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1) Teacher Compensation Is Largest
Chunk of Per-Pupil Spending. The U.S. Census
Bureau released Public Education Finances 2003 last week, with page
after page of statistics on federal, state and local public education
revenues and expenditures, including detailed figures for school districts
with enrollments of more than 10,000 students. EIA will periodically
highlight some of the data from the report. Below is a state ranking by
percentage of per-pupil spending devoted to teacher compensation, derived
from the numbers in Table 11 of the report.
The first figure is current per-pupil
expenditures for the 2002-03 school year. The second figure is the amount
per-pupil each state spends on teacher salaries and benefits combined. The
third figure is the second divided by the first, or the percentage of all
per-pupil spending devoted to teacher compensation. The U.S. average for
that year was 55.63 percent.
As you can see, the range is fairly
narrow from state to state, with almost all states fitting in the 52-59%
range, and many states extremely close to each other. The full report is
available at
http://www.census.gov/govs/www/school.html.
1) Rhode Island: $9,315 -$5,978 – 64.2%
2) New York: $12,140 -$7,765 – 64.0%
3) Maine: $8,847 - $5,345 – 60.4%
4) Utah: $4,860 - $2,891 – 59.5%
5) Georgia: $7,724 - $4,591 – 59.4%
6) Minnesota: $8,073 - $4,755 – 58.9%
7) New Hampshire: $8,285 - $4,869 –
58.8%
8) Connecticut: $10,372 - $6,051 –
58.34%
9) Indiana: $7,948 - $4,636 – 58.33%
10) West Virginia: $8,218 - $4,778 –
58.1%
11) Maryland: $8,921 - $5,160 – 57.84%
12) Massachusetts: $10,223 - $5,906 –
57.77%
13) Wisconsin: $8,993 - $5,164 – 57.42%
14) Virginia: $7,832 - $4,496 – 57.41%
15) Delaware: $9,669 - $5,539 – 57.3%
16) North Carolina: $6,635 - $3,781 –
57.0%
17) Vermont: $10,322 - $5,864 – 56.8%
18) Idaho: $6,034 - $3,419 – 56.662%
19) Kentucky: $6,647 - $3,766 – 56.657%
20) Tennessee: $6,201 - $3,512 – 56.6%
21) Iowa: $7,534 - $4,205 – 55.81%
22) Louisiana: $6,868 - $3,832 – 55.79%
23) Nebraska: $7,743 - $4,318 – 55.77%
US Avg.: $8,019 - $4,461 – 55.63%
24) Nevada: $6,084 - $3,384 – 55.62%
25) North Dakota: $7,153 - $3,944 –
55.1%
26) Illinois: $8,409 - $4,624 – 55.0%
27) California: $7,691 - $4,223 – 54.9%
28) South Carolina: $7,047- $3,841 –
54.51%
29) Missouri: $7,262 - $3,955 – 54.462%
30) Washington: $7,101 - $3,867 –
54.457%
31) Pennsylvania: $9,367 - $5,088 –
54.3%
32) Texas: $7,076 - $3,825 – 54.1%
33) Wyoming: $9,202 - $4,973 – 54.0%
34) Hawaii: $8,100 - $4,369 – 53.94%
35) Alabama: $6,395 - $3,449 – 53.93%
36) Mississippi: $5,816 - $3,135 –
53.90%
37) Oregon: $7,460 - $4,004 – 53.7%
38) South Dakota: $6,532 - $3,504 –
53.6%
39) Arkansas: $6,408 - $3,424 – 53.4%
40) New Jersey: $12,202 -$6,456 – 52.9%
41) Michigan: $8,588 - $4,532 – 52.8%
42) Ohio: $8,555 - $4,482 – 52.4%
43) Montana: $7,449 -$3,883 – 52.13%
44) New Mexico: $6,870 - $3,576 – 52.05%
45) Colorado: $7,316 - $3,738 – 51.1%
46) Arizona: $5,672 - $2,860 – 50.4%
47) Oklahoma: $6,127 - $3,084 – 50.335%
48) Kansas: $7,292 - $3,670 – 50.329%
49) Alaska: $9,919 - $4,927 – 49.7%
50) Florida: $6,450 - $3,183 – 49.3%
51) DC: $13,328 - $5,435 – 40.8%
2) Teacher Retention High in
Washington. The Center for Strengthening the
Teaching Profession decided that the rhetoric about high teacher turnover in
Washington was worth checking into. Researchers examined teacher retention
in 20 districts, ranging in size from huge Seattle to tiny Winlock. They
discovered that only 20 percent of teachers left the profession over a
five-year period, and about half of those due to retirement.
The study mentions, but does not
quantify, one aspect of teacher retention that is never fully accounted for
in these studies: the number of probationary teachers who are non-renewed by
the district before they achieve tenure protections. It makes little sense
to fuss over the retention of teachers the district no longer wanted in the
first place.
