Tag: teacher’s pay

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30th Anniversary of School Choice in America – Part IV Teachers In America Are Overpaid – Not Underpaid

George Noga

Teachers claim to be underpaid; all the evidence points in the opposite direction.

30th Anniversary of School Choice in America – Part IV

Teachers In America Are Overpaid – Not Underpaid

By: George Noga – August 22, 2021

If you missed the prequel (July 25) or any of the prior posts in this series, they are easily viewed here on our website: www.mllg.us. Next week is the must-read series finale: a letter every government school should be required to send to all parents each year.

It is possible that at some time in the distant past (50-60 years ago), teachers truly were underpaid. This belief has persisted to the present, no doubt with much encouragement from teachers. Nonetheless, all the available evidence (which is presented in this post) leads to the opposite conclusion, i.e. teachers in America today are overpaid.

Every child in America should be entitled to a voucher to attend a school chosen by his/her parents. Teachers should be paid based on merit as determined by free markets and not by tenure or public sector unions.

Compelling Evidence Proves Government Teachers Are Overpaid

Objective Surveys: The BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) shows no underpayment. Forbes magazine listed the 25 most underpaid jobs in America; teaching was not among them. The same is true of every other job survey that has been published.

Public Sector Unions: Teacher pay is determined by bargaining between public sector unions and governments which have symbiotic relationships. Teachers are paid via tax dollars, not free markets. No scient person can believe that, after decades of highly coercive union bargaining, teachers (and only teachers) somehow are underpaid.

Private School Pay: If unionized government school teachers truly were underpaid, we should expect to see teachers in private schools earning more. Instead, nonreligious private school teachers earn 15% to 20% less than their public school counterparts.

Logic: No other job in America has been so consistently asserted to be underpaid. Such an imbalance simply cannot persist for many decades in a market economy.

Post-teaching Pay: When teachers leave to accept non-teaching jobs, their pay does not increase; this is a prima facia case they were not underpaid while teaching.

Benefits: Teachers receive guaranteed lifetime employment (they cannot be fired), lifetime health care for their family, uber-generous pensions and lots of vacation and holidays. When factoring in these benefits, their total compensation skyrockets.

Overpaid Government Workers: Study upon study shows public sector workers are compensated about 25% more for the same work compared to the private sector. Since teachers are government workers, it is logical they are overpaid by the same amount.

Apples to Apples: Teachers (who should know better) use false pay comparisons. They disingenuously compare those with STEM degrees who graduated in the upper deciles of their class to teachers with education degrees mostly from the lower deciles.

Not Merit Based: Teacher pay is based on tenure – not on merit or on any objective metric of job performance. In fact, basing pay on results or merit is anathema to teachers. Union rules reward the worst teachers at the expense of the best ones.

Lingering myths about low teacher pay are fueled by elites, liberal media, pubic sector unions and government. Outstanding teachers undoubtedly are underpaid; however, all objective data and logic leads inexorably to the conclusion that teachers in America today (taken in the aggregate) are overpaid by somewhere between 15% and 25%.

Whatever you do – don’t miss the series finale next week!
More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us

New Study Reveals Stunning K-12 Findings

George Noga
The ratio of teachers to students has no bearing whatsoever on educational outcomes.
New Study Reveals Stunning K-12 Findings
By: George Noga – January 12, 2020

        We will get to the surprising (to some) results of an independent study of K-12 education, but first we tend to MLLG business – beginning with a preview of 2020.

          Our next post is a refresher about the evils (yes, evils) of government and why we write this blog. This is followed by a special posting on the anniversary of the Tet Offensive; it changed America in profound ways still being felt. This is followed by posts about the Electoral College and the 2020 election. We will blog about key election issues including gun violence and UBI. We will observe the 50th anniversary of Earth Day throughout April with several posts about the environment. You also can expect regular updates about the spending crisis, climate change and the election.

       Beginning our 13th year, we remain dedicated to showcasing, in our inimitable way, the blessings of liberty and the evils of government. We don’t write about the news of the day or offer commentary found elsewhere. A good example is our analysis of K-12 education, like that provided herein; it simply cannot be found anywhere else.

Please Help Cover the Costs of the MLLG Blog 

          We pay a commercial email service to send hundreds of thousands of emails and we also must maintain a high-volume website. I have been advised that, given our vast readership, I could profitably monetize the blog/website. But I will not do that. Instead, every 3-4 years I request contributions from our readers. All support goes 100% to expenses and any help you provide, even a small amount, is appreciated.

       To save time, money and stifling bureaucracy, I no longer maintain MLLG as a legal entity. To negotiate your check, it needs to be payable to “George Noga” and not to MLLG. Please send checks to: 1309 Sweetwater Club Blvd; Longwood, FL 32779. Thanks once again for your loyal readership and your prolific forwarding to others.

New Independent Analysis of K-12 Education

          The five principal findings revealed herein are from a recent Cato Institute study entitled Fixing the Bias in Current State K-12 Education Rankings. Most analyses of educational performance use aggregated data, which produce misleading results. Cato has disaggregated the demographics and the heterogeneity of achievement data and also measured the spending incorporating cost of living (“COL”) adjustments.

