“A Seattle public school has decided that Easter eggs are super offensive and not politically correct. They’ve renamed them Spring Spheres — even though eggs are not spheres.”
“In my old hometown in New Jersey the town Easter egg hunt was changed to “Spring Celebration. With Bunny.”
It may only get worse. Stay tuned.
drcameronjackson@gmail.com
Does high pay for public school teachers translate into better educated students? Nope.
Here are two examples:
1) Wisconsin teachers have been in the news as Wisconsin pays the highest wages in that part of the United States. Info below about Wisconsin shows pay of teachers is not related to academic performance of students.
2) Mountain View-Los Altos (MVLA) teachers are the highest paid in California. MVLA students do perform substantially higher than the average for California. However, none of the MVLA schools receive top ratings based on STAR ratings.
So, from the taxpayers perspective, if teacher pay cannot be shown to relate to student academic performance — what changes need to be made?
Hypothetically, let’s assume that every California teacher in MVLA is a superb teacher. [ I personally know one superb, dedicated, highly trained MVLA high school teacher. Further, I have worked with many superb California public school teachers over a 10+ period.]
If all California MVLA teachers are suburb, is that excellence in teaching visible via school ratings? One way to rate schools is to look at STAR test results.
The STAR testing for 2010 shows that Mountain View High School for English Language Arts obtained a score of 75% compared to 45% for the state average. The High School Summative Math for 2010 for Mountain View High School is 98% compared to a score of 76% for the state. Frankly, the STAR numbers have always bemused me because they are not standardized scores. But for sure, the numbers show that Mountain View High School in the MVLA school district performs much better than the California state average.
A web site called schooldigger.com lists all the California schools in order of ranking using STAR test results. None of the schools in the MVLA school district made the top ten according to digger.com For example, Lowell High in San Francisco got the #10 rating (out of 600+) and Monte Vista High in Fremont Union High school district got a #2 rating. Pacifica Collegiate Charter, located in Santa Cruz, CA got the #3 place
Back to the original question: Why are MVLA teachers paid the highest in the state of California?
My guess is: location, location, location. The Mountain View-Los Altos school district is located in Silicon Valley known worldwide for computer and high tech companies. Silicon Valley real estate is very valuable and that value translates into millions of dollars available to pay public schools.
Back to California: The first day that Jerry Brown was on the job as governor in California he replaced 6-7 persons on the board that permits charter schools. Charter schools in California are competition for the public school system. Gov. Brown wants to gut charter schools which means kill competition for the public schools. Why kill competition? Money from the teacher unions goes into the Democratic Party which supported his candidacy.
California Silicon Valley high schools – from Palo Alto south to San Jose — graduate plenty of smart, able to compete anywhere students. Is it because of excellence in teaching or is it because of the home life and general environment wherein these high school students live?
My guess is that nature (genetics) and nurture (family environment) account for more than 75 to 80 percent of why Silicon Valley students excel. And, yes, there are many excellent, dedicated teachers who do a superb job. So let’s say that all factors contribute. But is the pay (plus benefits, health care and retirement costs) that teachers receive worth to the public the overall results that obtain? That is a question many people are raising.
They may be great teachers but can the public afford them?
From my perspective, the time has come to scale back the influence of the teachers unions. Teacher pay must be tied directly to academic performance. Poor teachers must be identified and let go. The tenure system should go. The tenure system hurts those who are beginning and those who want to move elsewhere.
Conclusions: It’s not an argument about whether there are wonderful, dedicated, highly trained public school teachers who do a terrific job. Yes there are. But at what price? Can taxpayers afford them?
In my view the public school system is broken and major changes must occur. What say you? What changes do you suggest?
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Below are some resources:
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“According to data released by the state Department of Education this month and compiled by the Sacramento Bee, teachers in the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District are the highest paid in the state.“We have the best teachers in the state and they deserve to be paid well,” said Superintendent Barry Groves.
The Bee’s report, which examined districts with more than 100 teachers, said MVLA pays an average of $95,365 a year, with the lowest earning $61,184 and the highest $115,616.“We value our beginning teachers,” Groves said in regards to the starting salary, adding that they are an “investment.”
