Posted on 11/12/2004 12:45:20 PM PST by truth49
TO: Terry Bergeson, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
FROM: Bob Williams, President EFF
RE: Teachers' fake degrees
Dear Terry:
Research recently conducted by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) and KIRO 7 News discovered that some teachers are using fake degrees to cheat taxpayers by obtaining undeserved pay increases. EFF strongly recommends you take immediate action to remedy these abuses. In your recent re-election campaign, you stated you were committed to high education standards; your attention to this problem would help demonstrate your intentions.
When we began our investigation earlier this year, we learned the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) does not keep track of the degrees claimed by teachers. This is disconcerting as your office is responsible for allocating tax dollars based on the state's salary schedule for teachers. OSPI instead suggested that we seek this information from the Education Service Districts, which in turn referred us to the individual school districts.
Article 3, Section 22 of Washington's Constitution clearly states: "The superintendent of public instruction shall have supervision over all matters pertaining to public schools...." Because of this Constitutional requirement, we were surprised to hear OSPI assert that it is not responsible for overseeing the degrees claimed by teachers. Despite this statement, we now learn from KIRO 7's ongoing investigation that your office conducted a feasibility study to create a clearinghouse for the degrees being claimed by teachers for advance pay, yet OSPI failed to implement this system!
Equally disturbing, approximately 75 percent of the state's school districts did not provide the information regarding teachers' degrees requested by EFF and KIRO 7. To remedy this situation, EFF requests that you order all districts to immediately conduct a review of the degrees claimed by their teachers and forward the information to KIRO 7, the State Auditor and your office.
We, like the Democratic Leadership Council, believe that this problem can be avoided altogether by scrapping the current "time in the seat and degree on the wall" teacher compensation model and instead paying teachers based on their actual effectiveness in the classroom. High quality teachers should be paid exceptionally well and ineffective teachers need to be removed from our classrooms. Our children deserve nothing less. We are happy to work with you to bring about this needed change to improve Washington's public schools and the education of our children.
Cordially,
Bob Williams President, EFF
cc: Chris Halsne, KIRO 7 Brian Sonntag, State Auditor
See also: http://www.effwa.org/highlighters/v14_n26.php
http://www.kirotv.com/investigations/3901189/detail.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/08/60II/main654319.shtml
Thanks. I'm circulating to others.
Bump for bookmark & later update
What is the likelyhood of any positive response? If the matter concerned a group that is not primarily unionized, the media would be all over the situation and demanding action. As the teachers are unionized, the media, for the most part will ignore the problem and imply the EEF is another Righ Wing Conspriacy out to discredit teachers.
In another case the person was a school principle and another case involved the dean of a college.
Good point. I haven't seen any print media stories about EFF's and KIRO 7's research. Not exactly sure what the holdup is. KIRO 7 did a follow up story saying that some of the teachers are being required to pay the money back and some may be fired. Hopefully the media will continue to dig into this so pressure can build to reform the system.
A common scam in NJ, which drives property taxes through the roof...
[sittnick]
> All things being equal, I would rather pay more to a teacher
> who does NOT get indoctrinated with yet more postgrad
> educational theory gobbledygook than to someone who exposes
> himself to even MORE Dewyite (and worse) nonsense.
>
> I prefer petty corruption over socialist looney-tunes
> idelogues.
AMEN to that!!
Teacher, educate thouself!
Terry Bergeson gives state of education speech today. Talk about ironic.
http://www.k12.wa.us/Communications/stateofed/stateofed2004.doc
“Teachers also need better pay. They feel betrayed by the legislature for not even funding their COLA. They shared deep concerns with me about their family's ability to survive financially with little hope of a reasonable improvement in their salary. And many new teachers don’t know how they can stay in the profession. Our compensation system is out of sync with what we are asking our teachers to do.”
"We, like the Democratic Leadership Council, believe that this problem can be avoided altogether by scrapping the current "time in the seat and degree on the wall" teacher compensation model and instead paying teachers based on their actual effectiveness in the classroom."
"We, like the Democratic Leadership Council, believe that this problem can be avoided altogether by scrapping the current "time in the seat and degree on the wall" teacher compensation model and instead paying teachers based on their actual effectiveness in the classroom."
Democrat Leadership Council,since when?
http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=3582&kaid=139&subid=273
DLC | Model Initiatives | April 30, 2004
Innovating With Competitive Teacher Pay
bump
Bump 4 update
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1284077/posts
Rock on, sister.
This is what happens when you give 'em a full broadside. They know it's either change or checkout.
We're effecting the beginnings of nonviolent regime change - not just a change of adminstrations - by openly confronting the lies and hypocrises. Like Judo, we let them fall on their own failings. If they try to block us AND continue to carry on, they just get more easier to push down. We did that rather effectively with I-884.
Now, they've got to change tunes and they know it. But words are one thing; actions are another.
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