A – SPEAK OUT
This page is for individuals who express their opinions, arguments, points of view on matters related to the current K-12 public education system. This administrator makes the selections.
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We hold these truths to be self—evident, That all men
Are created equal, That they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights,
That among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men,
Delivering their just powers from the consent of the gov-
erned.
Liberties include freedom of speech, religion, thought,
the press, and movement, among others.
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In a Cincinnati Enquirer February 25, 2011 column entitled US rescue coming at state level, Charles Krauthammer writes, “They ($3.6 billion budget shortfall …) came largely from a half-century power imbalance between the unions and the politicians with whom they collectively bargain.”
Our state legislators negotiate (bargain) directly with the teacher unions. They Collectively Bargain with each other. Our locally elected board of education (BOE) officials do not bargain with teacher unions on many matters, notably benefits such as health care and pension.
Our local board official’s hands are tied in many cases. Even if they wanted to be more fiscally conservative, some compensation costs are out of their control.
The only thing that the BOE has control over are those aspects that they directly negotiate with the unions, i.e., wages. And, even that is only partial control. BOE control relates to their decisions about the actual dollar amounts shown on the salary schedule and whether or not to grant cola increases with a specific percentage amount. They do not have control over the costly automatic step raises that are built into the teacher’s salary schedule structure, which is part of the Collective Bargaining law. This is not true. The step raise can frozen by the BOE.
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Excerpts of Alabama Senator Jeff Session’s (R) talk with Greta Van Susteren (9/5/11 On THE RECORD w/ GRETA VAN SUSTERN) about his HONEST BUDGET ACT.
Greta – How bad are we being played when it comes to our money? It might be worse than you thought. It will blow the lid off the phony stuff being done on Capitol Hill. This is new information on how Congress is wasting taxpayers’ money. Tell us about your bill.
Jeff – There are a lot of practices going on for decades. ……………… Today, these are the biggest deficits we ever had, the biggest debt we’ve ever had. It’s time to end the gimmicks.
For one thing, we don’t pass the budget like the statues requires. ….. You can’t appropriate money until a budget is passed. That’s one of the first things to do. …. So called “emergencies” are not emergencies, like the census is done every 10 years – so budget for it.
Gretta – One of my favorites is -The freeze on ‘fake federal pay freeze.’
Jeff – It has been announced we have a pay freeze, but 70% of the workers have received pay raises in the last two years. So they get a STEP RAISE. They announce a pay freeze – it’s not so! We need to quit misrepresenting to the American people what is happening. If there are going to be some increases, we should say so. We should say clearly what our budget does, how it spends, how much debt it creates and we have not been doing that.
Grette – So, your Honest Budget Act is to do away with all this stuff? It is basically scamming the American people. Everybody in Washington on Capitol Hill knows it’s going on. We’re being scammed, aren’t we?
Jeff – I really think we are. We think that in five years these gimmicks that I’ve referred to – the nine I’ve listed will have cost the American taxpayer $350 billion dollars. That is a great deal of money.
Gretta – But it’s just the idea that when you balance your books you expect a sort of sense of honesty. But when you sort of slippery, you’re moving your money around, you’re a little tricky, renaming things. You don’t do your job so you call it something else.
I don’t think Americans appreciate, realize it is going on and I think they think it is a pretty ugly situation.
Jeff – I think that’s part of the low esteem that Congress has been held at because they understand those kinds of things happen. Sometimes it benefits their states. The benefits are stacked by clever congressman – brings home something for the state. I think more and more people are being less appreciative of that and more offended by it. And, I think that is healthy. We have an opportunity to make some big changes and we can do better.
Gretta – I hope the HBA gets passed because all it does is – Let’s play it straight with all our numbers.
Jeff – I think we have a real chance. We have bipartisan support, Senator Snow from Maine is my co-sponsor and she has worked hard on it and we intend to work hard for this bill.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
Mr. SESSIONS (for himself and Ms. SNOWE) introduced the following bill;
……
A BILL
To provide for greater transparency and honesty in the Federal budget process.
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The following are some excerpts of Bill O’Reilly’s and Tom Friedman’s 9/16/11 cable TV discussion of the education system in America. Mr. Friedman’s book, That Used To Be Us was introduced.
…O’Reilly – The public education system in American has been in decline for many years although there is an elite group of schools that turn out very bright people. Inner city schools in particular…. are in trouble.
…But right now you have $10,300 invested in tax payer money per very single public school student. That’s an enormous amount of money; a record breaking amount of money. Bush started it with NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND and Obama has continued it. You say we need more money. I’ll say to you no, we don’t need more money. The problem here is the bad parenting. That’s why these students are falling behind because their parents are lazy, derelict. They put them in front of the computers all day long. They don’t encourage reading; they don’t discuss things with their children. And for a teacher it’s very hard to overcome that.
…I know you need better teachers, but you can’t control parents and that’s where it always breaks down.
…Friedman – That’s a leadership issue and obviously, you can’t do… . There are many factors that go into it, but this is a collective problem.
…O’Reilly – I understand that but the solution isn’t pouring more money into it because property taxes are killing them and they can’t pay any more money in property taxes.
… Friedman – That is true. But at the same time, you look at some of the schools of our big impoverished neighborhoods.
… O’Reilly – But they have enterprise schools. I’m for that, but you can’t raise anymore taxes on the folks. I went over this last night. You can’t tax folks anymore. And Obama says we’ll cut the payroll taxes. Fine, but just don’t raise tolls in NYC to $14. You can’t do it anymore. Everybody is up to here (gesturing to his forehead). Your $4 gasoline, etc. is killing the working man.
… You understand the anger growing in America. Unfortunately President Obama is going to take that anger.
… Friedman – I’m from the Midwest, I get the anger, believe me I feel some of it myself.
Note: Late November, 2011, Mr OReilly added STANDARDS to the $10,000 cost per student problem.
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. Source: So are taxpayers being hoodwinked by public-sector unions? By Ron Miller GUEST COLUMNIST. The Enquirer OPINIONS 8/9/11 A7. Ron Miller of Clifton, a fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners, is a former executive director of Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission.
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Last December, I reported on Harvard University professor Stephan Thernstrom’s essay “Minorities in College – Good News, But …”on the Minding the Campus, a website sponsored by the New York-based Manhattan Institute. He was commenting on the results of the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, saying that the scores “mean that black students aged 17 do not read with any greater facility than whites who are four years younger and still in junior high. …Exactly the same glaring gaps appear in NAEP’s tests of basic mathematics skills.” Thernstrom asked, “If we put a randomly-selected group of 100 eight-graders and another of 100 twelfth-graders in a typical college, would we expect the first group to perform as well as the second?” In other words, is it reasonable to expect a college freshman of any race who has the equivalent of an eight-grade education to compete successfully with those having a 12th-grade education?
. Maybe this huge gap in black/white academic achievement was in the paternalist minds of the 6th U. S, Circuit Court of Appeals justices who recently struck down Michigan’s ban on the use of race and sex as criteria for college admissions. The court said that it burdens minorities and violates the U. S. Constitution. Given the black education disaster, racial preferences in college admissions will become a permanent feature, because given the status quo, blacks as a group will never make it into top colleges based upon academic merit.
. The situation is worse than we thought. U. S. New & World Report came out with a story titled “Educators Implicated in Atlanta Cheating Scandal,” saying that “for 10 years, hundreds of Atlanta public school teachers and principals changed answers on state test in one of the largest cheating scandals in U. S. history, according to a report released by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.” The report says that more than three-quarters of the 56 Atlanta schools investigated cheated on the 2009 standardized National Assessment of Educational Progress. Eighty-two teachers have confessed to erasing students’ answers. A total of 178 educators, including 38 principals, many of whom are black, systematically fabricated test scores of struggling black students to cover up academic failure. So far, no Atlanta educator has been criminally charged, even though some of the cheating was brazen, such as teachers pointing to correct answers while students were taking the tests and seating low-achieving students next to high-achieving students to make cheating easier.
