A Linear Programming Salary Evaluation Model for High School Personnel

In recent years, increased criticism has been directed at the present fixed step salary method used for compensating personnel in school districts in the U.S.A. Under this method, the relative monetary worth of an individual is based only on the amount of formal education completed and the number of years of experience. This study describes how a linear programming model has been experimented with in a high school to determine a salary structure which overcomes the criticisms of the fixed step salary method. The primary advantage of this model is that it determines an internally consistent salary schedule based on other relevant factors that should be considered in job evaluation, as well as taking into account the financial resources allocated by the district to support personnel salaries. The objective function reflects the school district's desire to minimize teacher turnover in the high school. The flexibility of the approach lies in its ability to consider a virtually unlimited number of factors while allowing the school district to decide on one of several objective functions that reflects its established objectives.