Thanks to a well written article in Sunday's Daily Times (along with a very interesting supplement on pages A6-A7), discussion of the Wicomico County Board of Education's (WCBOE) Early Notification Program (ENP) should take a dramatic turn. The WCBOE's stated purposes for the ENP are simple: retention (especially for those with 20 - 25 years of service) and HR planning. However, it is the supplemental information provided that should give the greatest cause for concern.
On pages A6 and A7 of the printed edition of the Daily Times is a list of WCBOE employees with 25+ years of service. Should the salary levels shock the average taxpayer of Wicomico County? No. By themselves they should not be cause for great concern. However, taken in context, this information should (at least) be grist for the grinder of public discussion.
Let's remember, the average teacher works less than nine (9) months of the year. There's the summer vacation plus all of those Holiday's and breaks that the average private sector worker doesn't get off, much less paid for. Let's take one example. There is a third grade teacher whose salary is listed as $80,179. Annualized, that salary is $107,000. Administrative personnel are (hopefully) a slightly different matter because (again, hopefully) they are "working" twelve months per year. Of course that's not really the case because I do know that they still get most (if not all) of these other holidays and breaks (plus vacation).
The next time you read a letter to the editor from some poor teacher claiming that they have to work as a waitress over the summer "just to make ends meet" at least be more of a skeptic. I'm actually more concerned for the single mom who has to work all year as a waitress and has to pay taxes to provide those teacher salaries.
As a political conservative I don't buy into the typical class warfare arguments. Again, the salary level by themselves shouldn't be cause for alarm. However, where else (besides the Federal government) can you get a job that pays an annualized six figure salary; from which it is almost impossible to be dismissed for poor job performance; where you have great benefits; and where a good share of your medical benefits are paid in retirement?
As I stated in a previous post, if WCBOE teachers and staff want salary levels commensurate with the private sector then their jobs should truly be equivalent to the private sector. That means:
For top level staff, they should be held accountable for the millions of taxpayer dollars they spend. Productivity in the bureaucracy should be one of the core benchmarks against which they are measured. How much money would be saved each year if the hierarchy were flattened out and the same (or more) work was accomplished with half to two-thirds of the personnel. That's what's occurred in the private sector over the last 20 years. Of course that would mean that an EdD (PhD in education) would automatically disqualify an individual from being a superintendent. I can hear the shirt tearing coming from our universities now.
For mid, and lower, level staff there should be NO benefit for seniority. Merit and/or productivity should rule the roost - 100%. Of course you will hear all sorts of the reasons that this can't work from the education bureaucracy. Don't worry, I'll address those later.
For teachers, the remedies are just a bit different. Teachers are, in effect, the infantry. They do the work that matters. Everything else is a support function. Don't get me wrong. Many, but definitely not all, of these other positions are necessary. However, the bottom line is that a school system is supposed to teach our children.
Teachers should be well paid. Teacher pay should NOT be determined solely by seniority. If there is a shortage of math teachers or science teachers then they should be paid more than teachers in areas where there is no shortage (a point made by the Daily Times editorial in Sunday's edition). Tenure should be abolished outright. Teachers should be forced to maintain competence, not only in teaching, but in their core subject area.
There should be merit pay. I constantly hear all of the arguments against it. "You can't trust the principal to evaluate fairly", etc. How do you think it works in the private sector? If a manager (principal) keeps rewarding his buddies instead of the best teachers, then the best teachers will transfer to another school or leave for another system. When top management sees the discrepancy the principal should be FIRED, not merely transferred (which is what happens today at the WCBOE). Of course there are inefficiencies; but in the long run they are worked out of the system.
Teachers should be evaluated on RESULTS. Now, that has to vary depending on the teacher's subject or pupil base. A special ed teacher can't be expected to deliver test results equal to a teacher who's students are classified as "gifted". However, don't tell me that metrics can't be established for measuring these types of activities. Has the public education community ever heard of "Six Sigma"?
Of course there should also be core changes in the curriculum, like making kids read. I get sick to my stomach every time my son, who graduated from the county schools, or one of my nieces or nephews tells me about something that they learned in school and I find out that they watched a movie. Movies are what you watch on the weekend after all of your school work is done. Movies don't claim to be historically accurate or true to the work on which they are based. But in this day our kids are learning Moby Dick from watching "that Star Trek dude" (they mean the version starring Patrick Stewart, which is supposedly the truest to Melville's novel). And we wonder why Johnny can't read?