. Teacher and principal exam cheating is not restricted to Atlanta; it’s widespread. The Detroit Free Press and USA Today released an investigative report that found higher-than-average erasure rates on tests taken by students at 34 schools in and around Detroit in 2008 and 2009. Overall, their report “found 304 schools where experts say the gains on standardized tests in 2009-10 are so statically improbable, they merit further investigation. Besides Michigan, the other states (where suspected cheating was found) were Ohio, Arizona, Colorado, Florida and California.”
..Why is there widespread cheating by America’s educators? According to Diane Ravitch, who is the research professor of education at New York University, it’s not teachers and principals who are to blame; it’s the mandates of the No Child Left Behind law, enacted during the George W. Bush administration. In other words, the devil made them do it.
. Source: Blame NCLB for education botch, By Walter Williams. Excerpts The Enquirer 7/24/11 F3
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ENQUIRER EDITORIAL
City should get an audit – and act on it 7/8/11 A9
. Cincinnati City Council members are wise to call for a state performance audit to help the city control costs and operate more efficiency. Council must define the scope of such a study by the Ohio Auditor’s Office, and it must resolve to turn its recommendations, wherever they may lead, into action. But the review is a smart idea.
. Council members began discussing performance audits after a June 12 Enquirer editorial (Three ‘C’s to keep city’s budget above water”) called on the city to invite the state to help it identify savings, get advice on best practices and boost its accountability to taxpayers.
. The state auditor’s office has been doing such studies for more than a decade with success. Last year alone, it spotted potential savings of $66,708,000 statewide. Youngstown City School District recently identified through an audit $6.3 million a year it could save. But can such savings be realized? Yes. The Youngstown implemented more than 75 percent of the ideas in its previous audit in 2008, saving millions of taxpayer dollars, according to the Youngstown Vindicator.
. As we’ve noted, it’s simply a way to get fresh, expert eyes from outside to take an objective look at a government’s operations. It is just one tool Cincinnati can use in its struggle for long-term fiscal stability – but an important tool.
. To start, a performance must focus on police and fire because public safety accounts for 69 percent of general fund spending. As City Manager Milton Dohoney said last fall, it is “mathematically impossible” for the city to have a structurally balanced budget without cuts in public safety.
. Audit skeptics say the audit would simply let council off the hook because the state would make the hard choices. That’s silly. The audit is a set of recommendations. Nothing can happen until the council acts. And an objective, the third-party analysis can give council members and citizens greater confidence in the wisdom of a policy choice – and courage to get it done.
. Critics also say an audit will take too long to do the city any good this fall when it considered next year’s budget. That’s probably true. But that argument could be made every year. Council must look beyond the current budget or election cycle.
. We hope a state audit will point out opportunities for consolidation, competition and the sharing of services – areas in which the city needs to go much further.
. The catch though is huge: Council members simply must resolve to follow through on the audit’s conclusions. With chronic deficits dogging their deliberations, we suspect they may find there’s no choice.
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Editorial (June 8, 2011)
Ohio cannot afford to delay on teacher effectiveness measures
By Emmy L. Partin and Terry Ryan
For as long as anyone can remember, in Ohio as in the rest of America, a public-school teacher’s effectiveness and performance in the classroom have had little to no impact on decisions about whether she is retained by her district or laid off, how she is compensated or assigned to a district’s schools, or how her professional development is crafted.
Instead, all of these critical decisions are made on the basis of quality-blind state policies, like the notorious “last-in, first-out” mandate governing lay-offs, and tenure rules that allow teachers to have job protection for life and “bump” less senior teachers when jockeying for positions. Effective teachers are forced to go simply because they have not taught as long as others, regardless of how successful (or not) other teachers might be, students are left with whichever instructors have been in the system the longest, and teachers receive professional development that is not tied at all to their individual improvement needs.
To their credit, Governor Kasich and the Ohio House have been trying to transform the system by which the state handles these crucial teacher HR decisions. The biennial budget bill passed by the House assigns classroom effectiveness a key role in determining how teachers are assigned to schools, whether their contracts are renewed, and – when budgets make it unavoidable – how they are laid off. It would put in place a teacher evaluation system that incorporates student academic growth and several other key job-related performance factors and would rate teachers according to four tiers. Basic personnel decisions around tenure, placement, dismissal, and professional development would be tied directly to the evaluation results.
The evaluation model in this bill resembles those developed in bi-partisan fashion in other states. Recently, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Arizona, and Oklahoma have all passed laws that prohibit teacher layoffs based solely on seniority. These states all now require teacher performance ratings and/or evaluations to be considered in making such decisions. What’s more, rigorous performance evaluations in these states are not just in place to help determine which teachers to let go. They will also help identify and reward highly effective teachers and tailor professional development in ways that help all teachers improve instruction. Ohio should do the same, and the teacher evaluation language presented to the Senate achieved just that.
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Rigorous performance evaluations in these states are not just in place to help determine which teachers to let go. They will also help identify and reward highly effective teachers and tailor professional development in ways that help all teachers improve instruction. | |
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Unfortunately, however, the Senate has dropped all of these provisions from its version of the budget, preferring instead to maintain Ohio’s status as a laggard state with archaic laws that force school districts to consider only seniority when making teacher layoff decisions.
Some claim that the budget doesn’t need to address teacher quality issues because Senate Bill 5 – the much-debated contentious collective bargaining measure signed by Governor Kasich in March – deals with these matters, too. (It is, of course, expected to be on the November ballot for voter consideration.) But they’re wrong. The House budget bill’s provisions are very different—and much better. While SB 5 does indeed remove the sanctity of seniority, it largely defines teacher effectiveness through antiquated input-based measures such as degrees earned and other paper credentials. Indeed, the teacher HR provisions of SB 5 are essentially unworkable, even if that law survives Election Day. They will be far harder on districts to implement than the budget language and will not get Ohio where it needs to go in boosting student achievement.
The House version of the budget would. It connects measures of pupil academic growth to teachers, and further connects teachers’ effectiveness to key personnel decisions. This is the direction other states are moving fast because they know teacher effectiveness is key to improving their schools.
The House budget version will also help Ohio to fulfill the promises it made in its successful $400 million Race to the Top application. The state’s Education Department and participating districts are already at work creating teacher-evaluation systems that incorporate student data. This is in keeping with Ohio’s pledge to the feds to create a “comprehensive evaluation system that will provide constructive and timely feedback to teachers and principals, serve as a guide to professional development, and influence decisions regarding advanced licensure, continuing contracts, and removal of ineffective teachers and principals.” Further, Ohio agreed to place “effective teachers and principals in their high-poverty and high-minority school through removing seniority barriers.”
Moving toward a fairer and more modern system of gauging teacher effectiveness and using that information to inform personnel decisions will give districts the flexibility their leaders crave—and need even more when budgets are shrinking. It will help them retain their very best instructors while providing all teachers with the support and professional development they need to get better.
A version of this editorial originally appeared in the Columbus Dispatch. For additional coverage on the current teacher evaluation debate in Ohio, see the Akron Beacon, Columbus Dispatch, and the Dayton Daily News .
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Capital Matters (June 8, 2011)
Consistency around performance needed in Ohio budget debate
By Terry Ryan
Consistency in public policy is hard to come by because special interests, ideology, and ignorance of issues (manipulated by lobbyists and other interested parties) all collide and compete for life in the cosmic swirl of the legislative process. There is a distinct lack of consistency around education policy in the competing budgets drafted by the Ohio House and Senate that could be remedied if each body could focus their proposals around issues of performance.
