Being There Is Not The Same as Being Better
On November 7, I was invited to present my paper — The Salary Straitjacket — to the Missouri Mathematics and Science Coalition in Jefferson City, Missouri. Now you can listen to the audio of the presentation and see my slides:
About the paper: Imagine a school in which the highest prize for academic achievement went to the student who had been there the longest. Though it seems ridiculous to reward students in this manner, this is exactly how school districts reward teachers — by longevity. Teachers by and large are paid on a single salary schedule. These schedules not only fail to reward teachers based on their quality, but they fail to recognize that teaching different subjects and grade levels requires different skill sets and that those particular skill sets are in varying demand in the marketplace. For instance, there are reportedly 3.1 jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for every one unemployed person in Missouri. In comparison, there is only 1 non-STEM job for every 3.7 unemployed people. This means teachers with strong backgrounds in math and science may have more, higher-paying options outside of teaching. This is a reality we must address.
It is somewhat ironic to see Show-Me admit that increasing education costs have their origins in higher-paying options outside of teaching.
That has been driving the rise in education costs for the last 50 years, was women have moved from teaching to being executives and managers, doctors, lawyers, and other professionals.
http://stlouiseconomics.blogspot.com/2012/12/fundamentally-why-rex-sinquefield-and.html
Comment by John L. Davidson — December 8, 2012 @ 7:11 a.m.
What is ironic here?
Comment by Josh Smith — December 10, 2012 @ 9:26 a.m.
John,
Thanks for the comment. Though I don’t think your point is actually brought up in my paper or my presentation, you are certainly right that increased salaries have been one of the largest drivers of increased education spending. Indeed, I referred to this in my Oct. 11th post “Disease* runs rampant in Missouri’s Public Schools”. The “disease” is Baumol’s disease. Because education is a labor intensive industry, it tends to see increased expenses without corresponding increases in output.
But increased labor costs are not the only reason for increased spending. Schools often don’t spend money wisely, see my Oct. 25th post, “Administrative Bloat in K-12 Education” for more on this.
The bottom line is that we cannot continue to operate in the same manner that we have for decades. We need to rethink how we operate schools, so schools can be more flexible and students needs can be met more readily. By equipping parents with options and empowering schools to lead, we can see significant improvements.
Regards,
James
Comment by James Shuls — December 10, 2012 @ 9:32 a.m.