He said one reason for the high pay scale is that the district attracts and retains experienced teachers.
According to 2008-09 data from Ed Data, a collaborative Web site that analyzes data provided by the state, MVLA teachers averaged 11.2 years of teaching experience and 9.3 years with the district. Twenty-three of the district’s 193 teachers, or about 12 percent, were first or second year teachers.
But when compared to county and state figures, it appears that in terms of teacher experience and longevity with a district, MVLA is only comparable, rather than noticeably higher.
Joe White, associate superintendent of business, said another factor is the cost of living in the area.
“When you put a blanket across the state or various parts of Northern California it makes it look like, ‘Wow there’s a huge difference,’” White said. “But there’s a huge cost of living here.” He added that many employees, including himself, commute from other areas to work in the district.
For Superintendent Groves, the chief issue was teacher quality.
“I believe that MVLA has a cadre of professional, highly qualified teachers in every academic discipline,” Groves wrote in an e-mail. “As we have high standards for achieving tenure in our district, we believe that our teaching staff is second to none. Our students and their families profit by this incredible group of professionals.”
According to the state data, teachers in the Mountain View Whisman School District make an average of $61,147 annually. The lowest pay offered in that district is $44,609, while the highest is $82,315.
In the Los Altos School District, teachers earn between $44,832 and $86,924, with an average salary of $73,569.
__________________________________________
Palo Alto Unified School District
2009-2010
Teachers’ Salary Schedule
Step BA 15 30 45 60 75 90
1 51422 51422 51422 52586 55025 57355 59510
2 51422 51422 53649 56347 58969 61401 63599
3 51422 53738 56902 59796 62595 65113 67398
4 52768 56484 59850 62962 65941 68551 70935
5 55025 59015 62636 65886 69051 71762 74245
6 57083 61359 65203 68636 71988 74781 77313
7 59057 63559 68409 71580 74753 77924 81092
8 60934 65613 70779 73947 77116 80289 83464
9 62734 67628 73149 76317 79492 82661 85830
10 62734 67628 75516 78689 81860 85027 88202
11 62734 67628 75516 78689 84307 87543 90568
12 62734 67628 75516 78689 84307 87543 90568
CI-1 62734 67628 77882 81055 86673 89909 92934
CI-2 62734 67628 80248 83421 89039 92275 95300
CI-3 62734 67628 82614 85787 91045 94641 97666
CI-4 62734 67628 82614 85787 94490 97726 100751
CI-5 62734 67628 82614 85787 94490 97726 103836
Career Increments
13, 16, 20 2,366
25, 30 3,085
Masters Degree 1,982
2nd Masters Degree 1,982
Doctoral Degree 1,982
NBPTS / CCC 2,571
Approved November 17, 2009
Download a copy of the Teacher Salary Schedule ( 90KB ).
Questions surface over LASD teacher salaries and benefits
Written by Traci Newell – Staff Writer/tracin@latc.com
TUESDAY, 15 MARCH 2011
The Los Altos School District is preparing to ask for an additional $193 parcel tax in May, prompting some residents to question district teachers’ salary and benefits packages.
The average teacher salary in the district is $73,569, third highest among the 20 elementary school districts in Santa Clara County. Local salaries run higher because the majority of teachers in the Los Altos School District have been teaching here for a long time, thus earning seniority, said Randy Kenyon, assistant superintendent for business services.
The average starting salary for district teachers, $44,832, ranks 14th in the county, and the average for teachers in the district for 10 years, $69,334, ranks 13th.
Not all district teachers receive lifetime health-care benefits, an allegation recently lodged by attendees at several public-comment sessions at school board meetings. Teachers hired after 1989 do not receive any health benefits after retiring from the district.
Kenyon said that providing lifetime health benefits for teachers used to be standard practice, particularly when health insurance was more affordable. By the late 1980s, however, district officials conducted a study and determined they couldn’t absorb the cost of extended health insurance for employees.
The district continues to pay for benefits for those teachers hired before 1989, an estimated 180 of whom are retired and 40 current employees scheduled to receive coverage upon retirement.
