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1) Horseshoes and Hand Grenades.
The California Teachers
Association on Friday filed
a proposed initiative to increase the state sales tax "to provide new,
ongoing funding for public schools and colleges that cannot be cut, delayed
or diverted by the governor or the Legislature."
You, dear
reader, already knew about this six weeks ago (see
item #2 here), but I thought I would mention something in the CTA press
release. It reads, "Already ranking 46th in the nation in per-student
funding, California schools and colleges have been cut by more than $3.5
billion in the past year and face another $4 billion in cuts under the
budget plan approved Thursday by the Legislature."
I'm sure
there is some tortured table somewhere that places California 46th in the
nation in some measure of per-pupil spending. It probably requires applying
L.A. or San Jose prices to Redding and Needles. But as luck would have it,
we just received a comprehensive report on per-pupil spending from a source
I'm sure CTA has heard of - the National Education Association.
NEA's annual Rankings and Estimates report
happens to rank states by per-pupil spending, and on page 55 (73 in the PDF
file) Table H-11 shows California ranked 26th in per-pupil spending, not
46th. Close enough for government work, as they say.
There is one
measure in which California ranks first, though. The average teacher salary
in the state was $64,424 last year (Table C-11) - almost $2,100 more than
second-place New York, and almost $12,000 higher than the national average.
What's more, California placed fifth in the nation in the percentage that
teacher salaries have increased over the last 10 years, corrected for
inflation (Table C-14).
Move on to
the Estimates section of the report, and you'll find that NEA estimates the
average California teacher salary this year is $66,986 - a 4% increase over
last year (Summary Table G). This pay hike comes during a year in which the
state has hired an additional 2,700 teachers (Summary Table F).
The
last time CTA threatened with this initiative, the governor and the
legislature rolled over so fast the union could hardly believe its luck. I
suspect this time CTA will have to take its chances with the electorate.
Good luck.
2) Holiday Hiatus.
EIA already has a lot of stuff lined up for early in the New
Year and there is no sense burying news during Christmas week. So thanks for
reading all year long and may you and yours have a Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year.
The communiqué and the blog will return
on Wednesday, January 7.
3) Last Week's Intercepts.
EIA's blog,
Intercepts, covered these topics from December 15-21:
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The Arne Duncan Reaction Digest. He supports NCLB and he doesn't. He
collaborates with the union and he doesn't. He's a reformer and he isn't.
Are you sure this guy isn't a politician?
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Good News: Two-Thirds of Voters Have Grasp of Obvious. Nearly 12 years
after the
Kamber Report, NEA is still in the same boat.
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Attention! We Stink at What We Do! Hire a new agent.
4) Quote of
the Week.
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming
it on you; if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, you must have a
pretty good team of lawyers and a lot of dirt on the people who want to get
rid of you." – Me, after hearing
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich quote Kipling. |
