Short answer
What does BA+15 or MA+30 mean on a teacher salary schedule?
It names a degree plus a number of units earned after it: BA+15 is a bachelor's and 15 more credits, MA+30 a master's and 30 more. Check the unit, though. Seattle's BA+45 lane is counted in quarter credits, which equals 30 semester credits.
Sources: Fairfax County Public Schools form HR-353; Seattle Public Schools 2025–26 salary schedule. Checked .
Key points
- Lane, column, class and level all name the education axis of the schedule.
- "+N" labels count units after a degree, but whether those are semester or quarter units depends on the schedule.
- Some columns accept either credits or a degree: Springfield, Missouri, pays one column for "Master's +30 or Specialist."
- Georgia districts pay by state certificate level, which rises with a completed advanced degree.
- A closed or grandfathered lane stays on the page but takes no new entrants.
Are a lane, a column and a class the same thing?
For practical purposes, yes. Each one is a vertical band on the schedule tied to an education level, and the rows that cross it are years of service. That is why teachers call the whole grid a step-and-lane or step-and-column schedule. The word a district uses usually comes from its contract:
- San Diego Unified's bargaining agreement has a section titled "Definition of Columns" and numbers them 010 to 014.
- Clark County School District in Nevada prints a "Definition of Classes" under its table and labels the columns with Roman numerals I to XI.
- Fayette County Public Schools in Kentucky calls its columns levels and names each after a state rank, from Rank 3.1 (AB) to Rank 1.2 (Doctoral).
- Madison Metropolitan School District in Wisconsin calls them tracks, numbered 1 to 8, and uses lettered levels for experience down the side.
- Seattle Public Schools numbers its lanes 100 to 906, with the education level in parentheses under each number.
Whatever the word, the reading method is the same. How to read a salary schedule walks through finding your cell.
What do BA+15 and MA+30 mean?
The letters are the degree and the number is the units earned after it. Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia gives teachers five levels to request on its Additional Salary Request form: BA+15, BA+30, Master's, MA+30 and Doctoral. The form says the BA+15 and BA+30 credits must be completed after the bachelor's was conferred, and MA+30 credits after the master's. It also allows MA+30 on the strength of more than one conferred master's degree.
The increments vary by district. Clark County moves in 16-credit bands: BA+16, BA+32, then MA, MA+16, MA+32 and MA+48. Billings Public Schools in Montana runs from BA through BA105 in 15-unit steps and from MA through MA45 on its 2022–23 schedule. Alpine School District in Utah uses uneven steps: Lanes 2 to 5 sit at a bachelor's plus 20, 37, 50 and 70 credits, and Lanes 7 and 8 at a master's plus 20 and 37. The label always tells you the count; it rarely tells you which units qualify. That lives in the contract's column rules. Units that count covers the filters districts apply.
Why do some lane names use odd numbers like +22.5 or +135?
Usually because the schedule counts quarter credits. Seattle's lanes are BA, BA+22.5, BA+45, BA+90, BA+135 and BA+155 (the last with a master's), and the schedule notes that it is measured in quarter credits. Divide by 1.5 to get semester credits: 22.5 quarter credits are 15 semester credits, and 45 are 30.
Billings prints the same conversion in its footnote, "semester credits x 1.5 = quarter credits," so its BA45 column is 30 semester credits past the bachelor's. Without that footnote a teacher with semester-based coursework would think the lane was half again as far away as it is. Quarter vs. semester units has a full conversion table.
What does a lane like BA+45+MA mean?
Some schedules require both a unit count and a degree for the same lane. Seattle pairs them: lane 300 is BA+45, but lane 400 is BA+45 plus a master's, and the pattern repeats at 90 and 135 units. A teacher with 45 quarter credits and no master's sits in lane 300; finishing a master's moves them across without any extra units.
San Diego Unified builds the same idea into its column definitions. Column 012 takes a master's with 54 semester units in total, or a bachelor's with 60, so the degree substitutes for six units. By column 014 the gap is wider: a master's with 84 units, a doctorate, or a bachelor's with 90.
What is a master's equivalent lane?
