(Chuck Muth) – Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget proposal would cut $625 million from K-12 education. Once you get into the millions, that sounds like a lot of money to the Average Joe. But in context, not really. As Anjeanette Damon of the Las Vegas Sun reported on Sunday, the vast majority of that reduction can be absorbed without impacting classrooms simply by slightly reducing the salaries of school personnel by 5 percent.
For example, instead of Frank Mathews – a Regional Professional Development Program director (huh?) for the Clark County school district – making $115,311.78 like he did in 2009 (Hat tip: Transparent Nevada), Mr. Mathews would be paid $109,546.19 to do whatever it is he does that’s so crucial to excellence in public education in Clark County.
In other words, the public education system in Nevada, under the governor’s plan, could continue to provide pretty much all of the necessary (and still many unnecessary) programs and services, including classroom instruction, that are currently being provided at less cost.
But there’s a turd in the punchbowl: Unions.
You see, while it’s certainly possible to continue providing the same level of service and instruction to Nevada’s children by taxpayer-funded government employees taking a small 5 percent pay cut – especially minor compared to the much larger pay cuts many in the private sector have already endured – the education unions could dig in their heels and say, “Screw the kids; we ain’t takin’ no stinkin’ pay cut!”
And because of Nevada’s collective bargaining law – which should be repealed this upcoming session, by the way – local school districts might be forced by the unions to continue paying school district personnel their current salaries and benefits and will have to cover the budget reduction through layoffs, increased class sizes and program eliminations.
Make no mistake: If those types of cuts are made, it will be because of the greedy public employee unions, not Gov. Sandoval.
Heath Morrison, superintendent of Washoe County schools, opposes the governor’s plan, claiming “it’s unrealistic to believe reducing salaries wouldn’t have an effect on the quality of education,” insisting that asking public employees to pitch in and share the sacrifice by taking a little less pay rather than lay off fellow teachers, eliminate programs and make class sizes bigger will “impact the classroom.”
Think about the “logic” of what Mr. Morrison is saying here. According to his theory, you could take a really crappy basketball coach, pay him 5 percent more, and he’ll turn into John Wooden. And if you take a truly extraordinary coach and pay him 5 percent less, his coaching ability will vanish into thin air. It’s absurd.
As is Morrison’s notion that if you reduce salaries and benefits by a small percentage, “our very talented teachers and principals (might) decide they can get more pay somewhere else.”
Really? Where does he think they’re going to go? In case Mr. Morrison missed it, Nevada isn’t the only state suffering from the Great Recession. Education cuts in some other states are worse than here. Where exactly do these people think they can go where there are tons of high-paying public school job openings?
But let’s say some do find Nirvana and leave Nevada. With 15 percent unemployment in Clark County and around 10 percent nationwide, how hard really would it be to replace a Regional Professional Development Program director at $109,546.19? I mean, come on.
Or better yet, how much of a strain on the system would it be to take current overpaid and unnecessary non-teaching school administrators and put them back in the classroom? Does the Clark County school district really need 26 Regional Professional Development Program directors who could instead be teaching in a classroom? Get real.
The private sector has been trimming down and making these kinds of tough but necessary budget cuts for more than three years now. It’s high time for government employees to start sharing in the sacrifice, as well.
All of these salaries need to be taken down. A school superintendent who makes as much as the president of the united states. Give me a break!!!! What do these regional program directors do??? Bet you could fire them all and replace them with just as good of people if not better for 60-70 thousand a year. How many principals and vice pricipals do you need in a school. Clark county schools are ridiculous!!!
Cutting the highest paid people will not fix anything… granted there is WAY too much waste at the top level but even knocking 200 people down $6000 will only add up to $600,000, that is why they need to do it to the teachers, because there are 20,000 of us.
You know I wouldn’t mind a small pay cut (by the way 5% will take us back to about 2000 levels), but what I would like to see is better working conditions through more support for teachers from the community and administration.
You think Clark County Schools are ridiculous… parents of Clark County students make the schools look intelligent.
