[Seeking the truth]

Won't work.

When we moved from Trumbull, CT (Fairfield County) in 1992, the average teacher was earning $ 52,000 in salary (not including benefits or the short work year).

I have no idea what it is today but after 11 years, it most surely is higher.

I can guarantee you there has been no improvement whatsoever in any objective standard of the student body.

Also, when we left in 1992, Trumbull was in excess of 10K per student. Others, such as Westport & Greenwich, were even higher.

If someone has the time & the skills, check out the improvement in the past 11 years. I've done exercises like this in the past and I won't waste my time again.

Remember to discount today's SAT scores as they were "renormed" about 10% a few years ago.

[struwwelpeter]

It's union work: seniority rules.

[lelio]

These ideas are good, but its like rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. "Public" education should be abolished an replaced with private institutions. Only then will you start to see real change.

[Arthur McGowan]

The moment money is stolen from parents, in order to finance government schools, the parents are infantilized, in their own and their children's, because taxing money away for schooling says that the parents are incapable of spending the money wisely on an education THEY control.

So, the first step to reform is to abolish government funding of schooling, and government running of schools.

Once parents, grandparents, and charitable individuals are paying for education, and parents are in control, all the problems discussed in this article, and every other article about education, will disappear.

[From The Deer Stand]

The problem with the teachers' union is that there is no incentive to do a good job. The lousy teacher gets the same salary raise as the good teacher, which ought to irk the good teachers. The union doesn't guarantee students get the good teachers as they protect the bad ones, therefore they will allow a poor teacher to teach (or not teach) your child. The union's interest is solely in the teachers, who may hit the $60,000+ mark, while the union bosses are in six figures. The union's interest isn't in quality education for the students.

[Mark Turbo]

Good teachers deserve $100,000 and more if public education is to serve its customers, the students, well into the 21st century. Increasing teachers' salaries significantly is the best way to markedly improve the state of public education." "A six-figure salary shouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for an exceptional teacher.

Several years ago (1998 or 1999), the Rhinoceres Times in Greensboro, NC ran a list of everyone in the Guilford County school system making $50,000 or more. It was a long list and only three or four of them were teachers.

Education is extremely top-heavy with administration. The Guilford County superintendent at the time, Jerry Weast, made around $200,000. He left to become superintendent in Montgomery County, MD for even more money.