The district spent approximately $1 million to cover health-insurance costs for its retired employees in the 2010-2011 budget. Over the next 30-40 years, Kenyon said projections (which include hikes in insurance costs) indicate the district would spend $19.3 million, until the benefits expire.
The structure of Los Altos School District teachers’ health-benefits packages differs slightly from the neighboring Cupertino Union School District. Teachers in the Los Altos district pay 5 percent of their packages, while Cupertino teachers pay 30 percent of their benefits.
Given the economic climate, Los Altos teachers have made concessions over the past few years. Last year teachers agreed to take three furlough days, a reduction of approximately $1,200, or 1.6 percent, in their salaries. Teachers have not had an across-the-board salary increase since the 2007-2008 school year, when compensation was upped 1 percent.\
In addition to monetary concessions, teachers have assumed additional duties during the economic downturn. Since the 2008-2009 school year, the district has lost 13.51 full-time-equivalent teaching positions, with the remaining teachers assuming the workload.
As the district readies to issue approximately 50 pink slips this week (story on Page 1), teachers are preparing to further accommodate the budgetary limitations.
“Overall, the teachers always feel the need to help out when teachers’ jobs are at stake,” said Jim Grijalva, president of the Los Altos Teacher’s Association. “We are all in this together.”
The Los Altos Teacher’s Association bargaining unit met with school district officials Friday, reopening negotiations on the 2011-2012 budget – which was already agreed upon last spring.
In the meantime, local teachers are working on the parcel-tax campaign, hoping to relieve the district’s ongoing revenue woes.
Kenyon said the financial situation the district faces – a $4.5 million cut – isn’t because of teachers’ salaries and benefits.
“It’s about huge funding cuts,” he said.
Concessions from the teaching staff may represent only one piece of the deficit puzzle. While the district awaits word on passage of the May parcel tax, which requires a two-thirds majority and would supply an additional $2.3 million annually, supporters are pleading with local legislators to help place Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed tax extension on the June ballot. If voters pass a tax extension, which requires only a simple majority, the district stands to receive $1.5 million.
The fourteen remaining teachers who qualify for life time health benefits have not been paying into Medicare like the teachers hired after 1986. Therefore, they will not likely qualify for Medicare. These senior teachers have earned their benefit and the district may not change these benefits according to law. The total cost of teacher salary and benefits is lower today than it was in 08-09, even with the increase in health premiums.
As Randy Kenyon has stated, public schools in this state have a revenue problem. Every other problem faced by public schools pale by comparison.
Concessions by school district employees can help, but will not solve these revenue problems. The employees through their hard work, dedication and commitment to a quality education deserve a fair compensation package. Any notion that the employees are over compensated for their work is not a reality. The health benefits are good, but nine districts in our county still pay their teachers more.
Roughly 1 in 6 persons get a check in the mail from the government. That’s a huge number of people dependent on the government. It’s time to reduce that dependency.
Lots of people think that it’s wrong to cut social security. Yes, it’s wrong to cut benefits to those who paid into SSI, have retired and who rely on social security.
How to responsibly cut the federal deficit and encourage independence? Time to trim Social Security Disability benefits (SSI-D) to children and youth ages 3-21. Let’s reduce SSI-D payments to children and youth 1) assessed inaccurately or 2) who have “out grown” their diagnosis. Children change rapidly. Assessments should be accurate and up to date.
Another way to cut government deficits is to require proof of citizenship to obtain government funded services such as the regional center services. (The regional centers serve persons with low cognitive IQ abilities, requiring treatment similar to persons with low cognitive IQ, autism, seizures and cerebral palsy.) (more…)
DrCameronJackson@gmail.com
Every child with an Individual Education Plan (IEP) needs regular measurement of the child’s abilities to see if the IEP “fits”, or if the child has “outgrown” it or that it is not appropriate and needs to be changed. Regular measurement of the child’s progress typically is done every three years.
But some children’s IEPs are never “measured” again after the initial placement in a Special Day Class (SDC) placement – the most restricted educational placement. That’s wrong. It harms the child. It wastes money. The system must be more accountable.
What to do? Taxpayers speak up!
