Teachers need to do more research before striking

Taken from Tuesday’s edition of The David Boze Show.

I can sympathize or empathize with the idea that, “Hey, I’m frustrated by this, I want to call attention to this, I want someone to pay attention to me, therefore I’m going to have to walk out.”

I think there are other things people have done in the past, without walking out, that have brought attention to their situation. There are other ways that teachers have gotten plenty of attention.

They say this decision to strike was tough, but it had a 93 percent approval. They recognize that there will be criticism.

It’s not a money grab because they don’t have the authority to control the purse. It might be an extortion racket, but it’s not a money grab.

Here’s the thing, I was reading about this on KING 5. There have been major investments in education since the Republicans took over the state senate. There was a very significant boost in education spending in 2013; it increased by $11.4 percent in 2013.

In the 2013 legislative session, they directed further spending increases to K-12 school funding for the 2013-15 biennium. Schools receive $15.2 billion in state funding, that’s an increase of $1.6 billion – $11.4 percent over the previous budget. This reverses the trend of prioritizing non-education over education spending in the budget.

In the 2013-15 biennium, schools will receive 45.5 percent of the state general fund. Of all the money spent out of the state general fund, schools get 45.5 percent of it. Now remember, you have other social services and other things to pay for.

How does that compare to the past? Because you have to ask yourself, “wait a second, this is supposed to be worse than ever … how does it compare to the past when I was a kid in school?”

The $7,764 per student in the 2013-15 budget is more than double what the state provided in inflation adjusted dollars to schools in 1978, the year the state Supreme Court confirmed the Doran Decision. Schools will receive, on average, another $3,400 per student from local levies, federal and other funding for a total of $11,400 per student. Which means, for a class of 25 students, schools are receiving about $285,000 per classroom in funding. With an average teacher’s salary of $64,662 and benefits of about $19,000, costing the state $84,060 on average, each class receives more than $200,000 to cover all other costs.

So when you look at the total package, you start asking yourself, “Now wait a second, this is supposed to be so bad that the teachers are so disgusted that it is strike worthy.”

You have one teacher who says she’s upset because she hasn’t had a cost of living adjustment in so long.

But again, teachers have step increases that go up with their salary. So it’s not like they’re losing money. That is more than most people can say. There are a lot of professions in the private sector where there was a lot more turmoil, people didn’t get anything.

Is the cost of living adjustment as essential at the top of the ladder as it is at the bottom of the ladder? Those are the kinds of conversations that make people uncomfortable.

Taken from Tuesday’s edition of The David Boze Show.

RO