Could We Save America's Schools by Cutting Administrators Pay?

reply to post by onequestion


Education system is based on teachers teaching students yes? If you're against making educational system cuts, then you should be against teachers getting laid off or having their salaries cut....while administrator's who sit in their chairs doing absolutely nothing but looking pretty...make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year o.0

Watch what happens to the bankrupt cities,, they force cuts in promises/contracts with public service workers. We can make the choice to cut now, or be forced to later. It's coming rather you like it or not. Same with Social Security benefits. When the checks STOP coming , that's when the SLEEPING GIANT AWAKES. It's going to get nasty.

Originally posted by DAVID64
Base the teacher and administration pay on test scores. You would see an uproar like no other. On the other hand, we would have some very dedicated teachers.

the problem with that is that it does not necessarily lead to applicable learning. Test scores are not an accurate measure of learning at all. And that is where the US education system fails the most. It relies far too heavily on test scores.

The only way to truly test learning is in applicable situations. Therefore, basing pay on test scores is not the best solution. Now, finding a system to test students in applicable situations, and basing teacher pay on that, now that would be a very good start.

No, administrative pay is not the problem with our educational system. We just have extremely boring teaching methods. We need more career oriented high schools.

Not to mention where you live determines the quality of education you receive.

Yeah that would work as well as ditching the teacher's unions. The teamsters did not look out for the products they were transporting or the trucks, the United Auto Workers union does not look out for the quality of automobiles so does anyone think that the teacher's union looks out for anyone but teachers? The teachers union fights like hell to hold on to the crappiest teachers and the way they have the rules set up it is almost impossible to fire teachers. They even protect teachers that have had sex with students the same way the catholic church does.
The teachers are what is hurting education
www.pleasantonweekly.com...

reply to post by nusnus


Yeah, it is against the rules. For good reason too it is propoganda for the mentally challenged. Notice how administrators are non-union positions? The teachers union would never look at what sacrafice they could make to better things. Hell, even when it comes to child molesters the teachers will point the finger at the city before they say it is okay for an administrator to dictate how a pedophile teacher should be delt with

The city teachers union yesterday demanded a review of the school system’s hiring practices in a move derided by the Bloomberg administration as a distraction from teacher misconduct.

In the wake of record numbers of arrests of teachers on charges of sexual abuse or misconduct involving students, the city has been lobbying for a law giving the chancellor final say in how misbehaving teachers should be disciplined. That power currently resides with an independent arbitrator.

But rather than support the city’s bid to protect students, the United Federation of Teachers turned the tables and pointed at the city’s hiring practices as a potential area for reform.

Read more: www.nypost.com...

Their response completely dodges the issue and only serves to protect the pedophile.

School administrators and their payscale are just another example of what we have been doing wrong for a very long time in the public and private sectors. There is something wrong when the top level is making exponentially more than those under them. This is not to say these positions shouldn't be making more of course leadership positions should they carry more responsibility. But we have allowed the gap between levels to become grossly distorted and it is playing a large role in our economic turmoil.

If we could take 1/3 of what we spend in foreign aid, and instead use it to revamp our whole education system, we could solve those problems. Not only would it revive the U.S. jobs market it would eventually return those cuts in foreign aid.
Education is the key to a good economy, when our economy is strong we can then turn our minds to solving the issue's that require foreign aid in the first place.

reply to post by nusnus


While I agree that school administrators are overpaid and that a review of their salaries is definitely in order, I have an even bigger question/solution to saving millions in our educational system which is; How about reducing the number of school districts including administrators and staff.

In Nueces county where I grew up, we currently have 18 school districts, each with their own administrator and staff. Eleven of those districts are located within one city of 300,000, Corpus Christi, TX.. Therefor, I would suggest that we consider consolidating our school districts into something like one per county. The money saved would be in the millions. I don't know if this action alone would save our schools, but it sure couldn't hurt.

I wonder how much the Union Leaders make and when the last time they went to a “Convention” in a tropical location?