Maybe its time that parents of special education students got vouchers that followed their disabled students and could apply for any school of their choice? When parents of children of special education have more choice it’s highly likely that the quality of the education will improve. (more…)
DrCameronJackson@gmail.com
Why might the teachers in the Mountain View – Aptos High School district be paid the most in California?
Might it have anything to do with private Stanford University which is located in the heart of Palo Alto, California? Berkeley has CAL but apparently the teachers in Berkeley, California are not as good as those in the Palo Alto-Aptos District since Berkeley, California teachers make less money.
Palo Alto, California is OLD money… not like Berkeley. Mountain View, California is filled with Asians from all over the world. They are attracted to the Silicon Valley and the computer industry in that area.
The Aptos – Mountain View are the best — so they say — and hence are paid the highest wages. What say you? (more…)
Some schools do a terrible job of educating their children. In failing schools in California parents of children in failing schools could exercise “parent trigger”. Parent trigger allowed parents to replace the public school system with a charter school.
Now the powers that protect the adults that run the public schools seek to crush parent trigger.
“Parent trigger” school reform was undermined by Governor Jerry Brown on his first day of office, He replaced seven reform members of the state board of education with UNION ALLIES including a lobbyist for the California Teachers Association. The new board plans to re-write the rules that govern the parent trigger law.
Assemblywoman Julia Brownley and state schools chief Tom Torlakson, both voted against parent trigger last year, plan to amend the law. Expect them to work for appeal of the parent trigger law.
When parents in Compton, CA exercised the parent trigger law the teachers urged parents to rescind their petitions Then, when that did not work, the district required parents to bring official photo identification knowing that some are illegal immigrants. A judge issued a temporary restraining order stopping the verification plan. In response the school administrations declared all petitions disqualified based on technicalities — some petitions were not stapled and some legal code numbers were mistyped. (more…)
Time to trim social security disability?
by Cameorn Jackson
Time that Social Security Disability got a razor hair cut? Yes. And time to lighten the load for taxpayers.
The federal government hit the Replace function and Mental Retardation (MR) became Intellectual Disability (ID). Per the WSJ article 11-30-2010 no change in services occurs. The hurtful label goes.
Is this a superficial face lift for Mental Retardation? Does the underlying structure remain the same but the pain associated with the label continues? Perhaps less pain. But confusion continues.
Confusion exists and continues because words used in one context – education — mean something quite different in another — the medical setting.
In the educational setting, Mental Retardation is a catch-all category to provide special educational services for various students who “don’t fit” That includes behavior problems and a wide variety of other behaviors.
In contrast, in the medical setting (doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists) Mental Retardation means that certain criteria are met. Those criteria are specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) or what will be in DSM-V in 2013. For a medical diagnosis of MR or IT must meet the criteria set out in 317.0 Mental Retardation or a gradation of it. (more…)
response to Jim DeMint's WSJ article
Let’s hope that newly elected Tea Party representatives to Congress address how to rein in the cost of entitlement programs. One way to start could be to take a close look at the social security disability entitlements that children receive.
An appropriate way to limit entitlements is to limit the time that children with disabilities receive disability money. Many children with disabilities make amazing growth. For example, some children diagnosed with Autistic Disorder at age three will lose many of the characteristic symptoms within 3-4 years. On the other end, too many young 18 year olds who score low on IQ tests as they leave high school get diagnosed as mentally retarded and moved on to social security for life.
For children and youth age 3 – 25, a limit of 3 years on disability is probably the best way to go. Children should be eligible for a maximum of 3 years and review required to extend eligibility. The federal government could require schools to send for review all 3 year IEP psycho-educational evaluations.
As children shed their difficulties based on successful school interventions they should also shed their federal government disability entitlement.
Have the review done by an independent source, i.e., private licensed psychologists in the same geographical area where the child resides. For older youth who score low on IQ tests the federal government via private psychologists in the locale should examine the applicants. Does the young 18 year old fit in fairly well to their culture and what is expected of them? What kinds of hopes does the young person have and how can that young person become employable? (more…)
Egyptian Court Grants Custody of Sons to Coptic Mother
But twins will keep father’s Muslim identity in their records, creating future problems.
