[Vision2020] Letter to the Editor: Teacher salary article was incomplete

[Dale Courtney]

Don,

Thanks for taking the time to write and make comments.  I hope my comments
are not perceived as either harsh or a personal attack; they are neither. 

> 1. Our compensation package is not as good as either UI or WSU. 

*Should* the compensation for the elementary/junior/senior high be
commensurate with that of a University? *Should* primary school teachers be
paid the same as a University Professor? Or have the same benefits? 

> 2. In the last three years, the cost of our medical insurance 
> to each member (and we are required to be members of the 
> pool...) has increased each year by more than the district 
> has increased their contribution. Given that our salaries 
> have not come close to matching annual cost-of-living 
> inflation, that means that, in effect, we have experienced 
> pay cuts for at least the last three years.

The "cost-of-living inflation" is a distracter. Because your salaries are
tied to the number of years you've taught (see:
http://courtneys.us/msd/data/Table_1.htm), you could *never* have a COLA and
still be accelerating faster than the inflation rate (at least until the
salary grid maxes out). As it is, the teaching grid accelerates the pay
faster than inflation. 

> 3. What summer school?

That is one of *many* options, not the only one. All of these are
opportunity costs that you have (more on that later). 

> 4. Continuing recertification requirements generally require 
> teachers to go to school every summer, and no, the school 
> district does NOT pay us to attend! We pay tuition like 
> everyone else. Most of us not attending college courses in 
> the summer are working on curriculum, on our own time, "off 
> the clock", for the next school year.

I would double check with the district. There are reimbursements for
teachers in continuing education. 

But *even* if there were not -- I don't know anyone else who gets a salary
increase in any other field just by taking underwater basket weaving. Do
you? My point is: the degree doesn't matter, just punching the ticket for
the classes (*any* classes!). 

Also, there's no requirement that the teacher get a degree in his/her area
of specialty. A math teacher with a BA, weary of those long nights deriving
proofs in college, may choose to get a M.Ed. -- much easier; and, hey! The
pay on the other end is the same! There's no incentive to get a degree in
your specialty. 

> 5. If you are attending summer school most of the summer, the 
> chances of A) other employment, or B) extended vacations, are slim.

But these are opportunity costs (see:
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/OpportunityCost.html). 

I don't know very many businessmen/women who have the opportunity to take
the entire summer "off" if they so choose.

> 6. There are very few coaches as a percentage of the total 
> number of teachers in this district. Those teachers who do 
> coach make a pittance, and work long hours on nights and 
> weekends to earn it. Most of the extracurricular activities 
> requiring teacher presence are covered by volunteer teachers, 
> i.e., WE DO NOT GET PAID FOR OUR TIME OUTSIDE OF THE SCHOOL DAY!

Coaches were the example I used because they are paid the most (head coach
at Moscow High gets a 48% bonus). It goes down from there. 

I *do* have the list of all the bonuses given (there wasn't enough room in
my 300-word limit to list them all); but if you coach Knowledge Bowl or
teach Jazz Band, you get a bonus. If you like, I'll post those for you.

Of course, it *does* show where our interests lie -- that the sports coaches
get the biggest bonuses.   So much for "education". If we *really* wanted
education, it would be the intellectuals in the schools who would get the
bonuses, not the jocks. But that's another discussion for another time. 
 
> 7. Most of the teachers I know come early and stay late. 
> Additionally, we work nights and weekends on correcting 
> assignments and exams, writing lesson plans, contacting 
> parents, and on professional reading and education.

And so does the rest of the business world. I don't know anyone paid what
the average government school teacher is paid that doesn't take a
significant amount of work home in the evenings/weekends. 

> 8. Salaries in Idaho are so low, and the attitude of many 
> Idahoans towards public education is so poor, that very few 
> of our student teachers stay here and teach in the state. We 
> are supporting higher education to train teachers to teach in 
> Idaho schools, and they are very intelligently packing their 
> bags and going elsewhere to teach upon graduation. So, what 
> will happen to both the public and private schools in Moscow 
> when the 77% of the district teachers who are at the top of 
> the experience and education scales hit retirement (Most of 
> them in the next 5 years.), should be interesting to watch.

Actually, I think we have much to gain -- but not until the salary grid is
removed (among other things). But that's because your union has forced us
into this mess. 

> 9. I am all for merit pay. My salary will go up. I have a 
> Masters degree (3.93 GPA) in History, and the equivalent of 
> another in post-Masters courses. (I teach Advanced Placement 
> U.S. History to high school juniors, and my kids are tested 
> by worldwide competitive exam, administered by the 
> Educational Testing Service, the same folks who write and 
> administer the College Boards.)

Great! But the other side of the coin is -- history majors are a dime a
dozen (sorry, it's true). My sister-in-law has her Masters in History from
Duke. She's a manager at JC Penny's. 

However, the people who *really* need to be paid well are those in the
low-supplied topics: math & science. "Supply and demand" says that when you
have a shortage, it's because the market is underpriced; and when you have a
glut, the market is overpriced. We have a shortage in the hard sciences and
math. The salary grid only accelerates that shortage: why should someone
want to be a math/science major when he/she can get a degree in English and
be paid just the same? The only way in our current teacher-salary-grid to
afford to attract math/science teachers is by raising *everyone's* pay. Very
convenient for those in non-critical jobs; but very expensive for the tax
payers to have to pay *all* the teachers at that high wage to attract the
few we need. 

This conversation will have to continue another time; company has just
arrived.

Best,
Dale