vision2020
Re: Study finds Idaho teachers paid well
Let's get to the heart of this problem. I've seen Top Ramen at
WinCo for less than half that price. Shop around a little and you can
stretch that 58K into 200....
Clint "Tex" Payton
email: tex@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu
On Fri, 23 Aug 2002, Michael Cantrell wrote:
> All,
>
> My wife, Janice Boughton, is not subscribed to Vision2020, but I showed
> her Dale Courtney's email containing Jack Wender's views on Idaho
> teachers' pay. Her comments are below.
>
> Mac Cantrell
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> The article quoting Jack Wenders made me feel like trying to be Ogden
> Nash. Here's the result.
>
> Janice Boughton
>
>
> REBUTTAL TO WENDERS
>
> O thanks be to professor Wenders as quoted,
> for producing such precise and shocking statistics.
> How did he get all of these numbers he's noted?
> Perhaps I can help with these made up heuristics.
>
> He states that a teacher making thirty six thousand,
> is actually taking home 58K.
> To get this you simply take salary times height, and
> divide by the interest rate half way through May.
>
> To teach economics at our fine university,
> states a well known research group in East Oklahoma,
> one needs no set training or certifications,
> just a valid United States high school diploma.
>
> And the salary of such a prestigious professor,
> is so high it makes tightwads hot under collars.
> Corrected for benefits plus a fudge factor,
> 58 thousand income is 0.5 million dollars.
>
> As we know our kids' teachers should do it for love,
> its fine if their pay barely lets them survive.
> What a crime if they make these big figures we've heard of.
> They can live on Top Ramen -- a dollar for five!
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Tue, 20 Aug 2002, Dale Courtney wrote:
>
> > See: http://www.idtaxreform.com/PressReleases/082202.htm or
> > http://www.idtaxreform.com/PDFs/Teacher%20Comp%20Wenders.pdf
> >
> > (Boise)-- University of Idaho economics professor, Jack Wenders
> > prepared a study for Idahoans for Tax Reform on teacher compensation in
> > Idaho. His work is a follow-up on his previous a peer review (February
> > 2002) of "Idaho's MOST Forecast Report," an Albertson Foundation
> > financed study for the State Board of Education relating to the future
> > teacher supply in Idaho.
> >
> > Laird Maxwell, chairman of Idahoans for Tax Reform said, "In both
> > reports, Dr. Wenders finds the teacher's union and their supporters
> > spreading disinformation by misreporting portions which perpetuate the
> > myths that teachers are in short supply and are underpaid. Wenders'
> > analysis clearly shows that neither of these claims are true."
> >
> > Wenders writes in his teacher compensation analysis: "When looked
> > at objectively, one finds that teachers, both in Idaho and across the
> > US, generally are very well paid relative to their counterparts in the
> > private sector, and their above-market pay is confirmed by the perennial
> > surplus in the general teachers' market and by teachers' relative low
> > attrition rates on the job market." (Idaho's teacher retention rate is
> > 92.4% with a 5.4% net resignation rate.)
> >
> > Wenders clearly explains how the collective teacher salary "grid"
> > is used as a political tool, as opposed to a market based approach where
> > salaries are set individually. "Dolts get paid the same as superior
> > teachers, and PE teachers are paid the same a physics teachers. Unlike
> > in the real marketplace, teachers who perform well, or have valuable
> > talents, never make more, and those who perform badly or whose talents
> > are commonplace, never make less."
> >
> > There is compelling evidence that the better graduates of the
> > colleges of education become disillusioned when trapped by the public
> > school inflexible salary grids and are less inclined to enter teaching
> > and tend to leave once in the classroom. "One could not consciously
> > design a policy with worse incentives for attracting and keeping good
> > talent and performance," writes Wenders.
> >
> > "The U-shaped relationship between the attrition rate and age means
> > that generally teachers only leave their jobs early or late in their
> > careers. Once past the first few years, they generally stay and ride the
> > salary grids upward until retirement," Wenders reports. Moreover, since
> > retirement benefits for teachers are usually higher than in the private
> > sector, "teachers often find it attractive to retire early, often to
> > become double-dippers."
> >
> > Wenders cites numerous studies debunking the over-reported myth
> > that decreasing class size uniformly improves student performance.
> > Actually this myth is used to artificially stimulate the demand for more
> > teachers plus perpetuate the so-called "teacher shortage" problem, and
> > thereby padding union membership.
> >
> > Additionally, when teacher quality is measured by student
> > performance, Wenders concludes, "all the various certification,
> > licensing, etc., standards are beyond detection."
> >
> > For 2001, the national teachers' union reported "average" salaries
> > of $43,335 for the US and $36,375 for Idaho. Wenders says "average" is a
> > misleading number distorted by the continually changing mix of teachers
> > in different parts of the salary grid. The reported average does not
> > include the abnormally high fringe benefits which greatly underestimate
> > teachers' total salary. Fringe benefits are about 29.45% of salary for
> > Idaho teachers and around 26% for the US. (Private sector fringes are
> > about 15.8% of salary)
> >
> > Wenders reports, "Thus, total compensation for the 'average'
> > teacher is $54,602 for the US, and $47,087 for Idaho. These are the data
> > the NEA/IEA neither reports nor discusses."
> >
> > However, Wenders challenges the "averages" by noting, "If the NEA
> > really wanted to track teachers' salaries over time, it would take a
> > random (or total) sample of real teachers in every state in 1990, and
> > record their progress up through the elements of the succeeding higher
> > grids until 2000, and see what happened to their salaries annually. It
> > could then do the same for a sample of teachers in 1991. The result
> > would be a table of how actual teachers' salaries behaved beginning in
> > every year over this decade."
> >
> > Wenders summarizes, "If annualized, 'average' teachers'
> > compensation is $67,440 for the US and $58,140 for Idaho."
> >
> > Maxwell encouraged school board members and media professionals to
> > review Wenders' teachers' compensation study. "This news release simply
> > touches the surface of why Idaho policy makers should move towards a
> > market based approach of setting teachers' compensation. If lawmakers
> > are truly committed to the state delivering the best education possible
> > to our children and for our taxpayers, they would abandon the current
> > collectivized and homogenized salary grid system."
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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