A Working Paper from EPIC

Crossing Over? The Implications of Reform to the Traditional Public School Labor Market for Charter School Teachers

June 2018

In recent years, policymakers in many states have enacted reforms to teacher evaluation, tenure, and collective bargaining in the traditional public school sector. Despite the attention paid to these reforms by critics and supporters alike, the implications for such changes across the broader labor market for K-12 teachers are missing from debate. In this paper, we consider the potential for spillover reform effects on a large sector of public charter school teachers in Michigan. Using microdata from 2005-2016, we measure changes to rates of teacher transfer within and between sectors, as well as teacher exits from the profession, in both the traditional and charter school markets. We find evidence that, following the reforms, charter teachers overall were less likely to exit or transfer sectors relative to TPS teachers. However, there are some important differences within the set of charter teachers, suggesting differential policy-related responses.