I have solutions, but they would only be successful… not popular.
jim,
cutting 200 people by $6000 is $1.2m, not $600k
I can see the need for the upper echelons of the school districts getting a wee bit of a pay cut, maybe restructuring there golden parachutes to silver. But these cuts aren’t just for the administrators, but across the board.
I have several friends who teach (you know actually spend time with kids passing knowledge). A 5% pay cut for these people is the difference of making or breaking through a month. A lot of us have come to know the end of the month blues and the importance of tracking of every dollar. Teachers start out there. Having 4-12 years of post secondary training, thousands of dollars of their own school debt, the already under paid workers are asked to take another financial hit.
At the same time if you think that even with the 5% pay reduction their will not be a batch of layoffs, you have not paid attention to the education realities until now. Already 30 students per class is normal or low in most school, some approaching 40 per class. Parent and student apathy combined with staggering numbers per class guarantee teachers spend all their time chasing problems and almost no time teaching.
Hunt down the bad teachers, remove tenure to stop protecting them fine, but do not punish the good teachers who already are struggling to make ends meet month to month. Hold parents and students truly responsible for their actions or inaction. Give the power back to the schools to maintain decorum and discipline. Students and parents unwilling to even attempt in their own education should be able to help the districts financially as they consider the whole school system just a babysitting service.
Well in response to Tim I know in k-5 there is a principal and vice principal for 3 schools at a time meaning some days a school will not even have a principal at all on campus
Sad that this came out in January prior to a wasted survey, where the school district took into account little to none of the recommendations made by the pitiful 12,800 or so people (out of several hundred thousand) who even bothered to complete it. The level of people who did not take the survey is nothing but another reflection of the apathy that people in and around the school system in Clark County feel toward education and the future of the children in this city. This, of course, made it easier to disregard the recommendations that were made.
As far as a 5% cut, I truly wish that was what is now being proposed. As of today, the teacher’s union is looking at requiring teachers to pay 50% of their retirement, 50% of their health insurance, and take a 8% pay cut on top of that. This equates to teachers taking a 20% hit in salary. As of next year, a teacher with 5 or less years in the district (if they even still have a job after reduction in force) will make less than a Manager at McDonalds. What are we doing as a City, State, and Nation when we are stating that we want teachers to increase knowledge in areas of literacy and math to encourage more students to attend college, when we clearly send the message that the Master’s Degree a teacher holds is not financially worthwhile? Why would a student want to learn and prepare for college when they will make three times as much working as a doorman or cocktail waitress at a casino? Sadly, as of next year, many prisoners in Nevada will live better and have more perks than the people who are responsible for providing education, counseling, and social adjustment to the children of this state. That is no way to live!
Sad that this came out in January prior to a wasted survey, where the school district took into account little to none of the recommendations made by the pitiful 12,800 or so people (out of several hundred thousand) who even bothered to complete it. The level of people who did not take the survey is nothing but another reflection of the apathy that people in and around the school system in Clark County feel toward education and the future of the children in this city. This, of course, made it easier to disregard the recommendations that were made.
As far as a 5% cut, I truly wish that was what is now being proposed. As of today, the teacher’s union is looking at requiring teachers to pay 50% of their retirement, 50% of their health insurance, and take a 8% pay cut on top of that. This equates to teachers taking a 20% hit in salary. As of next year, a teacher with 5 or less years in the district (if they even still have a job after reduction in force) will make less than a Manager at McDonalds, regardless of how effective a teacher they are. What are we doing as a City, State, and Nation when we are stating that we want teachers to increase knowledge in areas of literacy and math to encourage more students to attend college, when we clearly send the message that the Master’s Degree a teacher holds is not financially worthwhile? Why would a student want to learn and prepare for college when they will make three times as much working as a doorman or cocktail waitress at a casino? Sadly, as of next year, many prisoners in Nevada will live better and have more perks than the people who are responsible for providing education, counseling, and social interaction to prepare students to function in society to the children of this state.
What’s worse is that very few people in a position to do anything about it seems to care.
If we balanced our checkbooks the way the government balances theirs, we would be required to suffer the consequences. I find everything about this financial situation to be disgusting.