These are just a few possible solutions, and I readily admit that they primarily focus around pay. There are many more solutions out there and many (most?) of them are worthy of consideration. The question remains - what are we willing to do to improve our public schools? I'm willing to do a lot, including pay higher taxes, IF the WCBOE was serious about fixing the problems of our schools. Unfortunately, I do not believe that there is the political will on the part of the school board (particularly under an O'Malley administration) to actually address these problems. The answer from the MSTA is always a simple one - spend more money. We need only look across the Bay to the DC school system to see that throwing money at a problem is not a solution.
cross posted at Delmarva Dealings
Technorati Tags: Maryland, Wicomico, politics, Wicomico politics, education, MSTA, teacher, pay, benefits, curriculum, merit pay, Daily Times, Gannett
On pages A6 and A7 of the printed edition of the Daily Times is a list of WCBOE employees with 25+ years of service. Should the salary levels shock the average taxpayer of Wicomico County? No. By themselves they should not be cause for great concern. However, taken in context, this information should (at least) be grist for the grinder of public discussion.
Let's remember, the average teacher works less than nine (9) months of the year. There's the summer vacation plus all of those Holiday's and breaks that the average private sector worker doesn't get off, much less paid for. Let's take one example. There is a third grade teacher whose salary is listed as $80,179. Annualized, that salary is $107,000. Administrative personnel are (hopefully) a slightly different matter because (again, hopefully) they are "working" twelve months per year. Of course that's not really the case because I do know that they still get most (if not all) of these other holidays and breaks (plus vacation).
The next time you read a letter to the editor from some poor teacher claiming that they have to work as a waitress over the summer "just to make ends meet" at least be more of a skeptic. I'm actually more concerned for the single mom who has to work all year as a waitress and has to pay taxes to provide those teacher salaries.
As a political conservative I don't buy into the typical class warfare arguments. Again, the salary level by themselves shouldn't be cause for alarm. However, where else (besides the Federal government) can you get a job that pays an annualized six figure salary; from which it is almost impossible to be dismissed for poor job performance; where you have great benefits; and where a good share of your medical benefits are paid in retirement?
As I stated in a previous post, if WCBOE teachers and staff want salary levels commensurate with the private sector then their jobs should truly be equivalent to the private sector. That means:
For top level staff, they should be held accountable for the millions of taxpayer dollars they spend. Productivity in the bureaucracy should be one of the core benchmarks against which they are measured. How much money would be saved each year if the hierarchy were flattened out and the same (or more) work was accomplished with half to two-thirds of the personnel. That's what's occurred in the private sector over the last 20 years. Of course that would mean that an EdD (PhD in education) would automatically disqualify an individual from being a superintendent. I can hear the shirt tearing coming from our universities now.
For mid, and lower, level staff there should be NO benefit for seniority. Merit and/or productivity should rule the roost - 100%. Of course you will hear all sorts of the reasons that this can't work from the education bureaucracy. Don't worry, I'll address those later.
For teachers, the remedies are just a bit different. Teachers are, in effect, the infantry. They do the work that matters. Everything else is a support function. Don't get me wrong. Many, but definitely not all, of these other positions are necessary. However, the bottom line is that a school system is supposed to teach our children.
Teachers should be well paid. Teacher pay should NOT be determined solely by seniority. If there is a shortage of math teachers or science teachers then they should be paid more than teachers in areas where there is no shortage (a point made by the Daily Times editorial in Sunday's edition). Tenure should be abolished outright. Teachers should be forced to maintain competence, not only in teaching, but in their core subject area.
There should be merit pay. I constantly hear all of the arguments against it. "You can't trust the principal to evaluate fairly", etc. How do you think it works in the private sector? If a manager (principal) keeps rewarding his buddies instead of the best teachers, then the best teachers will transfer to another school or leave for another system. When top management sees the discrepancy the principal should be FIRED, not merely transferred (which is what happens today at the WCBOE). Of course there are inefficiencies; but in the long run they are worked out of the system.
