|
1) How Many Teachers Do We Need?
It's strange that education labor issues seem to
suffer both from too much attention and too little.
The public policy debate is saturated with the topics of teacher retention,
shortages, class size reduction, hard-to-staff schools, hard-to-fill
positions, etc. Half the spending from
President Obama's economic stimulus plan appears to have gone to create
or save jobs in public education - catapulting education labor into the
primary focus of national economic policy.
The calculus
of trying to count how many people weren't fired has gotten the President
into some difficulty, as reports from
California,
Ohio and
nationally indicate many "saved" jobs, particularly in education, were
never in jeopardy.
Notwithstanding these reporting errors, it is certain that jobs have been
lost in education.
Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for October 2009 show the
number of education employees has been reduced to its October 2006 level.
Education employees are naturally distressed, as the number of students
increased a total of 1 percent over that period of time. The idea of taking
care of 489,000 additional students with the same number of employees is
daunting.
Or it would
be if we didn't know that it is an average of just five additional students
per school, or that it only increases the student-teacher ratio from 15.5 to
15.7, or if we knew for certain that the level of teacher hiring is based on
something other than the amount of money available.
In the Winter
2010 issue of
Education Next, Arthur Peng and James Guthrie argue that schools
enjoy a "fiscal privilege" that leads to increased spending and hiring in
good times or bad, without regard to outcomes.
Their historical hiring graph doesn't need much explanation. Americans,
or at least their elected representatives, long ago came to the conclusion
that more education employees are better than the number we have now.
We can spend
our time with theoretical or partisan arguments over the results of that
conclusion, but it is inevitable that at some point it will eat into other
needs and desires Americans rank higher. Without clear evidence that the
benefits outweigh the costs, Peng and Guthrie's hiring graph will eventually
transform from a upward-sloping line to a
logistic curve. The statistics from the stimulus package suggest we
haven't reached that point yet. Perhaps we won't until there is one
education employee for each and every student.
2) School Districts to File Class
Action Suit Against Indiana State Teachers Association.
EIA reported three weeks ago (item
#3 here) that the Delphi Community School Corporation would file suit
against the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA) in an attempt to
recover reserves lost when the union's insurance trust went under. Now
Indiana outlets are reporting
at least one other district has joined the suit, and as many as a dozen
others may follow.
The plaintiffs aren't satisfied with the
response they have received from ISTA and NEA. "I have sent a letter, our
corporation attorney sent a letter, we've had meetings scheduled and
canceled, and we just have not received any information," said Caston School
Corporation Superintendent Dan Foster said. "We do not know where that money
is, and we have - or should have - quite a bit of money sitting there."
Edward Sullivan, who is administering
ISTA for NEA, said the
national union isn't responsible for the trust's debts, but suggested
the parties could find a "creative solution" to the dispute.
"This was an insurance trust that people paid
into, and the NEA was totally unrelated to that," he said. "That wouldn't
necessarily be the appropriate thing to do, but we need to find ways to
resolve this."
3) Contract Hits.
Wherein we highlight a contract provision from the current agreement between
the National Education Association and its largest staff union. This is
Article 33, Section 2:
"If an employee is incarcerated for the
foregoing reasons, he/she shall be paid at his/her regular hourly rate for
all time spent in jail."
4) Last Week's Intercepts.
EIA's blog,
Intercepts, covered these topics from November 2-9:
* NEA
Dispenses Cost-Cutting Advice. No, not the staff ice machine.
* One-Third
of Hawaii's Schools Apply for More Teaching Days. Teacher voice.
* Washington
Post 2009 Education Blog Contest.
Bragging rights.
* Keep
the Stores Open Late. Especially if you sell wigs, silverware or furs.
* Rumor
Control. Is gossip in the teacher lounge different from other workplace
gossip?
5) Quote of the Week #1.
"I'm finding where every dollar is they've given me and I'm giving it back.
They can give it to some legislators they control." - Illinois state Senator
James T. Meeks, responding to a resolution by the Chicago Teachers Union
cutting off further campaign contributions until he apologizes for comparing
the union to a street gang. (November 5
Chicago Tribune)
Quote of the Week #2.
"We've got to raise new revenue, and income tax is the way to do it. If
something isn't done, it could possibly decimate school districts." - Dave
Comerford, media director for the Illinois Federation of Teachers. (November
9
Medill News Service)
Quote of the Week #3.
"They hit him with everything but the kitchen sink - or everything and the
kitchen sink - and he won. They can't threaten him (by saying) 'We're going
to beat you next time.'" - New Jersey state Senator Stephen Sweeney
(D-Gloucester), discussing Governor-elect Chris Christie and the state's
unions. (November 8
Newark Star-Ledger)
Quote of the Week #4.
"Those that pay the piper should call the tune." - Robley S. Jones, director
of government affairs for the Virginia Education Association, referring to
the state law that allows school districts veto power over the establishment
of charters. (November 8
Washington Post)
Quote of the Week #5.
"Public school choice and the new experimentation with charter schools
beginning in Virginia will provide competition within the public schools
system. Isn't it clear that fair competition is impossible between a system
offering education to all and a system excluding all students who are
difficult and expensive to educate?" - Robley S. Jones, director of
government affairs for the Virginia Education Association, writing 10 years
ago, when charters served a purpose for him - to argue against vouchers.
(December 1999
The Virginia News Letter) |
