• Teacher Leave & Benefits

    • Does paid parental leave for teachers pay off?

    January 9, 2025

    Katherine Bowser

    Teachers in three Massachusetts school districts gained recent media attention as they went on strike demanding increased compensation, including paid parental leave policies. This is not a particularly new story. Our last District Trendline on parental leave in 2022 cited teacher strikes in Columbus (OH) and New York City. Teacher activism for parental rights dates back more than 100 years to a time when women were dismissed from their teaching roles when they married and became pregnant. Despite several landmark policies at the federal level since then (e.g., the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993), the United States remains the only high-income country in the world without any federally mandated paid parental leave.

    Research shows that paid parental leave is associated with reductions in infant mortality, increased frequency of baby wellness checkups, decreases in postpartum depression, and improved health outcomes for mothers. However, a recent RAND report found that only 32% of teachers reported having access to paid parental leave benefits. Further, of those who do have access to paid parental leave benefits, fewer than half perceived them to be adequate. The report suggests that increased access to such policies may be an effective teacher retention strategy.

    During a time when teacher recruitment and retention are top of mind for many state and district leaders, it seems straightforward to include paid parental leave policies in the discussion. However, districts have historically eschewed such benefits due to their high price tags. Recent news of advances in state policy granting paid parental leave gives hope that policymakers increasingly recognize the importance for districts, teachers, and their families. But how much progress has there been? And what are the costs?

    In this District Trendline, we examine our sample of 148 teacher contracts and district policies from the nation’s largest school districts. We answer the following questions:

    • How have school district parental leave policies evolved since our 2022 analysis? In particular, how many districts offer (at least partially) paid parental leave beyond sick days, and how many days of paid leave are offered?
    • To what degree have states moved the needle on paid parental leave policies?
    • What are the costs of providing paid parental leave to teachers, and who pays those costs?

     

    More than twice as many large districts offer paid parental leave compared to 2022.

    Our 2022 analysis found that 27 of the 148 districts (18%) in our sample offered paid leave beyond normal sick days. In the short time since, the number has grown to 64 of 148 districts (43%)—a remarkable 137% increase in under three years.

     

    Figure 1.

    This analysis accounts for districts that offer any form of paid parental leave, regardless of who is eligible. The number of districts offering paid leave for fathers, partners, and/or adoptive and foster parents (i.e., non-birthing parents) also increased from our last analysis, with 43 districts (29%) currently offering paid leave options for these individuals, compared to 18 districts (12%) in 2022. However, some districts offer varying leave periods depending on parental role, like San Diego Unified School District (CA), which permits just three days of leave for non-birthing partners and adoptive parents compared to the 30 days of leave offered to birth mothers.

    Of districts that offer any paid parental leave, 40 are located in states without paid leave policies (e.g., policies that mandate parental leave or provide funding to support it) and 24 are located in states that do have paid leave policies. Notably, 10 states have paid parental leave policies that apply to teachers: Delaware, D.C., Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington. Another four have recently passed paid parental leave policies that will go into effect in 2025 or 2026. Still, more have policies that make paid parental leave benefits optional for school districts.

    Despite the promising increase in paid parental leave policies, 57% of the districts in our sample still do not offer such benefits beyond normal sick days. This is alarming considering the clear health benefits of paid parental leave for parents and their children.

    Of those with access to paid parental leave, teachers are eligible for 40 days of leave on average.

    Figure 2. 

    Of the 64 districts in our sample that have paid parental leave benefits, teachers are eligible for 40.3 days of leave on average. In 2022, the modal district (10 of 27 districts) offered 16–30 days of paid parental leave beyond sick days. Presently, the modal district (25 of 64) still offers 16–30 days of paid leave, but more districts are offering even longer leave, with 36% of districts offering 31–60 days of paid leave (up from 11% in 2022).

    Elk Grove Unified School District (CA), Oakland Unified School District (CA), and Sacramento City Unified School District (CA) lead the ranks, offering 100 days of paid leave. Even these relatively longer leave periods rank low when compared to other countries. The average OECD country provides nearly 260 days of paid or partially paid maternity leave, with the Slovak Republic and Finland each providing more than 800 days of paid or partially paid maternity leave.

    Considering the costs of teacher turnover, providing leave may be worth it.

    The costs associated with paid parental leave—and who is responsible for those costs—varies, but providing leave may be worth it considering the pervasive consequences of teacher turnover on district expenditures and student outcomes.

    With such clear health and economic benefits, why aren’t more districts offering paid parental leave? The answer for districts may be their belief that the cost is too high. While research in other sectors finds that the cost of paid parental leave benefits is negligible, employers in these other contexts may be able to get by without hiring additional staff and instead relying on colleagues to cover the work of the on-leave employee. In education, substitute teachers are a necessity when teachers take leave, meaning that districts must pay the on-leave teacher’s salary and the daily rate of the substitute teacher.

    Little research has examined the financial implications of paid parental leave in schools and who is responsible for such costs. Until now. Here, we delve into four districts by estimating the price of paid parental leave for districts and teachers. Our estimates treat teachers’ salaries as a “business-as-usual” cost for districts, thus the “cost” of the parental leave policy focuses on the additional money that the districts pay for substitute coverage.

