TEACHER TURNOVER MYTHS BUSTED BY STUDY
State doesn't have "teacher retention problem"
A new study commissioned by the Silverdale-based Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession (CSTP) has good news about the teacher turnover rate in Washington state: It's much lower than generally reported (about half). Over a five-year period (1998-2003), only 20% of Washington's public school teachers left the state or the profession. The majority of teachers (58%) were still teaching in the same school after five years.

Why do teachers leave? The CSTP study concludes that "easily half of the leavers are retirees and some of the others may have left only temporarily (e.g., to raise a family)."

Officials of the state's self-appointed teachers' union, the Washington Education Association (WEA), declined to comment on the findings of the study, but repeated their claim that large numbers of teachers are leaving because salaries are too low. You can say one thing for WEA officials: They won't let a little thing like contradictory facts put them off message!

SPEAKING OF TEACHER SALARIES...
How much are Washington teachers paid?
Currently, public school teachers in Washington earn an average salary of $45,444 a year, and when benefits and supplemental income are added, their total average compensation is $62,653.

Is this too much or too little?

It’s both. Our state’s inflexible teacher salary structure pays all teachers the same based on which slot they fall into on a grid (determined by time in the profession and degrees earned) instead of how well they do their jobs. That means poor teachers exist who shouldn’t be in the classroom at all alongside excellent teachers who are not allowed to earn a salary that reflects their ability.

Unfortunately, good teachers are forced to pay nearly $800 in dues each year to union officials who work to keep their salaries down. The WEA lobbied for the state's current rigid salary structure because, after all, it's much easier to "represent" teachers when they're coralled into one homogeneous unit than when they have free range to pursue individual potential. A bit un-American, wouldn't you say?

Note to teachers: The portion of your union dues that is not used for politics is tax-deductible. Ask your local union representatives for more details.

SPEAKING OF MYTH-BUSTING...
Education officials need to be honest about outcomes
Listening to our state's education officials talk about their job performance would inspire anyone to toss confetti and pop the cork on a bottle of champagne. Sure, they admit our education system needs a little improvement (and remind us that it won't be free!), but their claims often hide the true nature of the crisis. For example:

CLAIM: "A top state school administrator ... pointed out that Washington students performed above average on the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a U.S. Department of Education test known as the “nation’s report card." – Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 01/05/05

The claim is true, but rankings without baselines can be deceptive. The fact is, only 32% of our state's 8th graders passed the math portion of the NAEP, and only 33% passed the reading portion. Among 4th graders, 36% met math standards and 33% met reading standards. The highest performing states in the nation had pass rates of 43-44%. Thus, we rank above average among states that are all doing a very poor job.

Further, a recent analysis completed by the Brookings Institution shows that most of the problems on the 8th grade NAEP test can be solved with arithmetic learned by or before the 3rd grade. Thus, only one-third of our state's students can jump a bar that is already too low.

Depressing? Yes, but the good news is we can fix the problems if we stop denying them. Protecting adults (jobs, salaries, reputations) at the expense of students is unacceptable. Watch for EFF's full report this spring.

EDUCATION LEGISLATION: DEAD OR ALIVE?
Some bills have fallen, others live on
Alive: HJR 4205 - Remove the super-majority (60%) requirement to pass school levies.
Alive: EHB 1068 - End state's participation in norm-referenced student assessments.
Alive: SB 5441 - Require a finance study for K-12 and Higher Education.
Dead: HB 1659 - Create the Joint Select Committee on Equal Opportunity for All to promote diversity in public schools.
Alive: HB 1484 - Allow counties to run permanent property tax levies to provide pay increases for school employees.
Alive: HB 1282 - Require schools that choose to teach sex education to use state-developed curriculum.
Dead: HB 2139 - Require parental consent for students to participate in sex education programs.
Dead: SB 5634 - Require OSPI to verify teaching degrees used to obtain salary increases.
Dead: SB 5677 - Revoke certificates of school employees possessing pornography on school grounds.

For more information about each of these bills, visit www.washingtonvotes.org.

GREGOIRE WANTS MORE MONEY FOR SCHOOLS
OSPI and WEA say it's a good start
Governor Christine Gregoire's budget proposal includes more money for the state's schools (a 6.4% increase for K-12 and 11.4% for Higher Education) even though voters have spoken decisively on that issue.

Gregoire's budget reinstates funding for I-732 (teacher raises) and I-728 (class size reduction). Voters passed these initiatives in 2000 with the clear understanding that they would be funded with surplus revenue, not new taxes. Legislators suspended the initiatives when surpluses were used up, so advocates for higher education taxes took their case directly to the people. They proposed a 15% increase in the state sales tax (I-884) to fund the initiatives and increase education spending. Voters defeated the proposal 61-39%.

Taxpayers support public schools, but they're wisely beginning to question the decades-old claim that “more money” results in higher student achievement. They're ready to see some results first for the $9.5 billion a year ($9,688 per pupil) already invested.

CORRECTION: FACTS ABOUT K-12 SCHOOLS
A note from Marsha Richards
I’m afraid I incorrectly reported the inflation-adjusted increases in OSPI’s total and per-pupil general fund education spending on my recently published Facts about Washington’s K-12 public schools. The correct ten-year (1994-2004) percentage increase in inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending is 12.9%. The correct percentage increase in total general fund spending (1994-2004) is 22.6%.

In addition to correcting these figures, I added beginning teacher salaries ($29,149) and modified trends showing the growth in student enrollment and public education employment. The new trend percentages exclude the 1993-94 school year to show a ten-year trend instead of eleven.

Please use or print the updated copy of the publication. I apologize for the inconvenience!