A Primer on Teacher Contracts: Part Three
Teacher contracts contribute to layoffs
James Walsh and Ron Nixon, Minneapolis
Star Tribune
Originally posted May
25, 2004
Peter Maxwell came to teaching in Minneapolis as a second career four years ago.
He’s been laid off every spring since.
To save his job, he has agreed to cut his hours and his pay. He has split his
days teaching physical education and health between an elementary school in the
mornings and a high school in the afternoons. Now, his afternoon job has been
cut. If he can’t find another assignment by fall, Maxwell said he will leave.
Thousands of younger, less experienced teachers in Minnesota are finding it
nearly impossible to find and retain jobs. Declining enrollments and stagnant
state funding play a role.
But a Star Tribune analysis of teachers’ contracts and school finances has
found that teachers’ contracts themselves — with automatic raises based on
education and experience and job security based on seniority — contribute to
layoffs. Because districts have to lay off their least experienced teachers
first — and those teachers cost much less — schools end up cutting even more
teachers to balance their budgets.
What
do you know? The press has finally figured it out.
At a time when schools and teachers’ unions insist that hiring good new teachers
is critical to education, schools must instead choose between the connection
young teachers often have with students or the skills and experience of older
teachers. Because state law requires districts to cut newer teachers first,
there is really no choice. Young teachers lose.
* * *
Projections show statewide enrollment — and the money that comes with those
students — falling over the next several years. Still, school districts keep
paying teachers more. As a result, the Star Tribune has found, many districts
appear to be slashing budgets to pay for those raises.
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• Minneapolis schools expect to cut $20 million before fall. For the
two-year contract before that, Minneapolis teachers’ pay increased a total of
$17.5 million.
• St. Paul expects a $12 million deficit next school year; its teachers’
contract for 2001-03 increased total pay by $13.2 million.
• Eden Prairie must pare $1.5 million from its spending this coming school
year; its teachers received $2.7 million more in pay in 2001-03.
• Brooklyn Center’s 2004-05 deficit is $500,000; its salary increase for
2001-03 was $601,809.
Looks
like the work of someone with a college degree–mathematically challenged plus
an inability to plan and forecast consequences.
In 53 of the 153 districts that provided information to the Minnesota School
Boards Association, pay increases for 2004-05 equaled or exceeded what they have
to cut. In 97 districts, pay increases equaled at least half of their expected
deficits.
Yet, except for a few pilot projects, nobody is seriously pitching a
different way to pay teachers. The influence of public employee unions –
and the threat of teachers strikes — make that unlikely, said Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
But he said he thinks change must come.
Does
anyone see a beanstalk growing out of control?
"Nothing should be on autopilot," he said of the current system of
paying teachers. "The Big Kahuna in this whole debate is salaries and
benefits. And if you don’t have an opportunity to control those costs, when
enrollment is going down, you can’t manage your budget."
* * *
And for most schools, teachers are the biggest operating expense.
Up to 85 percent of a district’s total operating costs go to salaries and
benefits for all employees. And more than half that total goes to teachers in
contracts negotiated every two years. Almost all of those contracts — including
salary, health insurance and retirement benefits — cost more every year.
Total teacher pay in Minnesota often goes up, even if the number of kids and
teachers drops. From 1998-99 through 2002-03, 129 school districts lost students
yet increased total teacher pay faster than inflation. Over that same time, 92
school districts lost teachers, yet increased total teacher pay over inflation.
To afford those raises, districts often have to cut jobs later, said Michael
Podgurgsky, a professor at the University of Missouri and an expert in teacher
compensation.
"The one you can zero in on immediately is the salary schedule," he
said. "I was just struck and continue to be struck by what an anachronism
this is. There are no other professionals that are paid under such a rigid
system. If you’re alive another year, or if you accumulate graduate credits that
may or may not have anything to do with what a school needs, that’s where it
goes."
Contract math
Even a contract calling for no raise can give millions in raises.
It’s
designed that way to mislead the public and make it feel sorry for the poor
teachers.
These raises, called "steps and lanes," reward teachers for gaining
experience and obtaining additional education. They can also drive up a
district’s contract costs 2 to 3 percent a year. Chris Richardson, Osseo’s
outgoing superintendent, said his district gave teachers a zero percent average
increase for 2002-03. But after health insurance increases and steps and lanes
paid to teachers, total teacher compensation went up 8 percent over two years.