In their version of the state budget (HB 153), the Ohio House put forth legislative language on teacher effectiveness that is some of the most progressive in the country. (See op-ed above for details).
The House language is right per teacher effectiveness because it focused squarely on performance. Unfortunately, the House got charters wrong because it focused on everything but performance and accountability. In short, the House version of HB 153 would make it easier for for-profit school operators to function without oversight. It would neuter both governing boards and authorizers of their oversight responsibilities and authority and give operators carte blanche authority over virtually all school decisions. Further, it would exempt these schools from compliance with accountability requirements like annual testing. In short, the House would create a new class of schools – corporate private schools funded directly by the state and free of all state accountability requirements. Under this new corporate school model student performance would matter not one iota, nor could it even be measured and reported.
The Senate took the budget language it received from the House and sought to fix it by purging the parts that dismantled anything to do with charter school performance. Further, it built on Governor’s Kasich initial budget proposals that tried to find a balance between expanding school choice and ensuring that both charter schools and their authorizers are ultimately held accountable for their performance. The Senate language sets performance expectations for authorizers to open new schools. Specifically, a new school can be opened only if at least 80 percent of its current portfolio of schools does not rank in the bottom five percent of schools for academic performance.
Charter schools, by their very definition, enter into a performance contract (a charter) with a sponsoring organization that acts as a quality control agent. If the school fails to live up to its contract, its sponsor can revoke the charter or choose not to renew it. The Senate version of HB153 would maintain and strengthen the charter model in Ohio because it focuses on performance and pressures sponsors to do more about it.
But, while the Senate got charter schools right it got the teacher effectiveness language wrong because it deleted it entirely from the budget. If the House language doesn’t make it back into HB 153 then Ohio’s law defaults back to teacher effectiveness being equated with meaningless inputs like paper credentials, certificates and length of service rather than actual classroom performance and impact on student achievement. As with charters in the House, it looks as if politics trumped matters of performance when it came to Senate decision making per the issue of teacher effectiveness.
The current budget situation is messy. It somehow has to be resolved between now and the end of the month when the budget is to be finalized and signed into law by Governor Kasich. Most of the heavy lifting is apt to take place in conference committee. If members can focus on issues of performance above issues of politics it would give Ohio not only consistent and fair education policy, but policy that would make Ohio a leader in the move towards performance-based public education.
A version of this article originally appeared on Fordham’s blog, Flypaper.
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Teacher merit pay will move districts forward by TERRY RYAN.
For as long as anyone can remember, a public school teacher’s effectiveness and performance in the classroom have had little to no impact on decisions about whether she is retained by her district or laid off, how she is compensated or assigned to a district’s schools, or how her professional development is crafted.
. Instead of all these critical decisions are made on the basis of quality-blind state policies, like the notorious “last-in, first-out” mandate governing lay-offs, and tenure rules that allow teachers to have job protection for life and “bump” less senior teachers when jockeying for positions.
. To their credit, Gov John Kasich and the Ohio House have been trying to transform the system by which the state handles these crucial decisions. The biennial budget bill passed a teacher evaluation system that incorporates student academic growth and several other key job-related performance factors and would rate teachers according to four tiers. Basic personnel decisions around tenure, placement, dismissal and professional development would be tied directly to the evaluation RESULTS.
. The evaluation model in this bill resembles those developed in bipartisan fashion in other states that prohibit teacher layoffs based solely on seniority and require teacher performance ratings and/or evaluations to be considered in making such decisions.
. What’s more, rigorous performance evaluations in these states also help identify and reward highly effective teachers and tailor professional development in ways that help all teachers improve instruction. Ohio should do the same, and the teacher evaluation language presented to the Senate achieved just that.
. UNFORTUNATELY, however, the Senate has dropped all of these provisions from its version of the budget.
. Some claim that the budget doesn’t need to address teacher quality issues because Senate Bill 5 — the much-debased collective bargaining measure signed by Gov. Kasich in March – deals with these matters, too. (It is, of course, expected to be on the November ballot for voter consideration.) BUT THEY’RE WRONG. The House budget bill’s provisions are very different—and much better.
. SB 5 largely defines teacher effectiveness through antiquated input-based measures such as degrees and other paper credentials. Indeed, the teacher HR provisions of SB 5 are essentially UNWORKABLE, even if that law survives Election Day.
. The House version of the budget connects measures of pupil academic growth to teachers, and further connects teacher effectiveness to key personnel decisions.
. The House version will also help Ohio to fulfill the promises it made in its successful $400,000 million Race to the Top application. The state’s Education Department and participating districts are already at work creating teacher-evaluation systems that incorporate student data.
. Moving toward a fairer and more modern system of gauging teacher effectiveness and using that information to inform personnel decisions will give districts the flexibility their leaders crave.
. It will help them retain their very best instructors while providing all teachers with the support and professional development they need to get better.
Teacher merit pay will move districts forward Guest Column: TERRY RYAN. The Enquirer 6/6/11 OPINIONS A11
Terry Ryan is vice president for Ohio Programs and Policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute of Dayton.
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EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM COMPLAINTS
• POLICIES WRITTEN BY POLITIANS and special interest groups
• ELIMINATE TEACHER TENURE
• ELIMINATE TEACHERS LAST HIRED FIRST FIRED POLICY
• THERE’S BIAS AND DISTORTION IN TEXT BOOKS
• TEACHER UNIONS are just powerful POLITICAL MACHINES
• NEA is too POLITICALLY ACTIVE
• GOD REMOVED FROM SCHOOLS
• PUBLIC SCHOOLS DON’T TEACH MORALS
• HUGE RETIREMENT PACKAGES, people say
• TEACHER PENSIONS are a problem
• KIDS AREN’T ALLOWED TO FAIL
• BOARD OF EDUCATION CONTROLS WHAT IS TAUGHT
• SCHOOLS have become TOO POLITICALLY CORRECT
Source: The Glenn Beck Show May 7, 2011. “Complaints directly from the audience” of about 40 teachers.
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University professors, like schoolteachers, enjoy considerable public admiration. Union leaders, on the other hand, are viewed as opportunists. Gallup polls in 2008-2009 found that 54 percent of the population believes college teachers have high ethical standards whereas only 16 percent think union leaders do.
Given this disparity in public respect, it is not surprising that unions want to ride on the coattails of professors. Unfortunately, professors have no say when it comes to union representation.
At the University of Cincinnati where I teach, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) claims to represent me even though I disagree with the union on most issues.
Many professors are refugees from compulsory unionism. A colleague of mind at the University of Cincinnati writes: “I do not want to be part of any organization that looks and feels like a labor union. I left such organizations behind in Romania thirty-two years ago and the last thing I expected was to be forced to be part of one now in the U. S. … For people like me (who grew up under communism where I had to pay labor union dues) this is very, very hard to swallow.”
The AAUP receives roughly $800/year from each faculty member based on a contract between the union and the university. Although the university is a public institution, neither the taxpayers nor the faculty was present at the contract negotiations. The faculty never approved the contract. This shakedown is called “fair share.”
Fair share? Compulsory contributions to an organization whose agenda one does not approve are hardly fair. Such manipulation is the natural language of the radical left. Another example is “collective bargaining.” The AAUP bargains on its behalf with the university administration. Neither the faculty nor its elected leadership, the Faculty Senate, is part of the process.
In 2007 when AAUP negotiated fair-share with the University of Cincinnati, AAUP membership nationwide had declined by 53 percent from its 1971 peak. Only 44,000 of 675,000 US professors were members. AAUP imposed compulsory dues because it could not survive as a voluntary organization.
