| To the Editor: BG school board: We have a funding problem |
| Written by The Bowling Green Board of Education |
| Wednesday, 23 January 2013 10:14 |
|
Some "facts" were recently printed (in a letter to the editor) about the Bowling Green School District that were misleading. These so-called facts suggested the BG Schools have a spending problem, not a funding problem. We present the following information to set the record straight. The expenditure by the BG School District for the 2010-2011 school year was $10,260 per student, about average in Ohio. The writer compared the total cost of educating a child to tuition at St Aloysius and the BG Christian Academy, which is a false comparison. Tuition does not cover every cost per child. Religious education has different standards from public education, different funding sources, and operates with far fewer governmental mandates. While inflation has continued to rise, schools have reduced expenses significantly: 48.5 full-time staff positions were eliminated (all through attrition), three buildings were closed with one more to be closed in June, three buildings were sold, and supply budgets were reduced. Teachers and staff have had 0% base salary increases for two years. The starting salary for a teacher with a BA is $33,036. For comparison, postings in a recent Blade showed that where salaries are listed, only one (a breakfast cook) offered less than $33,000. Teachers are highly trained professionals who work very hard. They are not overpaid. Teachers are paid only for the actual days they work, not for holidays or summer vacations. An unfair example of retirement compensation said that one could retire with 100% of their salary. Theoretically that is possible, but rare: the person would have had to work over 46 years. PERS and STRS set retirement rules, not this school district. Annual increases in retirement benefits and health care costs are determined by the state of Ohio through STRS and PERS. Teaching is a high-level profession. 84% of our teachers have a master's degree or higher. None of them are being overpaid when compared to their peers in the private sector. Bowling Green hires top-notch teachers and holds them accountable. They deserve the salaries they receive. The more you know about the BG School District, the more pride you will have in what is being accomplished even with the loss of $2.4 million in funding over the last three years. We don't have a spending problem, we have a funding problem. The Bowling Green Board of Education Ellen Scholl, President Stephen Cernkovich Eric Myers Paul Walker Lee Hakel |
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Comments
What is your educational background that makes you so upset with me?
I don't think as highly of myself as you think. And repeatedly going after me the way you do doesn't make you look very smart or persuade people about the correctness of your own views.
There are no reputed CONSERVATIVE thinkers on educational reform who would agree with your assertion that the only problem is that teachers are overpaid. I suppose that makes you a fascist rather than a conservative.
And you use that to pass judgment on educators?
Ignorance is not strength. It's just ignorance. And it doesn't win arguments by yelling it louder.
Basically, you see anything that doesn't benefit you personally as theft and an infringement on your rights; it's childish.
It's why U.S. politics are the laughing stock of the world. Jokes about the stupidity of American Republicans are almost as common as jokes about North Korea or Greek bankers. It's a shame because there are smart conservatives out there. Many of them are libertarian. The only problem is, they get primaried when they are politicians, and their more realistic view of the world doesn't have the mass audience that paranoid thugs can command.
FYI: there is no "hidden agenda." The "hidden agenda" of teachers is to teach. That they should want to be compensated fairly and competitively, and in keeping with their training is only human.
Have you ever noticed that people who do not have much education seem to think that college degrees give people an "unfair" advantage over people who don't have them? Maybe if they were more educated...oh, never mind...
You can't spend your way out of debt, true--but you also can't run a farm if you eat your seed corn. You can't cut your way into prosperity: look at the UK. Austerity has led to a triple-dip recession.
It's also true that people who lack education, or whose experiences with education have been mediocre or poor, have a harder time understanding its value.
Saying that teachers and schools need to be liable when a person has trouble finding a job is idiotic in the extreme. The burden for a person looking for a job is on that person--maybe that person has trouble applying the lessons learned in school to new contexts. And maybe the economy is just really tight right now.
The job of a teacher is to teach well, with as much personal attention to students as possible. But education catalyzes better outcomes for students; it doesn't guarantee them. It is an investment, with risks, not an assembly line at a factory.
For once, man, do some research instead of reading your used toilet paper. Look at what students learn during these degree programs--specific courses focusing on specific expertise--and use your common sense to see if there is value in it.
No one within the schools has gotten a raise (and certainly not one over 2%) in years while they all pay more for their benefits. These are just facts people. You think the teachers you know are getting rich? And less teachers means more work and less attention to students.
Communities need to support schools with more funding because of the cuts in funding from the state, period.
The whining by the same 10 people on this feed is so predictable it's pathetic.
A single individual owning multiple properties is unsustainable.
People like you disgust me.
BTW, I don't bash teachers, just your wage/benefits.
He's a bitter old man who does not want to see ANY public resources go to younger people.
Must be nice to "own" 3 properties in the age of mass unemployment.
...East Toledo "types." What the hell does THAT mean?
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