The California Association of Private School Organizations is the voice of K-12 private education in California. Its primary mission is to preserve the independence of California’s private schools and to uphold parental choice in education.
Determine the Minimum Salary Threshold
for a Private School Teacher
There are more than 1,000 public school districts in the state of California, and each maintains its own salary schedule. Public school teachers’ salaries are established through multi-year collective bargaining agreements that expire in different years from district to district. Unfortunately, there is no single, up-to-date compendium of district salaries. The California Department of Education provides this catalog, which contains “lowest salary offered” figures for both districts and county offices of education. Unfortunately, the data are not formatted in a manner that displays the lowest salary offered to fully-credentialed public school teachers at the “BA + 30” level. Therefore, unless and until the CDE furnishes data that have been appropriately organized, we suggest you employ the following steps to identify the lowest salary offered to a fully-credentialed public school teacher, in order to meet the required of California Labor Code Section 515.8.
Worksheet last updated 1/22/2024.
Current Law, CA Labor Code Section 515.8
(a) Section 510 does not apply to an individual employed as a teacher at a private elementary or secondary academic institution in which pupils are enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive.
(b) For purposes of this section, “employed as a teacher” means that the employee meets all of the following requirements:
(1) The employee is primarily engaged in the duty of imparting knowledge to pupils by teaching, instructing, or lecturing.
(2) The employee customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment in performing the duties of a teacher.
(3) On and after July 1, 2017, the employee earns the following amount:
(A) For a full-time employee, the greater of the following:
(i) No less than 100 percent of the lowest salary offered by any school district to a person who is in a position that requires the person to have a valid California teaching credential and is not employed in that position pursuant to an emergency permit, intern permit, or waiver.
(ii) The equivalent of no less than 70 percent of the lowest schedule salary offered by the school district or the county office of education in which the private elementary or secondary academic institution is located to a person who is in a position that requires the person to have a valid California teaching credential and is not employed in that position pursuant to an emergency permit, intern permit, or waiver.
(B) For a part-time employee, the proportional amount of the salary identified in subparagraph (A) that is equal to the proportion of the full-time instructional schedule for which the part-time employee is employed.
(4) The employee has attained at least one of the following levels of professional advancement:
(A) A baccalaureate or higher degree from an accredited institution of higher education.
(B) Current compliance with the requirements established by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, or the equivalent certification authority in another state, for obtaining a preliminary or alternative teaching credential.
(C) When budgeting for a future school year, a private elementary or secondary academic institution may determine the salary requirements in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) by referring to school salary schedules in effect for up to 12 months prior to the start of the school year.
(D) This section does not apply to any tutor, teaching assistant, instructional aide, student teacher, day care provider, vocational instructor, or other similar employee.
(E) The exemption established in subdivision (a) is in addition to, and does not limit or supersede, any exemption from overtime established by a Wage Order of the Industrial Welfare Commission for persons employed in a professional capacity, and does not affect any exemption from overtime established by that commission pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 515 for persons employed in an executive or administrative capacity.
(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 99, Sec. 1. (SB 621) Effective January 1, 2018.)