Teachers should be evaluated on RESULTS. Now, that has to vary depending on the teacher's subject or pupil base. A special ed teacher can't be expected to deliver test results equal to a teacher who's students are classified as "gifted". However, don't tell me that metrics can't be established for measuring these types of activities. Has the public education community ever heard of "Six Sigma"?
Of course there should also be core changes in the curriculum, like making kids read. I get sick to my stomach every time my son, who graduated from the county schools, or one of my nieces or nephews tells me about something that they learned in school and I find out that they watched a movie. Movies are what you watch on the weekend after all of your school work is done. Movies don't claim to be historically accurate or true to the work on which they are based. But in this day our kids are learning Moby Dick from watching "that Star Trek dude" (they mean the version starring Patrick Stewart, which is supposedly the truest to Melville's novel). And we wonder why Johnny can't read?
These are just a few possible solutions, and I readily admit that they primarily focus around pay. There are many more solutions out there and many (most?) of them are worthy of consideration. The question remains - what are we willing to do to improve our public schools? I'm willing to do a lot, including pay higher taxes, IF the WCBOE was serious about fixing the problems of our schools. Unfortunately, I do not believe that there is the political will on the part of the school board (particularly under an O'Malley administration) to actually address these problems. The answer from the MSTA is always a simple one - spend more money. We need only look across the Bay to the DC school system to see that throwing money at a problem is not a solution.
cross posted at Delmarva Dealings
Technorati Tags: Maryland, Wicomico, politics, Wicomico politics, education, MSTA, teacher, pay, benefits, curriculum, merit pay, Daily Times, Gannett
A+ !
ReplyDeleteGreat Work GA! I couldn't agree more.
The WCBOE has said that Talbot did a program similar to ENP for years. Well, one $4,000 bonus to a retiring teacher in Talbot is not the same thing as $10,000 or more for up to 3 years to a principal or central office employee in Wicomico. Why should the perk be a percentage of salary? Teachers are not the highest paid employees in the system.
ReplyDeleteYears ago the Maryland retirement system started a "new" system with a much lower pension plan than the existing one. To stay in the "old" system, employees had to pay a few thousand dollars and also have more taken out of their yearly salary until retirement. Those who went in the "new" system received tens of thousands of dollars from the "old" plan but then became subject to the terms of the "new" system. Now, those people are retiring and some of them are doing whatever they can to increase their pensions. By having a teacher who earned $73,000 last year be given $80,000 this year, $87,000 next year and $94,000 the third year, retirement under the "new" system would be approaching the amount that would have been paid in the "old" system to someone earning $73,000. For supervisors and other central office staff, their bonuses would be even higher. In this way, people in the "new" system would have approximately the same pension as those in the "old" system without having had nearly so much deducted from their salaries. This is the motivation behind ENP and the reason many at the Board are upset with the Maryland Retirement System.
It is amazing that the reason given in the DT to explain why the ENP has been a secret since last June is that it wasn't "part of the regular contract". So then why should it be considered for retirement purposes? It's either salary or it isn't.
ReplyDeleteThe Board knew that increases in the Thornton money from the state were going to be cut severely. Why start this program when you know funds will be limited? Why have it apply to those who you know are not in the age group leaving the county?
I have been a registered nurse for over 20 years and don't make anything close to what these teachers are getting! The difference is that nurses are so tired and stressed out they don't have time to rally a protest. There is an impending crisis of shortage of nurses but no one seems to care. Nurses don't get summers off,they work nights , weekends, and holidays. Frankly I am so sick of hearing how bad teachers have it, compared to working in the hospital, short staffed, brutal hours and physical requirements of lifting and hauling patients around- what a bunch of ingrates!!
ReplyDeleteWhile the salary for those advanced in years may be annualized at 6 figures, it's not what they get for putting food on the table. And the example is not your typical teacher's.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for measuring results, but will the failure of parents be factored in? Or the imposition of additional curriculum or overcrowded classrooms by elected officials who hunger for residential annexation or clustered septics?
In short, where we set teachers up to fail with conditions that have them spend their day policing warehoused youth instead of teaching, will the result standards be adjusted?
Based on your analysis of the great money teachers get, we should be overflowing in them. Reality is, we have a shortage. Is it any wonder?
