“When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start
representing
the interests of school children.”
Albert Shanker, President American Federation of Teachers
The Mission Statement of the California Teachers
Association pretty well confirms Shanker's proclamation. Teachers are
everything, students de minimis. Add John L. Lewis's acerbic response in the
heyday of the Labor Movement when asked what do union members want: “More!”
California spends 46.9 percent of its general fund on
education, and 43.3 percent of property tax revenue in San Diego County is
allocated to school districts. Now the San Diego Unified School District wants
to tax, tax, tax, every parcel of land. No matter how much money is collected,
school districts unfailingly cry “More!”
According to the Web site Teacher Portal, teachers in
California rank number one in per-hour teacher pay in the country, collecting an
average salary of $59,825 for a 184 working-day year. (Salaries go up to
$99,864.00 per short year.) Teachers earn more than construction workers,
nurses, police officers and accountants, according to the Web site. The U.S.
Department of Education reported California spent $7,571 per student in 2006.
San Diego Unified says it averages 18 students per teacher, which comes to
$136,000 per classroom. However, a lot of employees are categorized as teachers
who aren't assigned to classrooms and actual student-teacher ratios may vary.
Individual schools list class sizes up to 30 students, which would generate more
than $227,000 per classroom. You would think this would guarantee a world class
education without a new parcel tax.
If you deduct the average teacher's salary ($59,825) from
$136,000, it leaves about $76,000 for each class of 18 students and up to
$167,000 for classes of 30 students. Where does this non-teacher money go?
Teachers frequently object to criticism, noting that they
also pay taxes. However, Democratic Vice President John Calhoun observed that
regardless of forms submitted government agents and employees pay no taxes. If
taxpayers pay the public employees' salaries, it's “incontestable” they also pay
the public employees' taxes.
That said, the highest honor we can bestow upon a person
is to call him or her teacher – that rare person, who by the sheer power of his
or her ideas is able to draw others near to listen, learn, understand and
perpetuate ideas that benefit all of mankind. Teachers' importance in helping
form the minds of our children cannot be overstated. However, to be frank, much
of what passes for teaching today is merely schooling and baby-sitting. In the
1960s, San Diego lead the country in education. But just as the labor unions
brought low the railroads, airlines, steel industry and now General Motors and
Chrysler, they are doing the same to education. In 2005 and 2007 California
ranked 47th of 50 states in national tests. San Diego schools have streams of
money, rivers of money, oceans of money – plus $2 billion in a reserve pool –
without the benefit of a parcel tax. At $227,000 per classroom, they, like the
rest of us, must find ways to do more with less. School districts shouldn't even
dream about a new parcel tax. They need to raise student test scores and cut
lavish administrative costs in half.
A parcel tax is unwarranted and indefensible.
Fred Schnaubelt