Reply #31: I disagree that the system is "flush" with money that is simply

[canaar]

not being prioritized adequately. I work as an advocate for one of the education unions in Wisconsin negotiating employment contracts and representing employees concerning disputes over the application or interpretation of policies and contract provisions and my wages are paid by the dues contributions of our members. My disagreement should not be construed as protecting a vested interest in maintaining the current distribution priorities concerning available revenue.

In most Wisconsin school districts, the percentage of school district revenue going to wages and benefits is in excess of 80%. This is generally representative of the national trend if my experiences as a union advocate and/or teacher in Oklahoma, Kansas, Florida and Alaska may be considered to provide a representative sample. While it is true that we often complain on a case-by-case basis that some school districts are administratively "top-heavy," or that some school districts compensate their administrators more generously than they compensate teachers or support staff, the amount of money that we are fighting over is perhaps as much as the difference between a 1.3% across the board wage increase and a 1.9% across the board wage increase...in a year when the consumer price index is at 3.4%!

Nobody is being overpaid. Average teacher wage at $43,000 per year. Average teacher job tenure to reach $43,000 13-15 years. Average teacher training required to make $43,000 - Masters Degree. Average maximum wage for teachers in Wisconsin - $55,000 after 16 years with a Masters Degree and at least 24 additional graduate credits. Average principal wage - $70,000 (includes additional 4-6 weeks of employment annually). Average tenure of a principal in the education field as teacher and administrator - 20 years. Masters degree required for principals. Superintendents getting paid $100K-$115K. Central Administrative personnel required to manage the financial affairs, coordinate mandated but unfunded programs, etc. similarly experienced and compensated at 80%-90% of a superintendents wage.

The disparity between the most highly compensated school district official and the least compensated full time employee is no greater than 10 to 1. Compare this statistic for a school district enterprise with gross revenues of approximately $100,000,000 annually (a school district serving a total community population of 65,000 persons) with the disparity between the compensation of a CEO of a private sector company with similar revenues and the least highly compensated employee of the company.

Without hijacking the thread and going on and on with data, I will assert that comparing total compensation packages (including benefits, retirement and such) between education employees at all levels of responsibility and the compensation packages of their counterparts who have similar skills, knowledge and responsibility requirements in the private sector demonstrates approximately 20% disparity in compensation at the career wage. This does not address the issues of whether the education system is adequately addressing the needs of specific target populations of students for which the public school system is appropriately being taken to task. Specificially, we are manifestly unable to fund the programs that are necessary to overcome generations of socio-economic isolation and neglect in our urban schools but that as they say, is a whole nother conversation.

As a standard to gauge effectiveness, it is with some pride that Wisconsin reminds the nation that its students have scored highest in the nation on the ACT college entrance exam for over 16 straight years and that Wisconsin students consistently score at the top of the nation and compete well internationally on most objective measures of educational performance.