In Maryland, a K12 public school teacher can earn more than $1 million a year. But you’d never know that from Maryland’s publicly reported compensation figures for individual teachers, which, as in other states, are derived using cash accounting methods.

Cash- and accrual-basis accounting are the two main accounting methods for calculating compensation. For a given year, cash accounting measures what people are paid; accrual accounting what they earn, including deferred compensation. The government mandates both methods: cash accounting for government workers; accrual accounting for corporate executives.