Reply to The wisdom of rewarding Montgomery’s school employees (Washington Post)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]MCPS has the highest teachers salaries in the area.  They are higher then Fairfax.  If MCPS has higher turnover rates than lower paying districts, then we probably have other problems besides a salary problem.  Starr's works for the teacher's union, not parents or taxpayers.  He is just paying off his bosses with this raise.  Enough said.

Another point is that the school budget is a fixed amount.  You either pay fewer teachers more money or you can pay more teachers lower money.  The latter option will reduce class sizes.   Lower class sizes is another approach to reducing teacher burnout.[/quote]

When you do a comprehensive comparison that includes pensions and other bennies in along with salary, then we'll listen to you. Otherwise, I for one don't trust your comparison.

Do you realize how rediculous you look bringing in the union bogeyman all the time? "Eew! a union!"  Enough said.[/quote]

You are responding to my post.   Just so you know, I support unions.  I vote democrat.  I am a parent and MCPS 'customer'.  My problem is not with the union, but with the balance of power.  The school board is completely union-endorsed through the apple ballot.  This means that the union is negotiating with it's own candidates for salary and benefits.   Do you really dispute this with me?  The reason I bring this up is because I want people to see the connection between school budgeting and policy decisions and the school board.  If you don't like the large raise that was just handed out, then you should not vote for apple ballot candidates.  It's not that these candidates are boogeyman.   It's that I disagree with them.  I want more parent and taxpayer input, even if it is just 1 or 2 positions on the board in this election cycle.

As for your request for data, here is an example of the data I can see.  Look on page 47 and you will see that MoCo spends $1400 more per pupil than Fairfax Co and that the average teacher salary is $9K more than Fairfax  (this from 2010).  You can also see from posts above mine that turnover in MCPS is low and that applications are plentiful.   This disputes any notion that you need a raise to attract and retain talent.

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/council/olo/reports/pdf/2010-5.pdf

You can criticize this data, but I don't really have access to the data you want.  I just have to work with what is available to me.  If I am misinformed, It seems to me that the school board and teachers union should release more detailed data to help me understand their view.  Instead I just hear Starr talk about how US News and World Report likes 5 of our high schools in wealthy neighborhoods.  Unfortunately, however, the school board now has a reputation for holding back budget information from the County Council and for violating open meetings laws, so they do have to overcome that trust issue when they release data.
 
In the end,  I don't see how you can argue away the influence of the union on the school board.  You should just be happy that most voters seem to accept this arrangement.  Just don't begrudge me for wanting to change it.  [/quote]

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