The AAUP is flooding the campus with inflated claims of supposed benefits it secured on behalf of the faculty. The facts are contrary. Our professors are the second lowest paid in the Big East Conference. Under compulsory unionism, Cincinnati professors have actually lost ground. Deborah Herman, executive director of the local AAUP, admits that “by just about any measure (University of Cincinnati faculty has) fallen behind market salaries in the U. S. for institutions of our (sic) type.”
Workloads have increased drastically under compulsory union representation. In my college, the number of professors has decreased by 25 percent while the number of students has increased by 60 percent. Workload has also increased.
University faculty may not have to swallow union poison much longer. Governor Kasich recently signed Ohio Senate Bill SB 5. SB 5 strips unions of the power to extort dues from some, but not all, faculty members.
The AAUP hates SB 5, John McKay, local AAUP president, explains why. “This is an effort to undermine the unions in Ohio and elsewhere so that they will no longer be able to support one of the parties ,,, it’s about political power.” So the faculty is forced to contribute to one political party based on a contract to which it is not a party, negotiated by a union it never elected. According to McKay this scheme represents “social justice.”
SB 5 does not assure education reform. Reform depends on how universities respond to SB 5. Faculties need to step into a position of shared governance displacing entrenched union competitors. University presidents need to learn to work with faculty, whose goals are likely to be less predictable than the AAUPs goals of political power.
Unions represent the past, not the future. Universities are facing a crisis similar to that faced by the American industry in the 1970s when it became apparent that the US was not competing successfully in the global market. American industry reformed and survived. Private-sector unions all but disappeared. Universities must also reform to survive.
Source:
GUEST COLUMN: UC’S DALE W. SCHAEFER
Unions are playing hardball on Ohio college campuses
The Enquirer. May 8, 2011 F2
Dale W. Schaefer, a University of Cincinnati engineering professor, is a Faculty Senate member and is the elected faculty representative to the university’s Board of Trustee.
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3/3/11
An important new survey of Ohio school leaders shows a growing disconnect of opinion between the people who teach in our public schools and those who lead them. While many teachers and other school employees resist changes to collective bargaining law and education reform measures, superintendents recognize the need for such changes and in fact are hungry for them.
Read The Report Now:
http://support.edexcellence.net/site/R?i=hvRhcQ3oAlb5pZ4qgYp6RA..
Among the survey’s many findings:
» 65 percent of Ohio school district superintendents say the state’s collective bargaining process needs fundamental overhaul,
» 72 percent say that greater managerial authority would result not only in better management of resources but in improved student achievement as well,
» 82 percent support the idea of combining state revenue streams while giving them more flexibility over how the money is spent,
» When asked to rank the importance of six hypothetical changes to state law, 82 percent place priority on making it easier to terminate unmotivated or incompetent teachers, even if they are tenured.
» Percent of district superintendents who believe that the following are serious obstacles to improving public education: » Local union chapters that can count on statewide or even national support during negotiations or litigation, while a district’s leadership is on its own. 84%
» School boards that are often reluctant to stand firm during collective bargaining because they want to avoid political battles and discord. 76%
Source: New from the Fordham Institute: Survey of Ohio School District Superintendents 3/3/11 Yearning to Break Free: Ohio Superintendents Speak Out is the result of a statewide survey of Ohio district superintendents and other education leaders on the most critical issues facing K-12 education in the Buckeye State in 2011, including budgets, school effectiveness, and laws that make schools harder to manage. The survey was conducted by the respected, nonpartisan public opinion research firm, FDR Group, and commissioned and underwritten by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. The findings come as policy makers struggle to solve the state’s massive budget deficit while ramping up pupil achievement.
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In a Cincinnati Enquirer February 25, 2011 column entitled US rescue coming at state level, Charles Krauthammer writes, “They ($3.6 billion budget shortfall …) came largely from a half-century power imbalance between the unions and the politicians with whom they collectively bargain.”
Our state legislators negotiate (bargain) directly with the teacher unions. They Collectively Bargain with each other. Our locally elected board of education (BOE) officials do not bargain with teacher unions on many matters, notably benefits such as health care and pension.
Our local board official’s hands are tied in many cases. Even if they wanted to be more fiscally conservative, some compensation costs are out of their control.
The only thing that the BOE has control over are those aspects that they directly negotiate with the unions, i.e., wages. And, even that is only partial control. BOE control relates to their decisions about the actual dollar amounts shown on the salary schedule and whether or not to grant cola increases with a specific percentage amount. They do not have control over the costly automatic step raises that are built into the teacher’s salary schedule structure, which is part of the Collective Bargaining law.
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PRESS RELEASE July 1, 2010
Contact: Matt Mayer 614-224-4422
COLUMBUS – With Ohio facing an estimated $8 billion budget deficit, the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions today released a report on the disparity in compensation packages between state government workers and theirprivate sector peers. The report, “The Grand Bargain Is Dead: The Compensation of State Government Workers Far Exceeds Their Private-Sector Neighbors,” details the gold-plated nature of state government worker compensation and contains options for elected officials to consider that would reduce the costs of these lucrative compensation packages. If certain options were implemented, Ohio could save an estimated $2.1 billion in the next two years.
Using data from state government, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Social Security Administration, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Dr. Matthew Marlin, the Chair of Economics and Quantitative Sciences at the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business at Duquesne University, and his team found that the yearly cost of the median state government worker when including pay, health care premiums, sick leave, and pension contributions is $66,051, which is $16,800 more than the private-sector peer. Marlin et al. further found that over a 30-year career, the state government worker costs roughly twice as much as his privatesector peer ($3,725,470 versus $1,893,096).
Matt A. Mayer, President of the Buckeye Institute, stated, “With private-sector taxpayers getting hit with enormous job losses, pay cuts or freezes, and benefit reductions, it is time to rein in the gold-plated compensation of state workers. The grand bargain between taxpayers and public sector workers is dead. Today, government workers get paid a lot more, pay a smaller share of their healthcare premiums, get better sick leave, and retire with gold-plated pensions most Ohioans can only dream about. Even European countries are scaling back the compensation of their government workers. With the deficit, drastic changes are required.”
The report can be viewed on The Wire at www.buckeyeinstitute.org.
. Why are taxpayers funding a public-sector union president (at $64,000 each year) whose mission is to increase costs to taxpayers – i.e., to raise demand for public services, distort the labor market, weaken public finances and diminish the responsiveness of government and the quality of public services? Why are taxpayers contributing anything to have a union president negotiate against the public interest?
. As union dues are deducted directly from members’ paychecks by the government, which drastically reduces the unions’ administrative costs and enables a reliable revenue stream, don’t taxpayers already support public-sector unions?
. If the Cincinnati Organized Dedicated Employees union didn’t miss $757,099 embezzled by their president, is there really a need for taxpayers to pay the salary and benefits of the union’s president? And shouldn’t taxpayers be worried that the city of Cincinnati’s 800 middle managers (and their bosses) allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by an embezzler for several years?
. Shouldn’t taxpayers and our elected officials begin to “see the handwriting on the wall” – That as the Wall Street Journal put it recently, public-sector unions “may be the single biggest problem … for the U.S. economy and small-d democratic governance? Will Cincinnati eventually have to consider following the example of Vallejo, Calif., and declare bankruptcy so that it can renegotiate absurd employment contracts with the unions that have continuously increased the cost of government?
. When the New York Times reports that public-sector wages and benefits over the past decade have grown twice as fast as those in the private sector, shouldn’t taxpayers question the wisdom of such public policy as well as the elected leadership perpetuating it?
. When economist Barry Bluestone shows us that, between 2000 and 2008, the price of state and local public services has increased by 41 percent nationally, compared with 27 percent for private services, shouldn’t voters demand a sea change in public policy and political leadership?
. Are taxpayers being hoodwinked by unions, management or political leaders?
