[Vision2020] Paper on the Teachers' Salary Grid

[Bill Strand]

Dale Coutney,

In your post you wrote:

"Annual inflation-adjusted expenditures per pupil tripled between 1960 and
1991, surpassing $5,500 in
1991. Yet the average combined (verbal and mathematics) score on the
Scholastic Aptitude Test was seventy-five points higher in 1963 than it was
in 1990."

This in itself doesn't mean much. When my car goes up a hill, the cruise
control causes the car to use twice as much gas, but the speed is still
lower than the target. Does this mean that the cruise control isn't working?

The question has to be asked - what would have been happened if the money
had not been spent from 1960 - 1991. Just as if the cruise control had been
turned off, would the schools be running at 10 mph instead of 45?

I find most of the statistics quoted in this area to be self-serving while
they ignore the underlying causes. It is like the perpetual argument about
class size. The observational statistics thrown around are such a crock.

And I'm not certain why salaries in public schools are a "liberal" issue
that "they" have to solve. I think you come close to falling into the same
trap of which you warn others.

Bill Strand