In 2023, Arkansas legislators passed the LEARNS Act, a comprehensive education reform package that, among other goals, aimed to strengthen teacher recruitment and retention. The law raised the statewide minimum salary for classroom teachers from $36,000 to $50,000 and required that all current teachers receive at least a $2,000 raise. An initial study published in 2024 by researchers at the University of Arkansas found that while LEARNS raised starting salaries, its effects on teacher retention appeared limited after one year of implementation. Now, the same research team has updated their analysis with three additional years of administrative data and a more rigorous research design, finding a more pronounced impact on retention: teachers who received the largest raises were more likely to remain in the same school district in subsequent years.
The researchers analyzed salary data from 230 of Arkansas’ 234 public school districts and nine of the state’s 12 charter school operators. They compared data from 2022-23, the year before LEARNS, to 2023-24, its first year of implementation. By linking these data to administrative records of educators’ assignments from 2014-15 through 2025-26, the researchers were also able to estimate the causal effects of LEARNS-induced raises on teacher retention during the first three years of implementation (2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26).
The study found that districts largely complied with the new minimum salary requirement. Before LEARNS, the average starting salary for teachers was $38,000; after implementation, it rose to approximately $50,000. Nearly all districts (97 percent) set starting pay at exactly the minimum, with only eight districts exceeding it. This significantly reduced variation in starting pay across the state.
Experienced teachers also saw salary increases. Prior to LEARNS, teachers with five years of experience earned about $41,000 on average, compared with $43,000 for those with 10 years and $46,000 for those with 15 years. After LEARNS, teachers with five years of experience earned about $50,000 on average, while those with 10 to 15 years of experience earned roughly $51,000—a small increase beyond the compensation for five-year veterans.
The effects of the higher starting salaries were especially pronounced in rural and high-poverty districts, which have historically offered lower pay. In 2022-23, starting salaries in Arkansas rural districts were, on average, $2,075 less than in urban districts. After implementation, the gap shrank to just $258. LEARNS also eliminated the negative relationship between district poverty and starting salaries, making it more financially attractive to begin a teaching career in these districts. But these gains diminished among more experienced teachers, as higher-paying opportunities for veteran teachers remained concentrated in urban, lower-poverty districts.
The researchers also examined how LEARNS affected teacher retention in its first three years of implementation, which varied based on the size of the raise. Teachers who received increases of $2,000 to $4,000 saw no change in retention, while larger raises were associated with higher likelihoods of remaining in the same district in subsequent years: 1.4 percentage points for raises of $4,000 to $6,000, 2.2 points for $6,000 to $8,000, and 3.1 points for raises above $8,000. Additionally, the overall likelihood that a teacher exited the Arkansas public school system declined by 0.9 percentage points (0.2 percentage points per $1,000 increase in salary).
The effects of LEARNS on retention and exits were strongest in the first year of implementation and decreased in subsequent years. Using 2024-25 salary data, the researchers found that most districts had not raised salaries beyond what the law initially required, meaning inflation eroded the value of those one-time increases, leading them to caution that these retention gains may not be sustained if districts do not continue to adjust compensation. Additionally, despite these gains, retention rates remain below pre-pandemic levels, and exit rates continue to exceed their pre-pandemic baseline.
The authors note that, since 2023, lawmakers in at least 23 states have proposed policies to use salary increases or bonuses to improve recruitment and retention, with at least six becoming law. The study’s findings suggest that the scale of salary increases matters considerably; only larger raises produced meaningful improvements in retention.