acknowledged that in order to achieve this objective, APS and AEA will not be able to rely exclusively on new revenues – and must consider methods such as collapsing lanes, reducing experience steps or other savings-producing measures to help afford a revised salary schedule.
Statewide