What
have I been saying?
Individual raises can be much bigger than that.
Under the current Robbinsdale schools contract, a teacher in the sixth year with
a bachelor’s degree and some additional graduate school credit made $39,829 in
2003-04. In 2004-05, the contract calls for that teacher to make $42,267 for
going up to the seventh step — a 6 percent increase. Now, if that teacher goes
to school this summer and moves over another "lane" in education
credits (which the teacher pays for), he or she will make $43,077 next school
year — an 8.2 percent increase. And, if the teacher adds education credits
every year over the next three years, his or her salary would go from $39,829 to
$53,298 — a 34 percent raise over three years.
* * *
Out of the 1,400 to 1,500 teachers in the Osseo schools, 700 are at the top of
the pay scale and the rest are moving up through steps and lanes. Few young
teachers in their first three years remain. As a result, Richardson said,
contracts cost more as more teachers hit top pay. From 1998-99 through 2002-03,
total teacher pay in Osseo rose 22 percent, after adjusting for inflation, even
though it had 52 fewer teachers.
"You end up cutting a lot of promising young teachers you’d like to see
make this a career," Richardson said.
Minneapolis interim Superintendent David Jennings said he’s tried to persuade
the teachers’ union to freeze steps and lanes to save the jobs of younger
teachers and preserve smaller class sizes. Other school employee unions have
accepted freezes, he said. But the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers won’t
bite.
Yes.
All reasonable suggestions like this get you labeled as a union buster, as I’ve
learned. Actually, I’ve never called for a freeze, just a rule limiting
increases in compensation to the rate of inflation when property taxes go up
faster than the rate of inflation.
"It was very hard to sell jobs over raises," he said. "Why? I
suspect it’s because many teachers are not overpaid for what they do."
Aren’t
they? Have you since the high school gym teacher outside during class? What is
s/he doing to earn $461 a 7-hour-day in salary and benefits?
Lots of teachers are overpaid. As pointed out in an earlier article on this
site, the salary scale is driven by the pay it takes to attract mathematicians
and scientists. The rest couldn’t earn near their compensation in the private
sector.
* * *
While educators say that losing newer teachers is pushing up class sizes –
about half the districts in Minnesota have seen class sizes increase since 1998
– it also severs the closer connection that young teachers can have to
students.
* * *
Statistics show that one out of five teachers bails out of the profession in the
first five years. Union folks cite poor starting pay as the reason. But
Nashwauk-Keewatin Superintendent John Klarich said layoffs and the seniority
system play a role. For now, Nashwauk is able to pay its teachers well because
the district is gaining students — and revenue — through open enrollment. But
if that changes, Klarich admits, that higher pay will mean a lot of younger
teachers will lose jobs. Teachers, however, will still want their raises, he
said.
"When it comes to teachers and their salaries," he said. "They
eat their young."
The union view
When times get tough, school leaders often try to shove the burden onto
teachers, says Sundin. In reality, she said, transportation, health services,
social services and other expenses are taking more and more school funding.
"When we negotiate, we negotiate with the overall understanding that
teachers need to be fairly compensated for their work. They aren’t now,"
Sundin said. "Our meager settlements have not broken the bank. We’re
just trying to hold our own."
That’s
just an outright lie. Holding your own means seeing compensation increases level
with inflation. The purpose of unions is to gain more wealth for their members.
The most powerful powerful unionists in the world aren’t "just trying to
hold their own."
Jewell Gould, a lead researcher with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT),
called blaming teachers’ contracts for layoffs "unbelievable."
According to the AFT, the average salary for teachers falls well below the
average wages of other white-collar occupations. In 2002, the average teacher
salary was $44,367, up 2.7 percent from the previous year. But that compared
with $54,503 for midlevel accountants, $74,534 for computer system analysts and
$76,298 for engineers.
Want
to know what’s wrong with using average salaries for teachers? First, the
reported averages don’t include all the pay
"add-ons" teachers get. Second, the average doesn’t include fringe
benefits. Teachers typically pay little toward their pensions and health
insurance costs. Third, the average doesn’t allow for income earned during
summers and after retirement while most workers are still at their jobs. Fourth,
the average doesn’t account for the savings in child care realized by teachers
who are off work during breaks and summers when their children are. Fifth, the
average doesn’t account for the added hours private sector workers spend at
work. Sixth, the average doesn’t account for quality of worklife issues.