A master's equivalent lane pays a degree column to teachers who reach it with units instead of, or on top of, a degree. Springfield Public Schools in Missouri labels one of its four columns "Master's +30 or Specialist." A teacher with a master's gets there with 30 credit hours earned "via studies begun after completing Master's Degree," in the area of certification or related to the teaching assignment; a specialist's degree or a second master's of at least 30 credit hours places a teacher in the same column. Madison's Track 7 works the same way: the schedule footnotes its MA+48 label as "48 Academic Credits or 2nd Master's."
Lanes like this change the degree-or-credits calculation. Whether a full program or loose units suits you better is the subject of master's degree vs. credits.
What do codes like MA20 or BSNH mean?
Some schedules use short codes rather than spelled-out labels. Williamson County Schools in Tennessee heads its 2026–27 columns BSNH, BS, BS10, BS20, MA, MA10, MA20, MA30, EDS and PHD/EDD. The numbered codes look like the familiar degree-plus-units pattern, but the schedule itself does not define any of them. When a code is not explained on the page, the definition is in the district's placement rules or the bargaining agreement, and that is the place to check rather than guessing from the letters.
The same Williamson schedule shows why the definition matters: BS10, BS20, MA10 and MA20 carry figures only from step 12 onward, and a note says the gray columns are for employees hired on or after July 1, 2014.
What is a salary class?
Class is one more name for the education column. Clark County School District prints a "Definition of Classes" under its salary table and labels them with Roman numerals I to XI; moving to a higher class there is what other districts call changing lanes. A step, by contrast, is a row of credited service.
Watch for the same words used the other way round. Madison's Teachers 192 schedule calls its eight education columns tracks and its experience rows lettered levels, with Track 1, Level A as the base. In Madison, a new "level" is a year of service, not more education.
What if the schedule has levels instead of lanes?
Jordan School District in Utah uses a single lane, labeled Z, divided into numbered levels. Education sets where a new hire starts (a bachelor's at level 1, a master's at level 6, a doctorate at level 10) and continuing education adds levels after hire. Reaching a bachelor's plus 20 semester credits adds two levels; a master's adds one more; a master's plus 30 semester credits adds two. On a schedule like this "changing lanes" means climbing levels faster than the yearly step would.
Levels do not always measure education. Dallas ISD's 2026-27 teacher schedule has nine Teacher Excellence Initiative levels, from Unsatisfactory to Master, earned through effectiveness ratings, and no master's or doctorate pay appears in it.
Fairfax County's form also uses the word level, as in "requested salary level," for what other districts call a lane.
How do Georgia certificate levels work on a salary schedule?
Georgia ties pay to the state certificate. Cobb County School District's 2026–27 teacher schedule has four columns: CIT4 (bachelor), CIT5 (master), CIT6 (specialist) and CIT7 (doctorate). The schedule says certified employees are paid based on the highest valid in-field teaching certificate they hold. The certificate level itself is issued by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, and under its Rule 505-2-.33 an upgrade is earned by completing an eligible advanced degree program, either in the field of the current certificate or in a new field.
So a Georgia teacher reading CIT5 should think "master's-level certificate," not "bachelor's plus credits." Units outside a qualifying degree program do not move the column. The Georgia guide covers the upgrade rules in more depth.
What does rank mean for teachers?
Kentucky uses state-issued ranks. Under 16 KAR 8:010, Rank I requires completing Rank II and then one of four plans: 30 semester hours of approved graduate-level coursework or approved equivalent, 60 semester hours including a master's degree, National Board Certification, or the equivalent continuing education option. Fayette County Public Schools pays six levels named for those ranks: Rank 3.1 (AB), 3.2 (AB+15), 2.1 (MA), 2.2 (MA+15), 1.1 (MA+30) and 1.2 (Doctoral). Its schedule says plus-15 hours must fall outside the requirements for the previous degree or rank, and the MA, MA+30 and Doctoral levels also need the matching Rank 2 or Rank 1 certificate. If your schedule is organized by rank, the rank on your state record, not a raw credit count, is what places you.
What is a grandfathered or closed lane?
A closed lane stays on the schedule for teachers already in it but takes no new entrants. Seattle's 2025–26 schedule marks lane 700 (BA+135) as grandfathered only. Teachers aiming past BA+90 there would look at lane 800, which pairs the units with a master's. When a lane is closed, the label on the page is not a target you can plan around.