    Figure 3.

    Costs of Paid Parental Leave Policies

    Elk Grove USD (CA) Loudoun County SD (VA) Garland ISD (TX) Oklahoma City PS (OK)
    Cost-sharing model Hybrid: Teacher & district split costs District responsible for costs Teacher responsible for costs State reimbursement
    Leave beyond normal sick
    days    		 100 days 30 days 30 days 30 days
    Daily pay rate
    for substitute teacher
    		 $250 $200 $152.50 $110
    Total cost of substitute
    during leave period
    		 $25,000 $6,000 $4,575 $3,300
    On-leave
    teacher pay deduction
    		 $16,700 $0 $4,575 $0
    Total district
    cost of substitute    		 $8,300 $6,000 $0 $3,300
    State reimbursement $0 $0 $0 $7,948–$8,892

    Teachers in Elk Grove are eligible to take 100 days of partially paid maternity leave after they have exhausted their normal sick leave. Among the longest leave periods offered in our sample, it is unsurprising that it is also the most expensive for districts and teachers of the four districts in our cost analysis. The total cost of a substitute teacher for a 100-day leave period in Elk Grove is $25,000. The district subsidizes this high cost by deducting $16,700 from the on-leave teacher’s pay. Elk Grove covers the remaining $8,300 expense.

    On the other side of the country, Loudoun County School District (VA) differs quite a bit from Elk Grove. Loudoun County offers 30 days of parental leave, which is the most common length of leave in our sample. Unlike Elk Grove, Loudoun County does not penalize teachers for taking leave by docking their pay. Rather, the district covers the full cost of a substitute teacher, which totals $6,000 per teacher who takes a 30-day leave.

    Garland Independent School District (TX) in Texas also offers 30 days of parental leave. To deal with the associated costs, the district deducts the full cost of the substitute teacher from the on-leave teacher’s pay, which totals approximately $4,575 during the 30-day leave period. For teachers, this is a 44% pay cut. While it is not ideal to impose a pay cut to teachers during a time when their personal expenses are likely increasing, ensuring that teachers earn nearly half their typical wages is still far better than only offering unpaid leave, as is the case in more than half of large districts.

    Oklahoma City Public Schools (OK) offers 30 days of paid leave. Money allocated by the Oklahoma State Board of Education reimburses the school district for the on-leave teacher’s salary expenses. The costs for substitute teachers are not reimbursable. For example, should a teacher with a master’s degree and 10 years of experience take 30 days of paid parental leave, the state will reimburse Oklahoma City $8,892 while the district will remain responsible for $3,300 to hire a substitute teacher, effectively decreasing the district’s business-as-usual expenses.

    In addition to paid parental leave benefiting the health and well-being of parents and their children, research also shows that it benefits the economy. A preponderance of evidence indicates that women who receive paid maternity leave are significantly more likely to return to work after having a child than women who are not offered paid maternity leave. Further, paid leave may lead to increased productivity, reduced turnover, and increased tenure with the same employer. While most evidence on the effects of offering paid parental leave comes from other countries and outside of the education sector, such findings suggest that paid parental leave may reduce teacher turnover—which is costly to school districts.

    The Learning Policy Institute recently launched a research-based teacher turnover calculator, which estimates the cost of replacing a teacher. Of the nine districts examined in the corresponding LPI report, five are also included in our sample. Across those five districts, the estimated cost of recruiting, hiring, and training a new teacher ranges from $12,206 to $29,762. This is notably more than even the most expensive paid leave policy we investigated in Elk Grove.

    The cost of replacing teachers isn’t the only cost that comes with losing teachers. Prior research finds that teacher turnover is detrimental to student achievement and instructional quality, which likely bring their own financial repercussions (e.g., increased need for costly tutoring programs and professional development).

    According to the Teacher Follow-Up Survey (TPS), 8% of public school teachers left the profession in 2020–21. In our 148-district sample, this would represent 394 teachers on average. The survey goes on to find that of teachers who left the profession, 15% of them did so due to personal life reasons specific to health, pregnancy/childcare, or caring for family. In our sample’s average district, this would represent 59 teachers. Taken together with the estimated costs of recruiting, training, and hiring one teacher, replacing these 59 teachers comes with a price tag of $720,154–$1,755,958. Assuming an adequate paid leave policy would have retained these teachers, forgoing the cost of replacing them may well be worth the cost of offering paid parental leave. For example, at the lower estimated cost ($720,154), a district like Loudoun County could provide the $6,000 substitute cost to 120 on-leave teachers. At the higher end ($1,755,958), the same district could provide paid leave to nearly 300 teachers.

    Next steps
    We encourage both districts and states to continue the expansion of paid parental leave policies. The benefits to teachers and students are clear. When considering the costs of adopting such policies, we must also consider the costs of not adopting paid parental leave policies. For districts, paid parental leave may be financially beneficial because it can serve as both a recruitment and retention policy. Further, we encourage state leaders to consider the long-term benefits, like increasing the instructional quality of the state’s teacher workforce as teachers, particularly early career teachers, may remain in the workforce longer.

