Teachers Salaries & Pension Funding Costs Go Up Even As Student Funding Goes Down?

May 31, 2011

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We see here in the Zero the lament that Oregon school funding has been sliding backwards since bad economic times set in back in 2002. And the reason? Our economy sucks.

The main reason Oregon spends less is that Oregonians earn less than the national average — so they have less to spend. As a whole, Oregonians consistently contribute 4 percent of their collective income to public schools…

Portland is the lone exception:

Portland Public Schools, the largest district in the state, spent slightly more than similar-size districts around the country in 2008-09, the U.S. Census figures show. Portland spent $10,800 per pupil, compared with $10,100 in the other 66 districts enrolling 40,000 to 60,000 students.

But teachers’ salaries, health benefit costs and retirement have been going up and will only take more and more away from the kids.

The cost of employee benefits, particularly for the state pension system, is expected to surge in coming years, [an EcoNorthWest economist] said. 

Please make sure to note that Portland Public Schools recently won passage of a levy to fund teachers’ increases while at the same time cut teachers. The teachers union bargained for higher pay in exchange for cutting teachers. 

 

Teachers are important. Quality time with teachers can be very important. The teachers union often claims that they are all about “the children,” but once again it is conclusively proven that they’re willing to go along with higher student to teacher ratios, i.e. cutting teachers, in order to get more money.
Please never forget this. They throw the kids under the school bus for more money in their own pocket.
And note this from the experts interviewed by the Zero. We can use the money more effectively if we think more out of the box of bricks on the corner and instead think more creatively about how to deliver education.

What could help schools deliver more would be out-of-the-box thinking, big innovations and novel use of the money they do have, he said. “The big question in my mind is whether the education community writ large — district leaders, union leaders, parents — all rally around something that is transformative.” 

Note that all previous ‘transformative’ ideas for education–charter schools, virtual schools, private schools–have been fought at every turn by the unions.
Remember too that the $500 million bond measure that failed even as the levy passed considered bricks and mortar as the place for education of the future. PPS officials wanted to spend scarce resources to RE BUILD NINE SCHOOLS.
Education doesn’t only happen in buildings. In fact, education of the future likely will take place in the virtual world with meetings occasionally at a school. How many schools would we really need?
Teachers unions don’t want to hear about a future requiring fewer teachers in pretty buildings. In the last election voters said we can’t afford them.
Portland is fast becoming a very expensive in which to live. Fees, taxes, planning, light rail, huge property taxes, regulatory burdens, a terrible housing market and general bad economy swallow up a paycheck faster than we can earn it–if we’re lucky to have a job at all.

Last week the Zero began unspooling the information about Portland from the US Census. One statistic stood out:

Yet the city’s population of school-age children shrank over the decade even as the city grew. According to the 2010 Census, Portland is home to about 76,300 children ages 5 to 17, down by more than 2,800 from 2000. 

There are approximately 45,000 students in Portland Public Schools. There is a huge swath of kids —31,000– of school age whose parents do NOT send them to public schools.
A reflection of mere social economic status or a vote of no confidence. What do you think?

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