1. Florida ranks #1: Conventional rankings show southern states as educational wastelands and New England states superior. U.S. News ranks Florida #40 and Cato’s aggregated rank is #16; however, the disaggregated rank is #3, but with adjustments for COL, Florida is #1. Massachusetts, ranked #1 by U.S. News, falls all the way to #24.

2. Teacher to student ratio is meaningless: Contrary to prevailing mythology, the ratio of students to teachers has no bearing whatsoever on educational outcomes. A good teacher in a good school will succeed and a bad teacher in a bad school will fail regardless of the number of students in the class.

3. Spending and results are uncorrelated: More is not better when it comes to spending. This destroys the holy grail of the educational establishment. Florida is number one even though it ranks low in spending. Throwing more money at dysfunctional schools with bloated administrative staff is counterproductive.

4. Unionization is harmful: There is a powerful negative correlation between unions and student achievement. Teachers unions, pure and simple, poison student learning.

5. Some factors positively correlate with achievement: Charter school enrollment has a positive correlation, showing that competition from charters helps government schools. Also, ceteris paribus, the smaller the school, the better the educational outcome.

         Someone needs to show the Cato study to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is hellbent on wasting $1 billion on teacher pay, which is wrongheaded on multiple counts. Florida already is number one in the USA and its teachers are not underpaid. Please see our post of 9/8/19 about teacher pay on our website: www.mllg.us. Also, the Cato study shows zero benefit in educational outcomes from spending more money.

        None of these findings should come as a surprise – particularly those involving spending and teacher/student ratio. Government schools are a jobs program for adults; children are mere pawns to extort more funding. If you missed it, you really need to go to our website and read our December 1, 2019 post about Providence, RI schools.

On January 19th, we remind readers why we write this blog.

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More Liberty Less Government  –  mllg@mllg.us  –  www.mllg.us

 

MLLG Back-to-School Special Shattering the Myth About Teacher Pay

George Noga
We debunk one of the most vacuous myths of all time, i.e. that teachers are underpaid.
MLLG Back-to-School Special
Shattering the Myth About Teacher Pay
By: George Noga – September 8, 2019

           We are fortunate to have many readers who teach or have family members who teach; hence, we derive no pleasure whatsoever from any negativity about teachers. Unionized teachers are paid primarily on longevity, not merit; therefore, truly good teachers are underpaid while poor teachers are vastly overpaid. Nonetheless, when taken in the aggregate, teachers are not underpaid for the following reasons.

1. Logic: Underpaid teachers is a canard promoted by the liberal media. No other job in America has been so consistently asserted to be either overpaid or underpaid. Such a systemic imbalance simply cannot persist for long in a market economy.

2. Apples-to-apples: Those claiming underpayment use false comparisons. They disingenuously assume STEM degrees, earned by students in top deciles of their class, are worth the same as education degrees earned by those mostly in lower deciles.

3. Not results oriented: Teacher pay is based on seniority, not merit. All teachers from best to worst are equal – as is the case in most unionized jobs. In the real world, pay is tied to results. Union rules severely penalize the best teachers and reward the worst. Moreover, what value do unions add if its members truly are vastly underpaid?

4. Private school salaries: If unionized public school teachers truly were underpaid, we should expect to see private school teachers earning more. Instead, nonreligious private school teachers earn 15% to 20% less than their public school counterparts.

5. Objective surveys: Studies document teachers are not underpaid. The BLS National Compensation Survey showed no underpayment. Forbes listed the 25 most underpaid jobs in America; teachers were not among them – same with most other surveys.

6. Post teaching pay: When teachers quit to accept non-teaching jobs, their pay does not increase; this seems to make a prima facie case that they were not underpaid.

7. Lifetime employment: Teachers have guaranteed lifetime employment, a perquisite no one in the private sector enjoys. They can’t be fired for incompetence or even if they are a danger; instead, they are put in rubber rooms with full salary and benefits.

8. Overpaid government workers: Study upon study shows public sector workers are paid about 25% more for the same work than those in the private sector. Since teachers are government workers, it stands to reason they also are overpaid by that amount.

9.  Benefits: Teachers receive lifetime health care for their entire family, uber-generous government guaranteed pensions paid early, and lots of vacation and holidays.

10. Public sector unions: Teacher pay is set by public sector unions based on highly coercive bargaining, is paid with tax dollars and is not driven by markets. As is the case with public sector unions, the pay is higher than comparable private sector jobs.

             Stories about low teacher pay are mostly promulgated by the liberal media that are allied with public unions and government. All objective data and logic point to the opposite conclusion, i.e. teachers actually are somewhat overpaid. To repeat, the pay of good teachers is dragged down by the larger cohort of not so good teachers.

         In an ideal world, all parents would receive vouchers to choose any school. Teachers’ compensation would be determined solely by markets – not tenure. Teachers would be paid according to individual merit, with truly outstanding teachers richly compensated. Poor teachers would be fired and all rubber rooms abolished.

Our next post honors Constitution Day, which is September 17th.
More Liberty Less Government  –  mllg@mllg.us  –  www.mllg.us