Salary Information for Incoming Teachers, Counselors, Nurses, and Clinical Staff
New teachers, counselors, nurses, and clinical staff (Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, Psychologists) are eligible for salary increase for Education and/or Prior Experience if you have an advance degree and/or two or more years of satisfactory full time work experience as a teacher or counselor. Please be sure to review our Prior Experience Policy.
Important things to Note:
- The salary quoted in your offer letter is based on the information on your resume you provided to the recruitment team and is subject to change. In order to receive the salary quoted your educational institution(s) and previous employer(s) must verify your credentials and experience.
- This is a PFT Union position the salary is based on your experience and education and is non-negotiable.
- PFT Policy-Professional Experience, A Teacher, who enters the service of The School District of Philadelphia and has approved professional experience outside of the Philadelphia Public Schools, shall receive credit on a salary schedule for such years less one (1) year.
- It is the candidates’ responsibility to ensure that our education and prior experience are verified in order to receive this salary.
- Prior Experience must be independently verified and received by your former employer(s)
- Forms must be completed and received by your former employer(s) authorized Human Resources Representative.
- Forms cannot be accept or received by a candidate/new hire.
- Once your past employer(s) have returned the forms to the School District of Philadelphia you will receive a salary letter via email. Please allow up to two weeks for processing your salary adjustment.
- As we receive multiple verifications your letter will be revise as we receive the additional forms.
- Salary adjustments received after your start date are eligible for retro active payment if they are received within 60 days of your star date. Any adjustments received after the 60 days are effective at the beginning of the pay period in which they are received.
Please Click Below to Learn More!
Download Teacher Policy Here
- New Hires may receive approved prior experience credit for all years minus one (1) with a maximum placement of step ten (10) on the salary scale.
- Full-time teaching experience as a lead teacher, school counselor, Principal, Assistant Principal, Literacy Coach and Academic Coach positions will be accepted for teachers.
- Full-time teaching experience as a lead teacher will be accepted for counselors.
- Full-time psychology experience will be accepted for school psychologists.
- Full-time occupational therapy experience will be accepted for occupational therapists.
- Full-time speech language pathology experience will be accepted for speech language pathologists.
- Experience as a full-time counselor in a school or as a counselor in a public or private youth agency is acceptable for prior experience credit.
- Experience will only be counted if it is after the awarding of a bachelor’s degree. Experience prior to a bachelor’s degree will not be credited.
- Satisfactory Work Experience will be counted.
- Experience will be accepted at any education level including pre-school, elementary, secondary, community college, or college/university level; and through any accredited or licensed educational entity, including public school, private school, parochial school, day care center or program, charter school, or college/university.
- Adjunct Professors will receive half credit.
- Positions out of the country are accepted in alignment with the prior experience policy.
- Part-time and shared time teaching, student teaching, Resident, Internships, fellowships, or serving as a teacher’s assistant, teacher’s aide, co-teacher, per diem substitute, or other similar positions will not be accepted for prior experience credit.
- A full-year of prior experience credit will be given if an individual worked for 75% of the school year in the same school district. The year can either be a 10-month or 12-month position. 75% of a 10-month position is equivalent to at least 135 days or 7.5 months. For example, if a school year is from September 1 to June 15 and an individual held a position from October 15 until the end of the school year, the individual would receive prior experience credit for a full-year because she/he worked for more than 75% of the work year.
- Long-term substitute positions that were held and worked for seventy (70) days or more in a semester will be given a half-year of prior experience credit. Semesters counted are September 1st through January 31st and February 1st through June 30th. Half-years of long-term substitute teaching credit will be counted as full years of prior experience credit if there are an even number of half-years. If there is an odd number of half-years, credit will be rounded down to the closest half-year. For example, two half-years of long-term substitute teaching credit will be counted as a full year. Three half-years of long-term substitute teaching credit will be rounded down to the closest half-year and counted as a full year.
- Verification received within 60 days of appointment will be retroactive to the date of appointment. Experience received after 60 days will not be retroactive.
Download Nurse/CTE Policy Here
Nurses
- New Hires may receive approved prior experience credit for all years minus one (1) with a maximum placement of step ten (10) on the salary scale.
- Credit will be given for those who have satisfactory experience as a registered nurse.
- Nurses will receive prior experience credit based on the hours they worked weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or yearly:
- A full year of prior experience credit will be given for 30 hours per week or more, 60 hours biweekly or more, 120 hours monthly or more, or 1,440 hours annually or more.
- A half-year of prior experience credit will be given for 20-29 hours per week, 40-59 hours bi-weekly, 80-119 hours monthly or 960-1,439 hours annually.
- Half-years of prior experience credit will be combined to give credit as full years of prior experience credit if there are an even number of half-years. If there are an odd number of half-years, credit will be rounded down to the closest half-year. For example, two half-years of prior experience credit will be combined to make a full year. Five half-years of long-term prior experience credit will be rounded down to the closest full year and counted as two full years.
- Months of part-time and full-time work will be added together. Any remaining partial years that cannot be added together to equate one year of credit will not be counted.
