Mastery Charter Schools raising starting salaries to $60,000 amid national teacher shortage

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Mastery Charter Schools, the area’s largest charter school network, is bumping up starting teacher salaries from $55,000 to $60,000 in an effort to cope with a national teacher shortage.

For Serena Amos, Mastery’s human resources chief officer, the reason is simple: “We know teachers need to be paid more.”

And, she said, raising salaries is one way to stand out amid a teacher shortage.

“While the pool is small, the only way to compete and get as much of that pool as possible is to be competitive,” she said. “We are competing with our local school districts, whether it’s Camden City or Cherry Hill or Philadelphia.”

Starting Philadelphia teachers currently earn about $52,000. Next year, the beginning teacher salary in the Philadelphia School District will top $54,000.

Mastery runs 24 schools in Camden and Philadelphia. Their teachers are non-union. Amos estimates the network will need about 190 new teachers for the 2024-25 school year.

Mastery is also offering mental health and family planning benefits to attract teachers.