fSteve
HarryDemocrat for State Representative 68th District |
Donate |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In 2005, Lansing School District paid about 150 of its teachers $50,000 to retire. These early retirement bonuses make sense only if experienced teachers are grossly overpaid. If veteran teachers can be replaced so cavalierly with rookies, why did it ever make sense to pay a premium for experience? (My "Opinion" on the Lansing School District early retirement was printed in the Lansing State Journal 1/20/2005.) An 8/24/2007 story in the LSJ said that in 2007, seven schools in Ingham, Clinton and Eaton counties offered early retirement incentives (or "buyouts" or "voluntary severance agreements"). Here are the schools, the number of teachers who took the offer, and the terms of the offer.
According to a survey by the American Federation of Teachers for the 2004-05 school year (see table, page 23), the average salary for teachers nationwide was $47,602. The average for Michigan teachers was $53,959, eighth highest in the nation. Here are the top 8:
Michigan teachers' high salaries are not due to a shortage. Students graduating with teaching degrees from Michigan universities have to move out of state to find jobs. At an MSU teachers' job fair at the Lansing Center in April 2007, only 30 percent of the recruiters were from Michigan (LSJ 4/20/2007). If schools want experienced teachers and teachers with masters degrees, they should expect to pay them more than for teachers just out of college. But rather than negotiating salaries with a teachers' union, why not just pay the market rate, the least amount necessary to be fully staffed with qualified teachers? On its website, the Mackinac Center has an interesting report called "The Michigan Education Association: Is Michigan’s Largest School Employee Union Helping or Hurting Education?" Political Spending According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, teacher lobbies spent $809,880 in 2006 (report). The Michigan Education Association was the third biggest spender of all lobbies at $626,536. The American Federation of Teachers was 22nd at $183,344. MEA's total may be even higher. They are also a client of the lobbying firm Government Consultant Services, which spent the most of all lobbyists in 2007: $1,446,002. The National Education Association (NEA), which claims to be the nation's largest professional employee organization, contributed $3,412,000 out of a total of $4,502,046.15 spent in support of Proposal 5 in 2006. Proposal 5, which was defeated, would have set mandatory funding levels for Michigan schools. Here are the 8 contributors who spent over $10,000:
Drive the Unions out of Michigan |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||