Sycamore STUDENTS, rate your teachers
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SOMETHING is ROTTEN IN DENMARK!
The following are some excerpts of Bill O’Reilly’s and Tom Friedman’s 9/16/11 cable TV discussion of the education system in America. Mr. Friedman’s book, That Used To Be Us was introduced.
…O’Reilly – The public education system in American has been in decline for many years although there is an elite group of schools that turn out very bright people. Inner city schools in particular…. are in trouble.
…But right now you have $10,300 invested in tax payer money per very single public school student. That’s an enormous amount of money; a record breaking amount of money. Bush started it with NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND and Obama has continued it. You say we need more money. I’ll say to you no, we don’t need more money. The problem here is the bad parenting. That’s why these students are falling behind because their parents are lazy, derelict. They put them in front of the computers all day long. They don’t encourage reading; they don’t discuss things with their children. And for a teacher it’s very hard to overcome that.
…I know you need better teachers, but you can’t control parents and that’s where it always breaks down.
…Friedman – That’s a leadership issue and obviously, you can’t do… . There are many factors that go into it, but this is a collective problem.
…O’Reilly – I understand that but the solution isn’t pouring more money into it because property taxes are killing them and they can’t pay any more money in property taxes.
… Friedman – That is true. But at the same time, you look at some of the schools of our big impoverished neighborhoods.
… O’Reilly – But they have enterprise schools. I’m for that, but you can’t raise anymore taxes on the folks. I went over this last night. You can’t tax folks anymore. And Obama says we’ll cut the payroll taxes. Fine, but just don’t raise tolls in NYC to $14. You can’t do it anymore. Everybody is up to here (gesturing to his forehead). Your $4 gasoline, etc. is killing the working man.
… You understand the anger growing in America. Unfortunately President Obama is going to take that anger.
… Friedman – I’m from the Midwest, I get the anger, believe me I feel some of it myself.
. It is time to educate the Cincinnati Public Schools board. Homeowners can’t stand any more taxes. With the city offering tax abatements on new homes, it’s the same 38 percent of us paying all the levies. Voter, look at your tax bill and see exactly how much goes to the schools: you will be shocked. More than 75 percent goes to the schools, and no matter how much they get, they can’t stay on a budget. How long would a company survive if they ran like the CPS school board does? The CPS board needs to find another way, because homeowners aren’t always the answer. I am not against kids; I am against misused tax money and levies that never quit coming.
. Source: No more school taxes–Maureen Deming Mount Washington. The Enquirer LETTERS F2, 8/14/11
. Why are taxpayers funding a public-sector union president (at $64,000 each year) whose mission is to increase costs to taxpayers — i.e., to raise demand for public services, distort the labor market, weaken public finances and diminish the responsiveness of government and the quality of public services? Why are taxpayers contributing anything to have a union president negotiate against the public interest?
. As union dues are deducted directly from members’ paychecks by the government, which drastically reduces the unions’ administrative costs and enables a reliable revenue stream, don’t taxpayers already support public-sector unions?
. If the Cincinnati Organized Dedicated Employees union didn’t miss $757,099 embezzled by their president, is there really a need for taxpayers to pay the salary and benefits of the union’s president? And shouldn’t taxpayers be worried that the city of Cincinnati’s 800 middle managers (and their bosses) allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by an embezzler for several years?
. Shouldn’t taxpayers and our elected officials begin to “see the handwriting on the wall” – That as the Wall Street Journal put it recently, public-sector unions “may be the single biggest problem … for the U.S. economy and small-d democratic governance? Will Cincinnati eventually have to consider following the example of Vallejo, Calif., and declare bankruptcy so that it can renegotiate absurd employment contracts with the unions that have continuously increased the cost of government?
. When the New York Times reports that public-sector wages and benefits over the past decade have grown twice as fast as those in the private sector, shouldn’t taxpayers question the wisdom of such public policy as well as the elected leadership perpetuating it?
. When economist Barry Bluestone shows us that, between 2000 and 2008, the price of state and local public services has increased by 41 percent nationally, compared with 27 percent for private services, shouldn’t voters demand a sea change in public policy and political leadership?
. Are taxpayers being hoodwinked by unions, management or political leaders?
. Source: So are taxpayers being hoodwinked by public-sector unions? By Ron Miller GUEST COLUMNIST. The Enquirer OPINIONS 8/9/11 A7. Ron Miller of Clifton, a fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners, is a former executive director of Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission.
‘Free’ Education?
Regarding the story “Parents pinched by school fees: We’re paying more for free public education than ever” Aug. 7: Since you reference the free public education you should look into where the huge amount of our property tax money goes twice a year. The tax bill lists my local school district; your article states it’s free. Someone is making a killing.
—Tom Morris, Montgomery
Source: The Enquirer 8/9/11 Letters
Certainties of life now include fees By Krista Ramsey of The Cinti Enquirer. 7/31/11 B1 Excerpts:
. Parents who expected to be soaked for student pictures, PTA dues and fall fundraisers will still be surprised by sharp increases in sports, student activity and supply fees.
. And heaven help the uninitiated family of a college freshman who budgeted carefully for tuition, room and board only to be hit in the face with thousands of dollars of instructional fees, technology fees, student fees and program fees.
. It’s just a warm –up. There are fees for student teaching, for sending transcripts – even graduating.
. Part of the problem with fees is that they are insidious. Nothing any longer costs quite what it appears. While price hikes are obvious and tax hike increases debated openly, fees are tacked on or bumped up with little fanfare.
. On one hand, the new and increased fees may improve our character. Pay $20 to be late renewing your driver’s license and your mark your calendar next time. Keep a library video put an extra week and you’ll decide never again to let laziness cost you $14. Pay a per-pound surcharge for your luggage and you’ll learn to travel light.
. But this barrage of unanticipated, complicate charges works against Americans’ growing desire for transparency, simplicity and financial predictability.
. They also chip away at the idea of common good.
. A legitimate argument in their favor is that fees target costs to the specific user of a good or service. You don’t pay for a county park pass unless you use the park. Families of athletes bear more of the cost for operating school sports programs.
. But these arguments can be arbitrary and one-sided. Empty nesters may no longer have children in school but they did at one time, and they benefited from taxpayer’ footing the bill for extracurricular and supplies. Now they want to opt out for the next generation.
. Since they are the spillover of the squeeze put on the economy by shrinking revenues and a growing distaste for tax increases, fees are likely to endure and multiply.
. That doesn’t mean we should pretend not to notice or let it happen by default.
. Adm. Says: Krista’s commentary lives up to her well known passionate thought process. Nowhere does she consider the possibility that the cost of education could be too high for the American economy at this time; that public worker’s compensation packages including wages and pensions are much higher than the private sector; that governmental bodies including public schools have little incentive to become more efficient; that because of high costs relative to foreign countries, USA companies are transferring work to lower cost countries in order to compete and sell their products and services, i.e., stave off bankruptcy, survive and employ workers.
She doesn’t seem to have any understanding of the national and global financial crisis. She seems to think it is alright for public schools to operate with a constant budget deficit, i.e., spend more than their income. I’ve never heard her promote the idea of operating with a balanced budget as responsible individuals, families and businesses must do.
Ms. Ramsey’s bias shows when she says empty nesters who no longer have children in schools want to opt out (not pay school taxes) for the next generation.
Ms. Ramsey, please slow down, take a step back and rethink your chipping away at the “common good” comment. Instead of riling against “extra fees,” she and all of us (including politicians) should make it a priority to study and understand why and how the current financial crisis came about. Then we will all be in a better position to decide the proper actions to take.
. The ongoing debate in Washington is really not between Democrats, Tea Party movement proponents, independents and Republicans, etc.
. The debate is between people that do and do not understand that economics is the study of allocating limited resources among unlimited desires.