A typical private sector worker has to earn 50% more in salary to have a
compensation package equivalent to that of a public school teacher when
accounting for all the variables. Don’t believe me? Use the
Lifetime Earnings Calculator and see for yourself.
So, the average teacher teacher salary is equivalent to $66,500. And the vast
majority of them couldn’t earn near that average in the private sector with the
skills they have. As pointed out in
this article, "Your most in-demand teachers drive the salary guide. You
have to pay them enough to stay, and the teachers less in demand all
benefit."
Even if teachers worked a 12-month year, their pay would fall short, the AFT
said. Adding another 35 days of work would increase the average teacher salary
to $52,541.
But, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, teacher pay ranks high
among other professionals — when comparing their 180-plus-day work year with
those of others who work 250 days or more. Using an hourly average, teachers in
the Twin Cities area make more than registered nurses, writers, accountants and
auditors and even some management positions, bureau statistics show.
Thank
you, Star Tribune! In New York, teachers make more than some physicians
on an hourly basis. See, e.g., Teachers’
pay on hourly basis tops many professions, study finds and The
Hourly Wages of Public School Teachers.
Teachers have sacrificed to help their districts in the past, union leaders say.
They’ve accepted contracts that froze steps and lanes; they’ve taken less to
save jobs.
Some
have, but even when "taking less," teacher compensation climbs faster
than inflation.
The St. Paul Federation of Teachers recently agreed to a contract that provided
a 2.5 percent average increase in 2003-04 and no increase in 2004-05, in part to
save the jobs of newer teachers, union president Barbara Wencl said.
* * *
Solutions scarce
Some officials insist that this cycle of layoffs, then hiring, then layoffs, will
continue unless public employee laws are changed and seniority rules are eased.
Exactly
right.
What if, instead of lopping off the bottom in terms of experience, schools could
lop off the bottom in terms of job evaluations? suggested Richard Kreyer, who
was head of human resources for the St. Paul schools until March. If districts
could lay off underperforming teachers, they would certainly include some more
expensive teachers, Kreyer said.
"And, maybe then, you don’t need to cut as many people," he said.
"There just isn’t the will in the Legislature to do that," said Rep.
Alice Seagren, R-Bloomington. "The union strength in this state is such
that people are just very afraid to open that issue. And I am just very afraid
that even if we had major reform, we would end up with the same problems."
Nothing
can be done. Our fate is sealed. How did we become so helpless?
Instead, she said, the state needs to begin paying teachers for how well they
teach, rather than how long they’ve taught.
No.
Education needs to be re-engineered to teach The
21st Century Student. Stand-and-deliver classroom instruction is a relic
with limited exceptions.
Carolyn Kelley, a University of Wisconsin professor of Educational
Administration, proposes just that in her book "Paying
Teachers for What They Know and Do." But such a system would cost more
– not less — than current contracts. That’s a tough sell when budgets are
tight. However, if people were convinced that the best teachers were getting the
highest pay, the public might be willing to increase funding, she said.
But teachers themselves may be hard to convince.
Robbinsdale proposed a radical shift in how to pay its teachers in 1997, when
the union put forward a system that would do away with most steps and lanes and
instead pay teachers more for earning "points."
Tom Walerius, business manager for the Robbinsdale schools, was president of the
district’s teachers’ union then. He said the idea was to strengthen the teacher
ranks and raise pay more quickly by rewarding ability over longevity.
It never happened.
Some teachers liked the idea. But many teachers are wary of moving to a system
in which their pay would be set by someone’s evaluation.
Performance evaluations are too subjective, said Sundin of the MFT. "Then,
keeping your job would depend on whose butt you kissed."
Spoken
like a teacher.
Judy Schaubach, president of Education Minnesota, the state teachers’ union,
suspects that school districts, freed of seniority rules, would go to the other
extreme and lay off teachers who make the most money.
Schaubach said she has a better idea: Make state funding more predictable by
building in an annual inflation adjustment. Then more jobs will survive, she
said.