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    Endnotes
    1. Pawlewicz, D. D. A. (2020). Blaming teachers: Professionalization policies and the failure of reform in American history. Rutgers University Press.
    2. Heymann, J., Raub, A., & Earle, A. (2011). Creating and using new data sources to analyze the relationship between social policy and global health: The case of maternal leave. Public Health Reports 12(3), 127–34.
    3. Berger, L. M., Hill, J., & Waldfogel, J. (2005). Maternity leave, early maternal employment, and child health and development in the U.S. The Economic Journal, 115(501), F29–F47.
    4. Dagher, R., McGovern, P. M., Dowd, B. E., & Lundberg, U. (2011). Postpartum depressive symptoms and the combined load of paid and unpaid work: A longitudinal analysis. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 84, 735–743.
    5. Bütikofer, A., Riise, J., & Skira, M. M. (2021). The impact of paid maternity leave on maternal health. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 13(1), 67–105; Jou, J., Kozhimannil, K. B., Abraham, J. M., Blewett, L. A., & McGovern, P. M. (2018). Paid maternity leave in the United States: Associations with maternal and infant health. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 22(2), 216–225.
    6. The sample for this analysis, drawn from NCTQ’s Teacher Contract Database, consists of 148 school districts in the United States: the 100 largest districts in the country, the largest district in each state, and the member districts of the Council of Great City Schools.
    7. These states include Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Utah. Because these policies have not yet gone into effect, districts in these states are only counted as having a paid parental leave policy if it is included in the teacher contract.
    8. These states include Arkansas, Colorado, New York, North Carolina, and Massachusetts. Districts in these states are only counted as having a paid parental leave policy if it is included in the teacher contract.
    9. One district does not clearly state the length of leave and another offers varying leave periods based on a teacher’s length of service to the district. These two districts are noted as “other” in Figure 2 and are not included in the average calculation.
    10. Gault, B., Hartmann, H., Hegewisch, A., Milli, J., & Reichlin, L. (2014). Paid parental leave in the United States: What the data tell us about access, usage, and economic and health benefits. Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
    11. This district does not offer a different pay rate for long-term substitutes.
    12. This district does not offer a different pay rate for long-term substitutes.
    13. Garland Independent substitute pay ranges depending on the qualifications of the substitute teacher. We use an average of the daily rate for long-term substitutes (11+ days) across qualification categories.
    14. Oklahoma City substitute pay ranges depending on the qualifications of the substitute teacher. We use an average daily rate across qualification categories. The district does not offer a different pay rate for long-term substitutes.
    15. The daily pay rate of substitutes teachers in Elk Grove is $250, thus for a 100-day leave period, the total payment for a substitute is $25,000.
    16. Per Elk Grove, days 1–20 are docked at $135 per day and days 21–100 are docked at $175 per day.
    17. The low end of the range is calculated by using the salary of a teacher with a bachelor’s degree and 5 years of experience. The high end of the range uses the salary of a teacher with a master’s degree and 10 years of experience.
    18. We do not include the costs associated with normal sick leave because this benefit is not exclusive to parental leave. We consider it a “business-as-usual” cost rather than one specifically related to parental leave.
    19. As reported by the Texas Education Agency, the average teacher in Garland Independent has a salary of $64,591. The daily rate is calculated by dividing the average salary by 187, which is the number of contracted days stipulated in Garland Independent’s teacher contract. The daily rate multiplied by the number of leave days (30) is $10,362. Thus, $4,575 is 44% of $10,362.
    20. The daily pay rate for a teacher in Oklahoma City is calculated by dividing the salary (of a teacher with a masters and 10 years of experience) by the total number of contracted days (181). The daily rate is multiplied by 30 to arrive at the on-leave teacher’s normal wages during the leave period.
    21. Berger, L. M. & Waldfogel, J. (2004). Maternity leave and the employment of new mothers in the United States. Journal of Population Economics, 17(2), 331–349; Joesch, J. M. (1997). Paid leave and the timing of women’s employment before and after birth. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59(4), 1008–1021; Jones, K., & Wiltcher, B. (2020). Reducing maternal labor market detachment: A role for paid family leave. Washington Center for Equitable Growth.
    22. Bassanini, A., & Venn D. (2008). The impact of labour market policies on productivity in OECD countries. International Productivity Monitor, 17, 3–15.
    23. Boston Public Schools (MA), Broward County School District (FL), Chicago Public Schools (IL), Milwaukee Public Schools (WI), and Tulsa Public Schools (OK).
    24. Ronfeldt, M., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2013). How teacher turnover harms student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 50(1), 4–36; Sorensen, L. C., & Ladd, H. F. (2020). The hidden costs of teacher turnover. Aera Open, 6(1).
    25. The TPS is a follow-up survey to the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), which is a nationally representative survey administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
    26. This assumes that the nationally representative survey sample generalizes to our sample of large, urban districts.
    27. The survey item reads “Because of other personal life reasons (e.g., health, pregnancy/childcare, caring for family).” Three additional “personal life factor” survey items cover relocation, retirement, and changes in childcare caused by COVID-19.