As engaged members of the Marblehead community, we wanted to gain a clearer understanding of the ongoing discussions between the Marblehead Education Association and the School Committee regarding teacher salaries. Much of the information we encountered seemed to come from one side or the other, often with conflicting interpretations, making it difficult to grasp the full picture. As researchers with a keen interest in data, we decided to examine the publicly available numbers ourselves and share our findings in hopes that it might be helpful to others in the community. We are not experts in labor economics or municipal finances, rather we are engaged parents and citizens who are eager to understand the nuances of this issue. Our hope is that this information supports constructive dialogue in services of our community, children and teachers.
Teacher salaries and per capita income
Our first question was how teacher salaries in Marblehead stack up against other municipalities in Massachusetts. Using data from the Massachusetts Division of Local Services Department of Revenue and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, we found that Marblehead teachers are paid below what one might expect, given the town’s per capita income (Figure 1). The most recent available salary data are from the 2020-21 school year. Considering Massachusetts municipalities with their own K-12 school districts (as opposed to those participating in regional school districts) only 8% of these municipalities had 2023 per capita income higher than Marblehead, while a full 52% of them have a higher average teacher salary.
Salaries compared to municipalities with similar income
We then focused on the 10% of municipalities with K-12 school districts that are closest to Marblehead’s per capita income ranking. In this peer group, Marblehead’s teacher salaries are second to last (Figure 3).
Comparing taxes
There’s been plenty of discussion in Marblehead lately about the town’s finances. We wondered how Marblehead’s tax burden compared to its peers.
We looked at 2023 Department of Revenue data for per capita tax receipts (total receipts excluding enterprise and CPA funds) compared to per capita income (Figure 2). Marblehead ranks 24th in per capita income among the 351 municipalities in the DOR data, while in terms of tax receipts per capita, Marblehead ranks 78th (Figure 2).
Compared to the peer group of municipalities with K-12 school districts closest to Marblehead in the per capita income rankings, Marblehead’s per capita tax receipts of $5,091 is 11% lower than the median of $5,746 of its closest per capita income peers (Figure 3).
Our takeaway
The data show that Marblehead teacher salaries are relatively low in comparison to the town’s per capita income and are also below teacher salaries in similar communities. The per capita tax receipts in Marblehead are also low in comparison to other towns. We hope these data might be informative to others in understanding the current circumstances around the investments this town makes in our schools as we work toward a solution that supports our educators, our students, and the broader Marblehead community.
Naomi and Michael Caselli are parents and members of the Marblehead community. Naomi is also an associate professor of Deaf Education and directs the AI and Education Initiative at Boston University.
Naomi Caselli
