Giving Compass' Take:

• Superintendents, school board members, and district chief financial officers outline the reasons why teachers salaries are not always a funding priority for school districts. 

•  What is the role of donors in helping increase teacher's salaries or at the very least, school district resources? 

• Read about one potential solution for better teacher pay. 

In an Education Week article, superintendents, school board members and district chief financial officers share why raising teacher salaries is not always a priority.

One issue district leaders have to consider is whether the increased state funding is a one-time initiative or a recurring measure. Efforts to hike teacher salaries long-term must be sustainable, and if there's insufficient funding in the long term, officials will either have to deplete savings or beg for more money in the future.

Another issue is competing district priorities that school leaders have to consider when dealing with a limited supply of funds.

After school funding policy passes through the state legislature, education leaders often juggle many priorities in determining where the money goes. More funding is inherently more valuable to schools, but only if that money is well spent.

In figuring out how much goes where, superintendents may need to reevaluate how top-heavy their districts are and how much money is actually reaching the classroom. They also must examine factors including pension obligations, and students' needs, which vary widely from one school district to another.

However, critics say teacher pay should be a priority, and it's been proven that giving teachers more money can boost student performance.

While teachers, in many cases, need and deserve more money than they're getting, they also need to be aware of the issues that surround the teacher pay debate, and they must be willing to compromise if necessary. For instance, money spent on providing benefits, reducing class sizes, increasing support staff, providing better tools for education and improving professional development opportunities all benefit teachers in ways that cannot be measured financially.

Read the full article about teacher salaries by Amelia Harper at Education Dive