In 2017, health insurance for active and retired school employees cost $1.9 billion, accounting for 12 percent of the $15.7 billion spent overall on Massachusetts schools. The costs increased 12.2 percent from 2013, growing at a faster clip than salaries for classroom teachers (11.8 percent).
By 2017, public school teachers' earnings topped the average in just Rhode Island. Since the early 1990s, public school teacher and staff earnings fell relative to the average worker in 42 states. The biggest relative drop came in Wisconsin, where pay is now only 90 percent of the workers' pay average statewide.
Policymakers could solve two of our most challenging issues in education with a single approach. Higher base salaries and well-planned monetary incentives would address both the financial burden of being a teacher and the inequities that permeate our education system by attracting and retaining excellent teachers.
The Los Angeles teachers union said it's heading back to the negotiating table with the school district. Talks resumed for the first time since more than 30,000 educators walked off the job this week. But while teachers demand millions more dollars in school funding, their school district has lost $69 million—and counting—during the strike.
The two words, "these kids," frustrate Superintendent Carla Santorno more than any other phrase. It's used by some educators as a kind of secret code and a flimsy excuse for academic failure among marginalized students, she says.
Denver Public Schools Superintendent Susana Cordova said the district is offering approximately 10 percent raises to teachers this year, putting educators on a track to make as much as $100,000 annually.
The House Education Committee's said that public schools should spend 85 percent of its funding in the classroom. But unless more revenue is provided, there will be less money to provide custodial, maintenance, secretarial, health and other supports services. Teachers will be doing more than just educating their students if this happens.
Some teachers are spending four hours per day commuting, or have relied on charitable funding for mortgage assistance. While several districts have tried to make it easier for teachers to live where they work, their efforts are not always welcomed by local homeowners, opening up new debates over gentrification and what obligations the expanding tech sector has to the cities that host its offices.
If there is one thing district and school administrators are familiar with, it is the uncertainty of state allocations and operating budgets, especially during times of financial difficulties. One way to help offset this unknown is through programs that save money. In K12 institutions, utility costs are often the second highest behind salaries. The good […]
