Comments on: NYC charter school will offer teachers $125,000 salary

By: Mona

Mona — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:20:46 +0000

Oh, and about letting the parents choose…I’m pretty sure that sending kids to charter schools is a parental choice to begin with.

Paige — agreed. I defend voucher systems, but have no quarrel at all with charter schools as another option. Indeed, I live in one of the few states whose Constitution would have to be amended to permit vouchers for parochial schools, given that — as the federal Constitution does not — this state’s contains unambiguous language that would not permit state-funded vouchers to be used for parochial school tuition.

But we have a nascent charter program.

By: kevin_carson

kevin_carson — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 21:26:29 +0000

It will be nice if the increased responsibility for administrative work carries some actual authority for self-management, rather than senior administrators simply downsizing the middle management ranks and dumping the tasks on production workers. Also nice if the measurement of “performance” reflects goals worked out by the teachers and parents themselves, rather than by some combination of the professional administrative establishment and dreck like No Child Left Behind. Ideally, the school would be a stakeholder cooperative with management entirely responsible to some combination of teachers and parents.

By: Paige

Paige — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:54:09 +0000

Actually,I believe that part of the deal with the higher salaries is that the teachers will shoulder more of the administrative work, and they will work a longer school year. I can imagine that the experiment will progress in a way that eventually the higher wages will find a sustainable balance. Either way, imagine having rocking teachers become the norm in public schools. Oh, and about letting the parents choose…I’m pretty sure that sending kids to charter schools is a parental choice to begin with.

By: TGGP

TGGP — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 04:52:59 +0000

School’s are holding centers for children. I do not celebrate when the public employees in them get more money, unless it’s by cutting the administrative staff.

By: Mona

Mona — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 03:56:47 +0000

Public school teachers work nine months of the year. They get paid rather decently in many areas of the nation.

In NYC, however, half of 125K per year would be only so-so. But do cops there get paid much better?

A lot of private school teachers — certainly parochial ones — earn less than their public school counterparts. Let the parents choose.

By: Paige

Paige — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:51:09 +0000

Hmmm…I’m not sure I catch your drift, but my guess is you’re being sarcastic? Maybe you’re thinking wages this high are unsustainable in public schools. Maybe you’re right. But, at the moment teachers are paid disgracefully little, and the ones that are really good are sacrificing other, higher paying opportunities in order to make a difference. Doesn’t it make sense that higher wages will attract more highly qualified teachers?

By: joe

joe — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:17:30 +0000

So, if it works, we’ll see all sorts of “school reform” types supporting six-figure salaries in the public schools, right? You know, because the benefits of competition come from the emulation of success, right?

Right?