You raise some valid points, but just attacking teachers as whiners misses a lot of the real picture.
The writer of the DT story did a nice job with ENP. He is not aware of all the loopholes in the program, though. You can sign up for ENP for three years but then retire after one or two. Also, you can take the ENP money but not retire. How does this help the WBOE plan for vacancies? It doesn't, but that was not its purpose in the first place.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if the system thinks a math teacher is retiring in three years, will they go out and recruit a sophomore in college? Do you think a teacher needs to be paid 10% for three years to say when he might retire? That is ludicrous. The only thing more ridiculous is paying a director at the Board 10% for three years to say when he might retire.
We need to get a few things straight.
ReplyDeleteOne commenter seems to think that the ENP compounds. It does not. Let's assume your base salary is $70,000 for year 1, $73,000 for year 2 and $76,000 for year 3. Your salary would then be $77,000, $80,300 and $83,600.
One commenter thinks that you can put in for the ENP bonus, take the money, and then opt out. The only way that this is possible is under some hardship and then the Board has to personally approve that individual case. Since the program just started, there isn't an instance of this occurring yet. One question I don't have the answer to is - IF a person tried to opt out, and IF the board approved them to stay, WOULD the board require a refund of the bonus money?
Another commenter seems to think that this bonus will apply towards retirement. It does not. While that was the BOE's intention, the state has ruled that these bonuses cannot be applied to retirement. It is my understanding that the WCBOE is appealing that ruling.
As for the comment about "setting teachers up to fail", I am disappointed in this old rhetoric. It's simply a variant of "throw money at the problem" argument. Do not tell me that the curriculum is more rigorous today than it was 40 or 50 years ago (watching movies instead of reading books being but one example). Forty plus years ago teachers didn't have aides.
Who cooked up the idea of "main streaming"? Probably some professor at a university ed school. I happen to believe that if students can't grasp course material, they should be held back. If students can't behave, they should be sent to an alternative school rather than being allowed to stop other students from learning.
I know. These are very unpopular ideas. Too bad. History shows that they work.
G.A. is right when he says it was the intention of the Board to have these bonuses count toward retirement. In my opinion, that was the main motivation for the whole program.
ReplyDeleteG.A., you and Joe have done a beautiful job with this story. Please get an answer to the question about whether the 10% bonus has to be paid back if the person opts out after they have received it. I believe you will be told the person keeps the money.
G.A., there is another way to get around retiring after taking ENP bonuses. You might want to ask the Bd. about it. If the superintendent ASKS the employee to stay, the employee stays and keeps the ENP money. No hardship case is necessary in that event. Since there will be a new supt. who may want to keep veteran central office personnel, just a request to stay means the person asked can avoid retiring and will not have to repay the ENP bonus.
ReplyDeleteDepending on how far GA wants to go, he might want to find out who was on the negotiating team from the central office. This would be the team that negotiated with the teachers. It is obvious from remarks in the DT that the teachers union did not want or ask for the ENP and favored equitable treatment of all teachers. The president of the union said the central office insisted on ENP. Did anyone on the negotiating team from the central office benefit personally from ENP? It wouldn't be that hard to find out.
ReplyDeleteG.A. after speaking with you more recently, I've learned that even though we belong to the same political party, we differ greatly on a some issues. This is not one of those issues. Outstanding Post!
ReplyDeleteI do believe that there is a lot of waste that can be cut from the BOE. But before that can happen we have to put the local govt. back in control of the schools. I believe we should have an elected school board and eliminate federal mandates relating to standardized test results. ALSO - we need to stop catering to children of illegal immigrants who can't read and write english. Too much money is being redirected to the education of non-english speaking children. I'm sure this will go over well.
Be specific about the waste at the BOE. What would you like to see eliminated? Would the BOE still be able to comply with federal, state and local laws? I work there and there are always financial auditors and auditors from the state board of ed looking at programs. Unlike Salisbury, the financial audits are clean and on time. According to the Board president, Wicomico BOE spends less than Worcester, Somerset & Dorchester in expense per pupil now.
