I know what you're thinking at this point. Damn, there have been a lot of posts about schools on here lately. And you're right, I think this is at least my fourth post about schools and school systems. But our school systems are so messed up, I can't but feel obliged to write about them. Would you rather I jumped on the Charlie Sheen blogging bandwagon? Didn't think so. (For what it's worth, though: he needs to get this mid-life crisis out of his system in private and stop clogging up the media airwaves. Then he needs to go to rehab (and stay there!) and get back to work when he's recovered. Okay, I'm done with that.)
I actually did some research on this topic after reading about how the Prince George's Public School (PGCPS) system was laying off over 1,000 teachers in order to close a severe budget gap. I'm going to take a minimalist approach to this one, and I'm just going to list the facts as I found them. See if you make the same connections I did.
- David Hill for The Bowie Star reports that PG county is cutting 1132 teaching jobs
to close and $85 million budget gap (Feb. 3, 2011).
- PG Office of Management and Budget report for FY 2010:
Total Budget: $2,580,142,000
Board of Education Budget: $1,617,400,000 (62.7% of the total budget)
- PGCPS Budget Management Services (FY 2011 Annual Operating Budget):
Total 2011 Education Expenditures: $1,633,526,541
Total Salaries/Wages: $1,061,792,252 (34% of this is for teacher salaries alone)
- Oct. 19, 2010, Gazette.Net reports that "Prince George's leaders are the highest paid
in the state," and that "Jack Johnson [the County Executive at the time] makes
$174,540 per year, the most of any county executive in Maryland."
- June 28, 2010, The Washington Post says that the current Superintendent of PG
School, Dr. William Kite, is contracted until 2013 to receive an annual salary of
$250,000.
- Chief Human Capital Officers Council lists Vice President Joe Biden's annual
salary as $230,700.
Need I say more? Maybe instead of laying off teachers, school and government officials should look at taking a severe pay cut. It won't solve the problem, but it would make them look less hypocritical about saying that they're doing everything they can to save teaching jobs.
I actually did some research on this topic after reading about how the Prince George's Public School (PGCPS) system was laying off over 1,000 teachers in order to close a severe budget gap. I'm going to take a minimalist approach to this one, and I'm just going to list the facts as I found them. See if you make the same connections I did.
- David Hill for The Bowie Star reports that PG county is cutting 1132 teaching jobs
to close and $85 million budget gap (Feb. 3, 2011).
- PG Office of Management and Budget report for FY 2010:
Total Budget: $2,580,142,000
Board of Education Budget: $1,617,400,000 (62.7% of the total budget)
- PGCPS Budget Management Services (FY 2011 Annual Operating Budget):
Total 2011 Education Expenditures: $1,633,526,541
Total Salaries/Wages: $1,061,792,252 (34% of this is for teacher salaries alone)
- Oct. 19, 2010, Gazette.Net reports that "Prince George's leaders are the highest paid
in the state," and that "Jack Johnson [the County Executive at the time] makes
$174,540 per year, the most of any county executive in Maryland."
- June 28, 2010, The Washington Post says that the current Superintendent of PG
School, Dr. William Kite, is contracted until 2013 to receive an annual salary of
$250,000.
- Chief Human Capital Officers Council lists Vice President Joe Biden's annual
salary as $230,700.
Need I say more? Maybe instead of laying off teachers, school and government officials should look at taking a severe pay cut. It won't solve the problem, but it would make them look less hypocritical about saying that they're doing everything they can to save teaching jobs.