DCPS School budget out, does it reflect salaries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what you’re saying is that Kimball is allocated $5.5M and X number of teacher slots.
And when Kimball fills those X slots, they actually spend less than allocated.
So their actual budget is more like $4.7M.

Bingo.

Anonymous wrote:But I thought principals could move money around — cutting a teacher here to replace with two aides there. Is that not true?

Principals can petition to change some allocations, like 2 aides here instead of 3, but the non-flexible (level 1) staffing allocation can't be changed by principals and results in the disparities between the Kimballs and the Janneys.

[Anonymous]

But under the Impact evaluation system teachers can earn much, much higher bonuses at poorer schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: You are conflating budget and salaries. The school's budget does not reflect the salaries of the employees. At all.

PP here, again. My explanation of the problem with average teacher salaries was in response to the person who (incorrectly) stated that DCPS "budgeted this way so schools can’t hire cheaper, less experienced staff to save money." That's just wrong. What happens in reality is that all schools get an "initial allocation" for a certain number of teachers, regardless of how much they actually cost. But higher paid, more experienced teachers end up at schools like Janney, while lower-paid, less experienced teachers end up at schools like Kimball. So when DCPS actually pays the salaries, Janney's school-level expenditures are much higher than Kimball's school-level expenditures. But Kimball doesn't get to keep the difference. So, in the end, when taking into account all funds flowing to schools (including the single biggest cost, labor), Janney gets a lot more money than Kimball.

Believe me, I would LOVE for you to explain how this isn't actually happening.

If they budgeted for actual salaries then you would never get higher paid staff. The school would trade for quantity. They would rather have more teachers and smaller class sizes. So either way you end up with less experienced teachers. This is the only way to not incentivize it. The bigger problem is why don’t more experienced teachers want to work in these schools and how do we change that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I saw it, I assumed it included benefits too. Either way, teachers seem to get paid pretty well in DC!

Nope. I'm an educator and I don't know anyone who makes more than $70k/yr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But under the Impact evaluation system teachers can earn much, much higher bonuses at poorer schools.

Yes, although it's worth noting related service providers (social work, speech-language pathology, OT, PT, etc) are only eligible for a 2k bonus at title Is, whereas teachers can earn up to 20k for Highly Effective. I think at non-Title Is, it's more like 1k. And it's not like there are more resources available to RSPs at Title Is. So please be nice to your RSPs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I saw it, I assumed it included benefits too. Either way, teachers seem to get paid pretty well in DC!

Nope. I'm an educator and I don't know anyone who makes more than $70k/yr.

I make $95k without any bonus. Several colleagues are over $100k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I saw it, I assumed it included benefits too. Either way, teachers seem to get paid pretty well in DC!

Nope. I'm an educator and I don't know anyone who makes more than $70k/yr.

I make $95k without any bonus. Several colleagues are over $100k.

As a classroom teacher?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I saw it, I assumed it included benefits too. Either way, teachers seem to get paid pretty well in DC!

Nope. I'm an educator and I don't know anyone who makes more than $70k/yr.

I make $95k without any bonus. Several colleagues are over $100k.

As a classroom teacher?

Yup. DC Government employee salaries are public record.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I saw it, I assumed it included benefits too. Either way, teachers seem to get paid pretty well in DC!

Nope. I'm an educator and I don't know anyone who makes more than $70k/yr.

I make $116,500 and teach preschool in DCPS. Now you know someone who makes over $70k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I saw it, I assumed it included benefits too. Either way, teachers seem to get paid pretty well in DC!

Nope. I'm an educator and I don't know anyone who makes more than $70k/yr.

I make $116,500 and teach preschool in DCPS. Now you know someone who makes over $70k

And I’m a preschool parent in DCPS and I’m happy you’re being paid well.

High paying jobs get good people to do them. Teachers are the most important part of a good school. Pay them well if you want good ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I saw it, I assumed it included benefits too. Either way, teachers seem to get paid pretty well in DC!

Nope. I'm an educator and I don't know anyone who makes more than $70k/yr.

Really? Do you work in DCPS? I know many experienced, highly effective teachers who make more than $70k a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I saw it, I assumed it included benefits too. Either way, teachers seem to get paid pretty well in DC!

Nope. I'm an educator and I don't know anyone who makes more than $70k/yr.

I make $116,500 and teach preschool in DCPS. Now you know someone who makes over $70k

And I’m a preschool parent in DCPS and I’m happy you’re being paid well.

High paying jobs get good people to do them. Teachers are the most important part of a good school. Pay them well if you want good ones.

+1. A good preschool teacher changes lives! And you deserve every penny. We have a high cost of living here, and for K and up we have to compete with MoCo and Arlington/Alexandria, not just on salary but on the difficulty of the job.

I would pay that much NOT to be a preschool teacher, tbh, I'd go completely bonkers. I wish you many fat bonuses!

[Anonymous]

Takeaways from this thread:

1) teachers are paid pretty well in DCPS
2) DCPS doesn't do budgeting in a way that makes sure poor schools get enough money

[Anonymous]

Actual salaries are here.
https://dchr.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dchr/publication/attachments/public_body_employee_information_123118.pdf

[Anonymous]

Oh wow, DD pre-k makes 95k, good for her!