3) Rhode Island Union Blasts Report
Without Seeing It. The Education Partnership is a
coalition of business and public education groups in Rhode Island.
Yesterday, the partnership released a report based on a 10-month study of
teacher contracts in the state. The National Education Association of Rhode
Island (NEARI) denounced the report as "anti-teacher and anti-union" last
Friday. Had the union read the report? No, but NEARI must have known
that any study of teacher contracts in the state would come to the fairly
obvious conclusions that, as the now-released report states, "contracts
restrict flexibility and school autonomy," "drive up the cost of education
without improving quality," and "entrench the role of the union."
The partnership's recommendations are
more problematic, calling for much of the bargaining to take place at the
state level, revising Rhode Island's collective bargaining law, and calling
on the unions to "abandon factory model bargaining." Good luck with that.
4) Health Care Profiteering in
Wisconsin. School districts often cite the costs
of employee health insurance as the cause of budget cuts and program
cutbacks. Teachers, administrators and taxpayers alike complain about health
insurers that seem to be making obscene profits out of the paychecks of
ordinary working people.
Unless you're on the receiving end.
The school board in Cedarburg,
Wisconsin, paid $4.5 million in premiums on behalf of its employees, but the
employees only submitted $3.4 million in health insurance claims. Who got
the other $1.1 million? Their insurer, the WEA Trust. Pretty good profit,
right? No, the WEA Trust is raising the district's premiums to almost $4.9
million next year.
Well, the market rules, right? The
district should simply take its business elsewhere. But it can't, because
the teachers' union won't hear of it. You see, the WEA Trust was created by
the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), NEA's state affiliate,
and WEAC's board of directors elects the board of the WEA Trust, which is
made up of former WEAC officers and activists.
Not that the Trust is any hotbed of
union solidarity. It had a well-publicized run-in last year with its own
employees, whose union accused the Trust of imposing a contract with
take-backs in health benefits.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
reports that Cedarburg will investigate a switch to a self-funded insurance
plan.
5) NYSUT Prince of Wales to Assume
Throne. Thomas Hobart, president of the New York
State United Teachers (NYSUT) for 32 years, is retiring next month. So, it's
a once-in-a-lifetime chance for any one of NYSUT's nearly half-million
members to make a leadership run.
Oh, except the endorsement of NYSUT's
dominant internal caucus has already gone to sitting vice president Richard
Iannuzzi, ensuring his election. Better luck in 2037!
6) NEA Affiliate Dues Odds & Ends.
* The Kentucky Education Association delegate assembly will vote on a
proposal to tie the union's dues to each member's individual salary. The
initial dues rate would be set at 0.61% of each member's annual wages. The
Michigan Education Association is the only NEA state affiliate to approve
such a system, but it has not yet implemented it.
* Dues in the 2005-06 school year for
the Ohio Education Association will be set at $446, with regional UniServ
fees to rise to $70. That constitutes a $15 increase. OEA membership is down
slightly this year.
* The Indiana State Teachers Association
will increase dues $9 in the 2005-06 school year.
7) I'm a Fool for the City.
Daniel Dorman, a senior at Bonita Vista High School in California, grew
tired of hearing the one-tone lunch bell each school day. So he created a
mass movement, gathering 300 signatures and celebrity endorsements for his
alternative: to have lunch signaled by playing "Slow Ride" – the 1970s rock
anthem recorded by Foghat -- over the school's loudspeakers.
After Dorman threatened a hunger strike
over the issue, Principal Ramon Leyba agreed to play "Slow Ride" – but only
once, as redesigning the school's bell system was out of the question.
Foghat was so impressed by Dorman's achievement they invited him, his
friends, and Principal Leyba to one of the band's concerts this summer.
The San Diego Union-Tribune
treated the story as a tribute to Dorman's activism, but EIA suspects
Principal Leyba's LP collection contains Fool for the City, Stone
Blue, and some Savoy Brown classics like Lookin' In and Raw
Sienna.
8) Correction and Housekeeping.
The Flash! item sent out last Thursday afternoon contained an error. The
rules of the California Teachers Association require that the union's State
Council be given a one-meeting notification period before voting on a major
agenda item. Therefore, the council will be officially notified of the
proposed dues increase at its April 8-10 meeting, but will not vote on it
until its June 10-12 meeting. EIA regrets the error.
Also, technical difficulties with
America OnLine prevented most of you from receiving the truncated communiqué
of March 14. The problem has been cleared up. If you wish to read last
week's items, they will be available in the EIA Archives at
http://www.eiaonline.com.
9) Quote of
the Week.
"I was a shop steward. I believe in the collective bargaining
process. But I don't think collective bargaining ought to be driving what we
do in the classroom." – California Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata.
(March 15 Sacramento Bee) |