. Unfortunately many of our representatives in the administration and Congress have no experience in business and have very limited knowledge of the economic system in America. It may be wise at this time to call or visit your government representatives and explain to them how a successful economic system works.
. Be sure to tell them: when expenses continually exceed revenues, in businesses or governments, the economic system will collapse.
. Source: Economics 2011 By Ted Day Montgomery,. Northeast Suburban Life July 27, 2011 A8
SS funds not ‘ours’
. For all those seniors out there worried about not receiving a monthly Social Security check after Aug. 2, you may want to think about this.
. In 1960, the Supreme Court ruled that those who have paid into the social Security trust fund have NO property rights to the money they paid into the system. What participants get back is entirely up to the 535 members of Congress, not the president.
. Under current law, participants in social Security do not own the money they paid into the system.
. Just as a reminder to those participants, public sector employees do not pay into Social Security. Their generous pension/retirement plans come from your tax dollars, and their plans are owned and controlled by them.–Andrew A. Egloff Kenwood. The Enquirer OPINIONS LETTERS 7/18/11 A11
Next questions
What services would you be willing to do without in order for your community or school district to cut its budget because of decreased state revenue?
Every week The Northeast Suburban Life asks readers a question that they can reply to via email. Send your answers to nesuburban@communitypress.com with “chatroom” in the subject line.
Rather than spending and taxing more, it’s time to take a different approach.
“State funding for K-12 education goes up slightly. although that doesn’t come close to covering schools’ loss one-time federal stimulus funds.” Source: Enquirer Editorial 7/3/11
ADM. says: The end of Federal stimulus funds is no justification for more state taxpayer dollars for schools. The Federal government should keep its hands off local schools. Stop bribing the schools with taxpayer money – Stop trying to control schools. School leaders are complicit in the Federal government’s unconstitutional power grab.
Unthinking K-12 school teachers, administrators and board members should bone up on the US Constitution. No wonder their students nationwide are US history illterate.
I have to wonder if the Sycamore Community District has the ability to spell “Balanced Budget.” The taxpayers of the Sycamore Community District should demand Fiscal Responsibility from those they have elected/voted into office. During this tough economy which will not start to ease up until 2013, the citizens should expect nothing less than a conservative budget. If the District spends more than they take it, I would find it intolerable for the local community to sit back and be passive instead of holding those elected to office accountable for their loose and unacceptable spending habits.
M.K.
“Taxpayers are being asked to fund more and more programs and it has to stop. Enough is enough. The well is dry.”
—Gary Mataitis
This looks like awesome forum or is this a blog? Sorry I am a newbie.
Dayton Roofing
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Adm. says: Its both. Read, learn, ask questions, share with others, get involved, stay vigilant to avoid danger, we’re all in this together, etc
“History is very much being shortchanged,” said Linda K. Salvucci, a history professor in San Antonio who is chairwoman-elect of the National Council for History Education.
Source: US history troublesome for nation’s students.
By Sam Dillon The New York Times published in The Enquirer 6/15/11 A2
This (It’s for the children page under the Miscellaneous section of this weblog) is crap. Who wrote this? No one have the courage to sign their name to this tripe (something poor, worthless, or offensive)? Did you just make it up, post it, and now it’s “fact”? No teacher I know would have written this. I’m betting written by someone with COAST; just blame teachers for economic woes. Spend a week with a classroom teacher; do their job for that week and then sign your name to this. Look at all the local school districts, their boards of education and association members. ALL are freezing salaries, holding off step raises, working together to keep their districts fiscally sound while maintaining the integrity of their academic programs. Staff is being cut to bare bones, department budgets slashed. Yet the bottom line, the OAA (Ohio Achievement Assessments), national tests, ACT, SAT goals remain. In fact, the OAA requirements have increased over the years in order to maintain compliance, meet AYP goals and earn “excellent” ratings for our communities. I’m tired of teacher bashing. Just today, the city of Cincinnati has been approved to begin spending $29 million federal dollars on a street car that will loop 3 miles of Cincinnati streets. Really? That’s best use of federal money? It’s my money, and yours. Is this really the best use of our money? I would never willingly approve money taken from me to build something as low priority as this. I would, and do, vote for my tax dollars to go to my local school district where it makes a difference. Please direct your “outrage” over wasted money elsewhere!! (Comments by a candid, passionate, emotional blogger 6/22/11)
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Adm. says:,
1) Something doesn’t add up. School officials tout their Excellent with Distinction rating, but Sycamore and others are NOT on the the Newsweek list. Why?
2) Don’t let passion take the place of reason.
. A final point regarding education: Are we assembling our (CPS) school board properly by direct elections? A different model is used in the larger cities as Chicago, New York and Washington, which give the mayor the right to appoint a majority of the board.
. Should the mayor have increased power here to strengthen the negotiating position of the school board vis-a-vis the union and provide support for the superintendent’s actions?
. Would we be in a better position to attract the best leaders? Is there another, better model that provides a decent counterbalance to union dominance?
Source: ‘Platforms For The 21st Century’: Guest Essay By Tom Williams.
A CALL TO ACTION
On May 3, Tom Williams, chair of the Cincinnati Business Committee and president of the North American Properties, spoke at the United Way’s Tocqueville Society luncheon. His “Call to Action” addresses vital issues for our community in a thoughtful, forthright manner. It deserves public attention. So today we present an essay adapted from his speech.
(Excerpts from the Education section.)
THE ENQUIRER Sunday, June 19, 2011 F3
. He (Tullis) said the (Indian Hill) village is taking a “conservative approach” to budgeting for the next fiscal year due to the uncertainty of the state’s budget and the potential elimination of the estate tax.
. Source: Indian Hill. City budget might increase. The Enquirer 6/18/11 5 Your Hometown
. Fairfield Tea Party member Doug Dragoo said that while the community wants the districts to provide a quality education, members cannot support additional taxes unless the business model is changed.
. “It’s time for you to think beyond the box,” Draggo said. “It’s strange you can obligate us to spending levels when we have yet to know what the operating budget will be.”
. Without additional dollars, more cuts will be needed.”The educational experience of our children would look drastically different than it does now.” Superintendent Cathy Milligan said.
. Source: Fairfield approves teacher contract. The Enquirer By Sue Kiesewetter 6/18/11 C3
Test scores are not answer.
Using test scores as a measure of performance-based pay for teachers is an unworkable plan. There are not standardized tests given all academic areas and none given in the areas of music, art, gym, etc., yet those classes and teachers are still vital to the well-rounded child.
Teacher ratings could also shift widely from year to year due to the make-up of the classroom. Students have free will. It’s the old “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink” adage. Sadly, not all students are inclined to perform well in the classroom or on state-mandated tests.
There are so many variables in the education of a child that one standardized test is an unworkable way to assess teachers.
Laura Carlier, Batavia OPINIONS The Enquirer 6/17/11 A15
Author: Teacher’s letter attacked those who pay him.
. In a June 2 article (See below) entitled “Citizens have done a good job of vilifying teachers” a grim-faced, wild-eyed, bewhiskered Mr. Reger announced that after stewing for “many months upon this … ” he has had it with us taxpayers.
. We have supposedly trashed his profession using both “animus and venom.” Who made statements that could be considered “trashing teachers”? Be specific!
. Mr. Reger believes that we who live in Indian Hill are “barely scraping by on a few million a year” ; and, he resents the fact that we are questioning school expenditures.
. He believes that we taxpayers, each of whom lives on a large “estate,” are “denying them (the teachers) the essential resources necessary to do the task” (of teaching).