ReplyDeleteanon 6:46
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. That was the point I was trying to make when I stated the the schools need to be placed back in the hands of the local govts. Federal mandates cost more money than they're worth. They now have our teachers instructing student only to take the tests. Teachers can't do what they do best - teach. If we can eliminate these "programs" I believe we can produce students who know how to learn not just take specific tests. I personally can't think of one thing in which either the state or federals govts. are involved that don't amount to a ton of wasted money. The number of positions necessary to assure the board of ed. remains in compliance with these programs alone likely costs many hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. Think of how this money could be better spent on the actual education of our students.
One thing to remember is that teachers have to have continuing education. Most teachers have a masters or masters equivalent. I've been teaching for 11 years. I have a masters plus 30 credits on top of that. In the time off I must take classes very often for recertification. How many other professions require that? Also at least twice per month teachers work extra hours for meetings, conferences, and PTAs. I don't complain about my salery but I do think it is earned.
ReplyDeleteI think I'd learn how to spell salary if I really want to earn it, 8:49 p.m. Hopefully, you just had a typo.
ReplyDeleteIf you spent one week in one of our schools dealing with all of the difficult social and behavioral issues along with trying to maintain a curriculum, you wouldn't complain about teachers' salaries. I 've been there, and I will never complain about their pay.
ReplyDeleteNurse sat PRMC must complete a minimum of 15 CEU's every year plus certification in CPR , and ACLS for critical care nursing. PRMC nurses salary "maxes out" at under 40.00 per hour with no increase after that point. Compared to teachers salaries Nurses are extremely overworked and underpaid. Seeing the salaries in the paper that some BOE employees are getting made me sick to my stomach. Try missing Christmas morning with your kids because you work in the hospital. Try staying up all night long to because you have to work at night. You teachers are ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAnon 11:40 PM -
ReplyDeleteAt PRMC, we have shift differentials, holiday pay and overtime pay that increase our hourly rates.
Sounds like you are miserable at PRMC. Maybe you should be a school nurse.
GA/Joe:
ReplyDeleteI would appreciate it you would now do a compaign to see the salary comparisons among teachers in Worcester and Dorchester counties. This would be very interesting. Since it seems like you have so much time on your hands. I am sure that you could get the process started, let the daily times do most of the legwork and then sit back and claim all the glory. This would show true "journalism".
I like the idea of retention, but this program needs to be altered. There should be a max cap on how much a teacher or supervisor can be paid under this program. 10% of $70k is lot different than 10% of $120k the asst superintendants are getting paid.
ReplyDeleteI think a signing bonus for new teachers would help attract in key areas....many of graduating students have loans to pay off or will have moving expenses to pay for and this might be a very big attraction for many.
I know many, many teachers who work 60+ hours per week grading papers, preparing for class, calling and meeting with parents. So comparing nurses and teachers isn't a fair comparison. Teaching is a very stressful job and deserves to be well paid. I have no problem with the salaries that many of these teachers are getting. Most have earned it.
6:46 would like specifics on waste at the WBOE so here are just a few
ReplyDelete1. Math supervisor is supposed to do preK-grade 12 but has a full-time coordinator to help
2. Reading supervisor is supposed to do prek-12 but has a full-time coordinator to help
3. A full-time position was created at the central office for a parent liaison
4. A full-time position was created for a community liaison for the new alternative to the alternative program
4. Directors of elemen. ed. and secondary ed. don't do curriculum for their levels because there is a separate director to do curriculum--exactly what ed. are the other two directing?
5. A position was created for a full-time staff development coordinator who mainly gets teachers to sign up for sessions other teachers are conducting a few times a year. This person helps the director of staff development.
6. A Safe Schools coordinator was appointed to take many of the responsibilities from the director of student services. Transportation was taken from the director of student services also but the salary was not reduced. So now there's a safe schools person paid over $100,000, a student services director paid over $100,000 and an assistant supt. for student services paid over $125,000.
7. School nurses have a full-time supervisor.
8. No one understands the exact job descriptions of all the positions added to maintenance and facilities and special ed in the past two years.
The real point is that teachers and school administrators work an incredible number of hours
outside of the school day. They are not paid for those hours and they receive no comp time. The central office does not work that way. Positions are added to avoid that sort of thing and they're added if someone doesn't like or is going to be moved from his present job.