LOS ANGELES, July 1 (CDN) — A Christian mother in Egypt has won custody of her twin sons from her estranged husband, who had converted to Islam and claimed them according to Islamic legal precepts.
The now 15-year-old boys, however, will still be considered Muslims despite their desire to remain Christian.
On June 15 the Egyptian Court of Cassation ruled that Kamilia Gaballah could retain custody of her sons Andrew and Mario, even though the father converted to Islam and the boys’ religion also changed as a result.
If the court does not allow them to return to Christianity, the family will open up another court case, said their older brother George Medhat Ramses.
“Up until now the court said they would have the right to choose their faith,” said Ramses, 21. “But if they don’t, we will start another trial. This is the only way.”
The decision overturns a September 2008 ruling by the Alexandria Appeals court that had granted custody of the twins to their father, Medhat Ramses Labib, due solely to his conversion. During this time Gaballah lived in constant fear police would take away her sons.
The ruling also affirmed Article 20 of Egypt’s Personal Status Law, which states children should remain with their mother regardless of religion until age 15, over that of the Hanefi School of Islamic jurisprudence, which says that a child must be granted custody to the Muslim father in an inter-religious marriage once he or she becomes 7.
But the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) advocacy group noted that while the court ruled a woman cannot be denied custody of her children solely on her Christian faith if her husband converts, children can still be removed from her home if there are “fears for the child’s faith.” An ex-husband or his family could easily exploit this clause, the human rights group said.
According to Gaballah, the trial was not a matter of custody rights but was religious in nature from beginning to end.
“My opponent is not only my divorcee; my opponent is everyone who hears this story and wants Andrew and Mario to become Muslims,” said Gaballah, according to Copts United advocacy group.
Mario and Andrew turned 15 in June. On their 16th birthday, they must apply for Egyptian identity cards, which factor heavily into Egyptian daily life. Barring another court battle, their religion will still be registered as Muslim.
Because of this predicament, the court verdict that granted the twins’ mother full custody only solved half of their problems, said Naguib Gobraiel, a lawyer familiar with the case.
As registered Muslims, they could face harassment while attempting to practice their Christian faith. And while they could marry Christian women, their future children would be registered as Muslims, following the Islamic dictum that children take the religion of their father.
“The court didn’t give them the right of freedom to choose their religion,” Gobraiel told Compass. “We must ask ourselves how the children are permitted to stay with their mother but must follow the religion of another man.”
Until then the family is worried that the court will not allow Andrew and Mario to return to their Christian faith and are taking every precaution. Last Wednesday (June 24) they appealed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to have their birth certificates state their Christian faith. They had been recently changed to retroactively show the boys’ birth status as Islam.
A Longstanding Battle
The controversy began in 2007 when a court ordered the twins to take Islamic education within the Egyptian school system due to the conversion of their estranged father from Christianity to Islam.
The twins refused to take their Islamic religion exam required to pass the next grade. “I am Christian,” each boy wrote on a make-up test in July. They turned in the exam with all of the answers left blank.
Their father converted to Islam and remarried in 2002. He changed the religion of his sons to Islam in 2006 and applied for custody even though he had not lived with the family. According to sharia (Islamic law) custody of minor children and influence over their religious status belongs to the Muslim parent.
The case reflects the tension in Egypt between civil and religious law. While Article 47 of Egypt’s civil law gives citizens the right to choose their religion, Article II of the Egyptian constitution enshrines sharia as the source of Egyptian law. The same tension has inhibited recent attempts by other converts to change their official religious status from Islam to Christianity.
Rights groups said the court order is good news for Gaballah and the twins, but it does nothing to address discriminatory policies of Egyptian law that attach a child’s faith to a parent who chooses to convert to Islam.
“It is regrettable, however, that the highest court of the country chose to treat the symptoms and ignore the root causes of the problem – changing the religious affiliation of Christian children whose parents convert to Islam without the slightest regard for their will or that of their Christian mothers,” said Hossam Baghat, director of the EIPR, in a statement.
Gaballah has fought with her ex-husband over alimony support and custody of sons Andrew and Mario in 40 different cases since he left her and converted to Islam so that he could remarry in 1999.
END
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