. This is a fabrication by a person who has not done his hornework. The estimated median household income in 2009 was $222,022 for Indian Hill. The estimated median house value in 2009 was $998,632 for Indian Hill. More stats can be found at: http://www.city-data.comlcity/The-Village-of-Indian-Hill-Ohio.html
. Your last paragraph impressed me. By adding one word, you get: “Now all you need do is direct this same animus and venom towards your (students) and you will truly have something of which to be proud.”
. What black hole is this commentary coming from? Did you believe you could roll over us, as you do your students?. I would not want my grandchildren in your class. In my view your article reflects an angry person who, after 17 years of teaching, has burned out and dislikes his job so much that he has publicly attacked those who pay him.
. Stevie, in the vernacular of your students, you need to “chill out.”
. I’m likely older than your father, have lived here for 34 years, am retired, living off of our savings, and this is not an estate. In fact, mine is the smallest house in our neighborhood.
. In my view you are definitely not accurate enough to be a professional.
. In my memory we have complained about the unnecessary imposition of a tax, by your administration (not teachers), while they sat on an emergency fund of $24 million. Is this correct?
. Now, I am given to understand that the fund is up to $35 million. Is this correct?
. Soon after the announcement of this tax there was the suggestion, by your administrators, that each person in the Indian Hill High School needed tablet computers, costing $2,641 per Indian Hill High School student.
. We taxpayers complained, as this would cost us an additional$1,000 per household.
. Why should we pay to be scammed by third-party software providers, tying their wares to an obsolete tablet?
. It is amazing what can be done with a $200 “Netbook” and “cloud computing,”- try it.
. You are mentally crippled if you cannot perform your own hardware/software maintenance, or fix your toilet, change a faucet, do carpentry, or a brake job on your car, yes, crippled!
. Is it time to privatize the Indian Hill schools? What are the benefits?
.
James Baker is a 34-year resident of Indian Hill.
Source: Indian Hill Journal June 16, 2011 Viewpoints A8
Guest column: Sycamore schools doing a good job
Posted by rmaloney• Tuesday, June 14, 2011 9:33:14 AMAfter reading the guest column “Efficiency has no place in educational system,” by Colleen Greissinger, I could not help but chuckle at the absurdity of the article.
Robert Kissinger • Community Press guest columnist PROVIDED
Ms. Greissinger was contrasting her experience in the health care industry (a $2.5 trillion industry that could very well bankrupt our economy with run-away costs) with her perceived notion that the Sycamore School District is inefficient, corrupt and wasting tax payers’ money. The actual performance of the district in terms of containing costs and dealing with significant funding challenges is, in my opinion, a positive story.
For example, the annual cost increase to Sycamore’s general operating fund since 2004 has been contained to 1.5 percent, and 24 staff positions were recently eliminated in response to decreased funding. Couple this performance with the Princeton School District article in the same Northeast Suburban Life edition (where teacher salaries were reduced 1 percent and frozen for three years, and teachers must pay more to their health care plans), and I think the message is very clear. School districts are responding to the current economic challenges appropriately. I only wish that my health care costs would have been so well behaved! Instead, each year I pay three times more for my health insurance than I pay in property taxes to support Sycamore.
Ms. Greissinger touts “pro-competition free enterprise” as the panacea to all her concerns with Sycamore’s school system. I should remind her that it was the same free market mindset that produced the collapse of our housing market due to greed and the profit-at-any-risk attitudes in our banking system. Competition is good, but it is not the sole treatment that will cure the “patient.”
To the small minority of individuals who constantly beat the drum of how poorly managed our school system is, I would like to propose the following two actions. First, sell your house and move to a school district that reflects your preferred slash-and-burn budget mentality. These districts are easy to find. They are the ones that do not pass school levies; they have cut all music, theater and arts classes from their schedules; they no longer have bus service; they do not have a community Boosters organization that funds a vibrant sports program,; and they have a large turnover of teachers every year.
Second, write a thank-you editorial to the majority of us who are willing to support the Sycamore School District, because when you sold your house (probably to a younger family wanting their children to attend Sycamore schools), you received a premium price, even in today’s depressed housing market. I speak from experience. My wife and I moved to Montgomery 16 years ago so that our three kids could attend Sycamore’s schools.
Ms. Greissinger, I am an informed and “awake” tax payer, and I support the Sycamore School District and the Montgomery community with my hard earned money. I do not agree with all of your comments in your editorial. The purpose of this letter is not to change your mind; I only hope that you can begin to see the whole picture, and not just your prejudiced agenda that only perpetuates negative perceptions.
Robert Kissinger has been a resident of Montgomery for 16 years, and lives in Storybook Acres with his wife, Michiko, and three children. He has worked for GE Aviation for 26 years in engineering and customer support. He has a doctorate in metallurgy and material science from Columbia University
Efficiency has no place in education system by Colleen Greissinger.
(Excerpts from this Northeast Suburban Life June 8, 2011, page A9, Viewpoints article)
. “The education delivery system in America is the antithesis of efficiency and effectiveness which is what one would expect of basically a monopoly with no real competitive forces in effect to “hold the line” on costs. I went to the Sycamore board meeting May 18 (2011) prepared to give input for the negotiation process before the new teachers union contract was signed.
. “I had no way of knowing that it was and would be too late, though we had just met a week prior with one of the board members. My experience now is that there is just something corrupt about the public school system monopoly and I was disheartened to find out just what little impact the newly negotiated contract would make in light of the severe economic crisis at all levels of our government.
. “How sad that so many taxpayers are unaware of the waste, inefficiencies, excesses and lack of effective accountability. There is not even an attitude of humble acknowledgement of these truths and certainly not a culture of complete open disclosure or transparency (should not even have had to be mandated) in answering to the taxpayers who are blindly trusting them to do our bidding.
. “Fundamentally, our education system is just too politically tainted.
. “It is unsustainable unless the need for radical changes in vision, leadership and attitude are basically, first acknowledged. Creative, self-imposed, brave, bold sacrificial ideas, ways and means need to voluntarily be sought after and accepted by all who currently espouse to be “all about the children.” Our pro-competition free enterprise forces are simply not in place to help with this monumental task.
. “Voters …wake up … and learn about your local communities. Let your voices be heard before it is once again too late to make a difference. It is our duty.
. (My background). “After nursing school, four years of college and ten years of hospital experience, I was hired in 1981 by Cincinnati Group Health Associates who contracted with the Health Maintenance Plan HMO division of BC/BS as a cost-effective competitive form of a newly marketed “managed care” health system. We were motivated by self-imposed and market-based forces that powerfully drove our incentive and need for efficient and effective quality care.
. “My charge was to get the buy-in and hold our group of physicians accountable for their individual habits of cost-effectiveness in the delivery of inpatient care. It took more time and work for them to take into consideration the medical necessity of costly hospital treatment versus home care, etc …, but that was just too bad. It was their job now to do just that if we wanted to grow or even stay in business.
. “I began to realize that I was actually in the business of changing old ingrained attitudes and habits though our doctors were already more efficient than most other providers in Cincinnati.”
Colleen Greissinger is a resident of Blue Ash.
VOICES FROM THE WEB
Published in the Northeast Suburban Life June 8, 2011 A9
Freezing forecast
Visitors to Cincinnati.com posted these comments to a story about the Sycamore Education Association – the bargaining unit for Sycamore Community Schools teachers – reaching an agreement with the district that freezes salaries for one and eliminates step increases during that time:
. “Teachers step up, yet the school board insists on building a new office suite!”
By rlutterb
. “Sounds like it is time for the school board to go.”
By goofyjim
. “Finally, someone got the message. If the BOE had had some … in the last few contract negotiating sessions, Sycamore wouldn’t be facing these problems. Better late than never.”
By dar43
. “For years I’ve criticized the out-of-control salary levels at the Sycamore Schools, but on this issue I have to applaud the school board for negotiating a one year wage freeze. The district is paying more than approximately 98 percent of other school districts. With salaries that high, and the economic problems we’re facing, a wage freeze was absolutely necessary.