Unions are one of the most corrupt money sucking institutions in America today. It’s no more than a shake-down – a protection racket.

Regarding Administrators, they are overpaid and underworked while the Teachers are over managed and under paid. Imagination/innovation is not encouraged and rewarded - it is stifled and punished in the name of political correctness.

I think the way to protect and improve the US Schools would be good ole fashioned competition.

Get the government out of the business all together and end the “public” school system. Allow each family to deduct a tax credit for the entire cost of school and let them choose where the best school for their child is.

Not all kids need or want to go to college, some need to learn a trade or skill instead. In this case a college education might actually return to the discriminator it used to be in screening potential employees for leadership and management. Now it’s like High School with sex, alcohol and cigarettes.

In the same vein the gaping hole in technical trades (carpenters, welders, machinists, fabricators, plumbers, etc.) and skilled labor could be filled.

Bottom line is when the Federal Government got involved in education during the Carter (Have to chuckle at that…Carter Admin are words in nature right up there with neon colors and spikes as a warning that what you see before you is not good.) Admin the system went to hell.

Standardization and homogenization is not the way to improve anything with the exception of control.

Decentralization allows the more talented Teachers and Administrators to develop strategies that work and others can either adopt those from lessons learned or come up with their own that work for their different set of circumstances. i.e. socio-economic factors in the local population, rural vs. urban, family dynamics etc. All districts do not suffer the same issues.

Have you ever noticed that the larger an organization is the more bloated and cumbersome its logistical needs become (in manpower, money and resources in general), the slower it is to respond to and implement change and it becomes less and less effective as it grows in size until it reaches the point of spinning its wheels a million miles an hour consuming vast amounts of fuel in the illusion of progress - but and never moving forward. All the while, its productivity/mission success declines.

This is true in the military, the civil government and in the private sector. Smaller units are more effective at solving problems when empowered to do so. Likewise, when so empowered leaders in the organization have less of a safety net to hide behind when the fail and the best rise to the top.

It is possible to over-manage and over-regulate something into oblivion and failure. Centralized planning and homogenous, standardized methods of dealing with diverse populations, sectors, individuals and their problems doesn’t work.

Ask the CCCP how that worked out for them.

People need to be able to deal with things at the local level absent the involvement of a detached and bloated program of management.

The Federal Government should have never been involved in public education. It was just another power grab from liberals who wanted to legislate political correctness and indoctrination. IMO it’s a beautiful plan and has been working – we have almost succeeded in dumbing down the population to the point of an idiocracy.

Two more generations and I think they’ll have it all set.

Originally posted by DAVID64
Base the teacher and administration pay on test scores. You would see an uproar like no other. On the other hand, we would have some very dedicated teachers.

Did you really think about your comment? Is that what schools are for, passing tests? Are you trying to even further destroy the education system? There is a lot more to learning than passing tests.

They could also save money by not giving as many campaign contributions
www.opensecrets.org...

Administrators and support staff should have their salaries and benefits cut....to make them equal to similar jobs in the private sector.....say a small company.
They could also tie it in to test scores.
Or, make their salaries 2-3x that of the teachers....at MOST.

Teachers should not be immune to cuts either.
In my state, teachers start at $45,000 and the average salary is $62,000....local governments can no longer afford these salaries and pensions/benefits.
Public employees [teachers, cops and firefighters] should NOT be bankrupting cities or holding them hostage.

How about they only pay the teachers whose students learned anything? Maybe that will save a lot of schools and help a lot of children....

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe

Administrators and support staff should have their salaries and benefits cut....to make them equal to similar jobs in the private sector.....say a small company.
They could also tie it in to test scores.
Or, make their salaries 2-3x that of the teachers....at MOST.

A good idea in theory but when you factor test scores into it you get teachers who spend the year just getting their students ready for a test.

My first thought is that the money going towards embassies overseas and for wars could be used for the education system.
I agree with cutting the administrators pay however.
The entire U.S. educational system needs an overhaul.