- SDP does not participate in third party verifications (ex the work number, E-Verify, InVerify, etc) Candidate will need to obtain the verification and submit the official unaltered verification to salary@philasd.org
- Verification received within 60 days of appointment will be retroactive to the date of appointment. Experience received after 60 days will not be retroactive.
Vocational/CTE Teachers
- New Hires may receive approved prior experience credit for all years minus one (1) with a maximum placement of step ten (10) on the salary scale.
- Vocational teachers will receive prior experience credit for satisfactory industry experience in the subject area they are teaching based on the hours they worked per week.
- Full-time prior experience credit will be given if the individual worked a minimum of 30 hours per week or more.
- Part-time prior experience credit will be given if the individual worked 20-29 hours per week. Part-time prior experience credit will be counted as half-years. For example, 5 years of part-time experience will be counted as 2.5 years of full-time experience.
- Months of part-time and full-time work will be added together. Any remaining partial years that cannot be added together to equate one year of credit will not be counted.
- Vocational teachers who hold a bachelor’s degree must submit an official sealed transcript to effect your salary.
- Verification received within 60 days of appointment will be retroactive to the date of appointment. Experience received after 60 days will not be retroactive.
You may begin this process at any step of your hiring process.
- Review the Prior Experience Policy for the rules the district will use to calculate your salary offer for the above positions.
- Sign and submit the policy to salary@philasd.org
- Download the Prior Experience Verification form
- Complete section one (I) only.
- Send the Prior Experience Verification form to each of your current and/or former employers Human Resources Office where you held a role for which you would receive salary credit for based on the above policy.
- Your former Employer(s) Authorized Human Resources Representative will complete Section two (II) and return it directly to salary@philasd.org. They should copy you on the email so that you know it was sent.
- If your former employer(s) uses a third party verifications (ex the work number, E-Verify, InVerify, etc) Candidate/new hire will need to obtain the verification and submit the official unaltered verification to salary@philasd.org the School District of Philadelphia does not participate or pay for third party verifications
You may begin this process at any step of your hiring process.
- Review the Prior Experience Policy for the rules the district will use to calculate your salary offer for the above positions.
- Sign and submit the policy to salary@philasd.org
- Download the Prior Experience Verification form
- Complete section one (I) only.
- Send the Prior Experience Verification form to each of your current and/or former employers Human Resources Office where you held a role for which you would receive salary credit for based on the above policy.
- Your former Employer(s) Authorized Human Resources Representative will complete Section two (II) and return it directly to salary@philasd.org. They should copy you on the email so that you know it was sent.
- If your former employer(s) uses a third party verifications (ex the work number, E-Verify, InVerify, etc) Candidate/new hire will need to obtain the verification and submit the official unaltered verification to salary@philasd.org the School District of Philadelphia does not participate or pay for third party verifications
- If you were the owner of a business with qualify experience you will need to submit tax returns for each year you owned the business.
The following notes pertain to all salary upgrades:
- Credits must be from a 4-year accredited college or university; credits from junior college and/or community college are not accepted. The only exception to this is for vocational teachers, where credits from community colleges are acceptable.
- Degrees from other countries must be evaluated by a National Association of Credentials Evaluation Services member; WES is one that is frequently used but any member can be used by the applicant. A list of members can be found at http://www.naces.org/
- We do not accept courses in real estate, law, medicine or religion because they cannot be used in the classroom. We will, however, accept medical courses for nurses or CTE Medical Teacher and “school” law courses.
- Some colleges/universities use quarter hours. The School District of Philadelphia considers quarter hour credits to be 2/3 of a semester hour and will use the following calculation to convert those credits to semester hours: total number of quarter hours multiplied by 2 and divided by 3 = number of semester hours. A few of the universities that use a quarter hour system are Antioch, California State – East Bay, and Drexel.
Master’s Equivalency:
- A Master’s Equivalency is evaluated and approved by the PA Department of Education and requires 36 graduate credits from an accredited college/university with a grade of “C” or better. A minimum of 18 credits in any certified content area and a maximum of 18 PA approved in-service credits. In-service is considered “professional development” before year 2000.
Master’s Degree Salary Upgrade
- Awarded and/or conferred Masters degree.
- Vocational Education Teachers with a Vocational I certificate or a Bachelor’s degree with 6 years of trade experience or a Master’s Degree should be paid at a Masters Level.
Master’s Plus 30 Salary Upgrade
- Master’s Plus 30 requires an awarded and/or conferred Masters Degree, a total 60 semester credits beyond the conferred Bachelor’s Degree.
Doctorate’s Salary Upgrade
- Awarded and/or conferred Doctorate’s Degree
The Certification office accepts official transcripts showing conferred or awarded degrees.
Official Transcripts can sent accepted in one of three ways:
- Official Electronic transcripts sent directly to salary@philasd.org directly from your College/University’s third party company
- Official Sealed transcripts can be sent via U.S. Mail to:
The School District of Philadelphia
Suite 222, Attention Salary
440 North Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
3. Official Sealed transcripts can be hand delivered to the Certification office at:
The School District of Philadelphia
440 North Broad Street
2nd floor, Portal D, Suite 222
Philadelphia, PA 19130
Please indicate that you are a New Hire.