. “This policy has to be a beginning and not a one-year effort to pacify critics. With the salaries this high, in reality it will require a multi-year freeze to get the wages to a more normal level.
. “I have no problem paying teachers a high salary in this district – but let’s make it a high and reasonable salary, not an excessive outlier like it is now. A multi-year freeze can bring salaries to a high and reasonable level. This would allow the district to continue recruiting great teachers while being more fair to the taxpayer.”
By JeffCapell
“Salary freeze seems to be the rule of the day, and that includes no ‘steps.’ Now, the portion of pension and health care benefits that they pay should be brought in line, gradually, with the private sector. Once they see what they cost, they might decide to dial them back a bit for younger teachers, but that is their call. The bottom line is that the taxpayers will no longer pay for or approve of (levies) year after year of above inflation raises and top-of-the line benefits that no one in the private sector can get. Retirees and close to retirees, you are fine. Little will change. Others? You will still be compensated fairly and you will still have very good retirement and health care programs. And you will still have the privilege of teaching, something that many of you love. But if you were in it for the money, benefits, and guaranteed job regardless of performance, you might consider another line of work.”
By BearcatTom
Our school administration must refine teachers’ salaries. We have kindergarten teachers earning $89,000/school year and retiring with approximately $60,000/yr + benefits. We must have more money in the classroom to benefit our students, who now require outside tutoring (AT YOUR EXPENSE) for college entrance testing: SAT and ACT, and students are taking remedial classes their freshman year of college. Isn’t the goal of our schools to prepare students for college? Why must we pay for outside tutors? We now have 60% of our property tax going to Sycamore Schools. I suspect the majority of the funds go towards teachers’ salaries. Please watch Waiting for Superman and understand the US ranks 25 + in student math and sciene achievement in the world. We use to be ranked in the top 5. I boldly question why I am paying a kindergarten teacher to have a better retirement than me, funding outside tutoring because students are not taught/prepared, and being threatened with additional tax burdens.
SB5…our saving grace!
. Merit pay for teachers may sound logical on the surface, but not if you think deeper (Speaker protests Senate changes to teacher pay,” June 2). Suppose you hire two designers to make wedding dresses. To one, you give sackcloth; to the other, satin. Do you expect them to turn out equally beautiful gowns?
. Public schools must accept all students, no matter how able or willing they are to learn. Private and charter school are allowed to be choosy. Basing teacher pay on student results without taking into consideration their students innate abilities is like expecting a Princess Kate dress no matter what kind of material the designer is given.
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Basing pay for teachers on merit is logically unsound. —Kathy Hemlock, Oakley The Enquirer 6/6/11 A11. LETTERS
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.. Thanks to the insidious legislation that has recently been enacted in states like Ohio and Wisconsin our public servants (specifically our teachers, firefighters, and policeman) have come under attack.
.. They’ve lost the right to collectively bargain: they’re facing shocking reductions to their salaries and benefits; and worst of all, they’ve lost our respect.
.. I recently had a friend of mine tell me that she’s ashamed to tell people that she’s a teacher, because public employees have somehow become villains.
.. Imagine for a moment. Ashamed of being a teacher!
.. Who then is to blame for this sad state of affairs, my student wanted to know.
.. Is it the governor? The Ohio General Assembly? The Tea Party?
.. The answer I gave her is the only thing that makes sense. We are all to blame!
.. Source: Excerpts from A difference a decade makes. Community Press guest columnist. 6/1/11 Northeast Suburban Life A8.
Stephen Reger has been a teacher at Indian Hill High School for 17 years.
.. Note:(Stephen A. Reger 2010 teacher salary – $77,695 for nine months work. Source: The Buckeye Institute.)
LETTERS appeared in THE ENQUIRER OPINIONS May 10, 2011 A7
Responsible government wouldn’t spend more than it gets
I read with interest the daily blustering of elected officials from both parties who speak of their priorities in spending and how thrifty they are being with taxpayer’s money. At the federal, state, and local level, they congratulate themselves on their new austerity programs and the tough cuts they have made; however, when you look closer, there are more of the usual smoke, mirrors and accounting tricks that would make even Bernie Madoff blush than actual spending restraint.
. Responsible citizens spend less than they make and put aside money for future emergencies and retirement. Politicians spend every dime that comes in the door and more. When responsible citizens tighten their financial belts, they reduce their spending to account for less income. When politicians do the same, they leave the belt in the same hole and grow their spending into uncomfortable tightness and then claim that cutting back will do irreparable public harm. It is time for the government at all levels to stop putting our money where their mouths are!
— Tony Henn Maineville
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Bureaucrats rule government
For a decade government has built layer after layer of bureaucrats, which has reached the point of diminishing returns. Department budgets are not based on efficiencies but how many more people can we hire for the next fiscal year. It would not take long to balance the budget if we just stopped hiring people, which would force departments to become more efficient. For decades our schools kept adding administrative personnel with less emphasis on teaching our kids. Why do we spend more money to educate a child than any nation and yet academically we rank 40th in the world?
— Bill Henderson Fayetteville, Ohio
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Kasich’s backward priorities
Howard Wilkinson’s article on Gov. Kasich’s proposed budget lists the following as “the loser” (“Budget alters Ohio priorities,” May 8):
1. Public schools. 2. Higher education. 3. Nursing home operators.
How does Kasich expect to bring new businesses and jobs to Ohio when companies see how we treat our most valuable citizens?
— Scott Williams Cleves
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Jobs aren’t government’s job
Gov. Kasich is doing the correct and responsible thing by passing a budget that takes care of truly essential services and balancing the budget. For far too long, power hungry politicians have funneled taxpayer funds to special interests. Government is supposed to support societies, not the other way around. Government is supposed to provide law and order, not jobs. Private enterprise provides the jobs as they are needed. People need to be responsible for their own actions.
— Dan Klapp Blue Ash
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Unions tempt like snakes
I likened the article by Richard Trumka and Tim Burga to two snakes asking me to come closer, “Fear not, we won’t bite you because we have your well-being at heart,” (Republicans’ budget shifts wealth to the rich,” May 7). Based on the riotous activity of the unions these past few months, I think it’s their well-being they are worried about. As for me, I try to stay clear of snakes.
— Charles Ziegler /strong>Florence
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Teachers not the enemy
When did education and teachers become the enemy? I hear harsh rhetoric toward the way education is delivered and by the teachers who do so. I see levies that prop up education fail and school systems go into “receivership.”
Streamlining a monstrous school system needs to happen; new rules and new attitudes on how teachers are compensated, absolutely needs to happen. However, teachers and the systems wherein they work have not deterred the American dream. We do everything we can to make sure the next generation is ready to take over the leadership. Real teachers work 24/7 for nine months of pay.
I worry that many who are against levies state the problem but not help with the solution have had their children educated and now wish not to pay taxes. Taxes are for the good of all the community. That is our dues to live in a society. It is not just for when we, individually, need the goods and services.
— Teresa Davis Religious Studies & Ministry Department Mount Notre Dame
A survey of Ohio Superintendents and other school leaders …. indicates they want to do away with automatic step raises and the “last-in, first-out” approach to layoffs.
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Source: Jessica Brown If senate bill 5 becomes law… Its ultimate impact may be hard to gauge. THE ENQUIRER, 3/13/11 B4
“There is something profoundly wrong with a plan that provides a public school district only $70 per student. The governor’s proposal penalizes Sycamore for the property values of our community and will force us to cut services and shift more of the burden to community members.”
Adrienne James, Sycamore superintendent
Source: Insert to article, Sycamore schools will get $2m less from state. By Jeanne Houck. Northeast Suburban Life April 13, 2011