[Mb-civic] We Can Pay Teachers More - Chris Whittle - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

We Can Pay Teachers More
It's a Matter of Redesigning the Schools

By Chris Whittle
Thursday, September 15, 2005; Page A33

With schools back in session it's worth reminding ourselves of a 
sobering fact: America's average public school teacher is paid $46,000 a 
year. Largely because of the persistent efforts of teachers unions, that 
number is much higher in real terms than it was two decades ago. Still, 
it pales in comparison with the compensation of other professionals.

If you believe (1) that teacher quality is crucial to the success of our 
schools and (2) that ultimately we get what we pay for, then let's be 
clear: We need to double the average teacher's pay in America -- and 
even triple it for our best-performing teachers -- if schools are to 
compete with other fields for the talent they need.


But providing that kind of increase is far from easy. Teachers and their 
unions must fight for even 5 percent annual raises. Why? Because the 
taxpayer-crushing scale of K-12 education makes any increase a very big 
deal.

Consider: America has more than 90,000 public schools educating nearly 
50 million children. Public education is a country within our country. 
As a society, we spend around $350 million per school hour on public 
education. U.S. K-12 education has roughly four times as many employees 
as Wal-Mart, the world's largest company.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/14/AR2005091402193.html
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