Salary lane labels at a glance
| Label you see | Example district | What it means there |
|---|---|---|
| BA+15, BA+30, MA+30 | Fairfax County, VA | Credits after the bachelor's or master's was conferred |
| BA+16 to MA+48, columns I–XI | Clark County, NV | College credits in 16-credit bands, in a field pertinent to the subject taught |
| BA+22.5, BA+45, lanes 100–906 | Seattle, WA | Quarter credits, some lanes also requiring a master's |
| BA15 to BA105, columns A–M | Billings, MT | Quarter credits, conversion printed on the schedule |
| Columns 010–014 | San Diego Unified, CA | Semester units of upper-division or graduate-level work, with or without a master's |
| Master's +30 or Specialist | Springfield, MO | 30 hours begun after the master's, a specialist's degree or a second master's |
| Tracks 1–8 | Madison, WI | BA+12 to MA+48; degree tracks need degree evidence |
| Lanes 1–9 | Alpine, UT | B.S. plus 20, 37, 50 or 70; M.S. plus 20 or 37 |
| Rank 3.1 to Rank 1.2 | Fayette County, KY | Levels named for Kentucky ranks; plus-15 hours outside a degree or rank |
| TEI levels | Dallas ISD, TX | Effectiveness levels; no education columns |
| Lane Z, levels | Jordan, UT | One lane; education adds levels |
| CIT4–CIT7 | Cobb County, GA | State certificate level, raised by an advanced degree |
Salary lane name questions teachers ask
Is MA+30 thirty credits after the master's or thirty in total?
Usually after the master's. Fairfax County's form says MA+30 credits must be completed after the master's was conferred. Springfield, Missouri, likewise counts only hours from studies begun after the master's toward its Master's +30 column.
Why is my district's lane called BA+45 when I only need 30 credits?
The schedule probably counts quarter credits. Seattle and Billings both say so on their schedules, and 45 quarter credits equal 30 semester credits.
Do Georgia teachers move lanes with credits?
Not on Cobb County's schedule, which pays by the highest valid in-field certificate. Georgia's Rule 505-2-.33 raises the certificate level when a teacher completes an eligible advanced degree program.
What is the difference between a step and a class?
A step is a year of credited service. A class, as Clark County uses the word, is the education column; its table prints a "Definition of Classes" and numbers them I to XI. Madison reverses the vocabulary: there, tracks are education columns and levels are experience rows.
Once you know the lane you are aiming for, the course price comparison shows where units can be taken.
Sources
- Additional Salary Request, form HR-353, Fairfax County Public Schools. Checked
- 2025–26 Certificated Non-Supervisory Salary Schedule, Seattle Public Schools. Checked
- Licensed Professional Salary Table, FY 2024–2025, Clark County School District. Checked
- BEA–BPS Appendix B Salary Schedule, 2022–23, Billings Public Schools. Checked
- Collective Bargaining Agreement, San Diego Unified School District and San Diego Education Association, 2025–2027 (Appendix A salary rules), posted by SDEA. Checked
- 2026-2027 Salary Schedules (Board of Education approval recommendation, September 22, 2026), Springfield Public Schools. Checked
- Collective Bargaining Agreement, Educators, School Year 2026-2027, School District of Springfield R-12 and Springfield National Education Association. Checked
- Teachers 192 Salary Schedule, 2026-2027, Madison Metropolitan School District. Checked
- Employee Handbook, Addendum A: Teachers, Madison Metropolitan School District. Checked
- Alpine School District Teacher Salary Schedule, Fiscal Year 2026-27, Alpine School District. Checked
- 2026–27 Salary Schedule, approved May 27, 2026, effective July 1, 2026, Fayette County Public Schools. Checked
- 2026-2027 Compensation Resource Book (Salary Handbook effective July 1, 2026), Dallas ISD. Checked
- 2026–2027 Teacher Salary Schedule, Williamson County Schools. Checked
- Teacher Salary Schedule (C Schedule), 2025–26, Jordan School District. Checked
- Teacher Salary Schedule 2026–2027, Cobb County School District. Checked
- Rule 505-2-.33, Certificate Upgrade, Georgia Professional Standards Commission. Checked
- 16 KAR 8:010, Rank I classification, Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Checked
Reviewed November 12, 2026 by TeacherPayGuide editors.Report an error