We do not accept degrees or courses in the fields of Law, Religion, Real Estate, or Medicine (Medicine is only accepted if you are taking a Nurse or CTE Medical Teacher Position)
Transcript received within thirty (30) days of hire is eligible for retro active payment. Transcripts received after 30 days will need to apply for salary upgrade and will be effective the beginning of the pay period in which your official transcripts were received.
Please note that 12 month teachers and 12 month Demonstration teachers have a slightly different salary scale. Please email jobs@philasd.org with any questions regarding these salary scales.
Regular Education Teachers
Current Salary Scale for Teachers, School Counselors, Occupational and Physical Therapists, School Nurse, and School Nurse Practitioner. Effective 09/01/22.
Step | Bachelor's or Equivalent | Master's or Equivalent | Master's + 30 | Doctorate | Senior Career Teacher |
1 | $50,066 | $51,539 | $54,762 | $57,247 | $99,394 |
2 | $52,183 | $54,023 | $57,612 | $60,836 | |
3 | $56,417 | $58,809 | $62,951 | $66,539 | |
4 | $60,005 | $62,396 | $66,725 | $70,408 | |
5 | $63,411 | $65,709 | $70,129 | $73,811 | |
6 | $66,449 | $68,839 | $73,255 | $76,940 | |
7 | $69,392 | $71,878 | $76,387 | $80,067 | |
8 | $70,690 | $74,822 | $80,029 | $83,720 | |
9 | $72,011 | $77,886 | $83,845 | $87,542 | |
10 | $73,357 | $81,075 | $87,843 | $91,537 | |
11 | $74,730 | $84,395 | $92,033 | $95,712 | |
Special Education Teachers
Current Teacher Salary Scale for Special Education Teachers. Effective 09/01/22.
Step | Bachelor's or Equivalent | Master's or Equivalent | Master's + 30 | Doctorate | Senior Career Teacher |
1 | $50,987 | $52,458 | $55,680 | $58,164 | $99,394 |
2 | $53,563 | $55,403 | $58,992 | $62,214 | |
3 | $57,795 | $60,192 | $64,332 | $67,919 | |
4 | $61,385 | $63,781 | $68,103 | $71,785 | |
5 | $64,791 | $67,094 | $71,507 | $75,192 | |
6 | $67,827 | $70,223 | $74,637 | $78,323 | |
7 | $70,774 | $73,255 | $77,768 | $81,452 | |
8 | $71,742 | $75,894 | $81,112 | $84,805 | |
9 | $72,726 | $78,629 | $84,599 | $88,296 | |
10 | $73,720 | $81,460 | $88,238 | $91,930 | |
11 | $74,730 | $84,395 | $92,033 | $95,712 | |
Demonstration Teachers
Current Salary Scale for 10-month Demonstration Teachers. Effective 09/01/22.
STEP | Bachelor's or Equivalent | Master's or Equivalent | Master's + 30 | Doctorate |
1 | $50,986 | $52,919 | $56,141 | $58,625 |
2 | $53,747 | $55,586 | $59,176 | $62,308 |
3 | $57,981 | $60,374 | $64,604 | $68,380 |
4 | $61,663 | $64,604 | $68,380 | $72,064 |
5 | $65,068 | $67,459 | $71,878 | $75,560 |
6 | $68,104 | $70,497 | $74,916 | $78,598 |
7 | $71,141 | $73,628 | $78,042 | $81,724 |
8 | $72,440 | $76,554 | $81,691 | $85,382 |
9 | $73,763 | $79,596 | $85,509 | $89,202 |
10 | $75,109 | $82,760 | $89,504 | $93,197 |
11 | $76,840 | $86,049 | $93,687 | $97,369 |
Special Education Demonstration Teachers
Current Salary Scale for 10-month Demonstration Teachers. Effective 09/01/22.
STEP | Bachelor's or Equivalent | Master's or Equivalent | Master's + 30 | Doctorate |
1 | $51,906 | $53,841 | $57,059 | $59,545 |
2 | $55,127 | $56,972 | $60,556 | $63,688 |
3 | $59,361 | $61,754 | $65,988 | $69,485 |
4 | $63,045 | $65,432 | $69,761 | $73,444 |
5 | $66,449 | $68,838 | $73,255 | $76,940 |
6 | $69,485 | $71,878 | $76,296 | $79,979 |
7 | $72,523 | $75,006 | $79,427 | $83,107 |
8 | $73,494 | $77,626 | $82,775 | $86,463 |
9 | $74,475 | $80,337 | $86,264 | $89,995 |
10 | $75,470 | $83,145 | $89,899 | $93,588 |
11 | $76,480 | $86,049 | $93,687 | $97,369 |
School Psychologists
Salary Scale for 10-and 12-month School Psychologists. Effective 09/01/22.
Step | 10 month | 12 month |
1 | $61,202 | $72,982 |
2 | $64,699 | $77,304 |
3 | $81,080 | $96,910 |
4 | $86,419 | $103,354 |
5 | $104,364 | $124,891 |
Last modified: November 9, 2022