Buffalo teacher pay would rise by 11.8% in proposed accord

[Genoobie]

Or simply apply at one of the suburban schools. With Genoobie's wealth of experience they should be kicking in the door.

Time will tell.

[Save Us]

I've read Freakonomics. It furthers the case that education, as measured by standardized test scores, is not reliant on funding at all. My guess, you could cut all school funding in half and see insignificant decreases in test scores. I would submit that we are measuring education incorrectly.
We can educate people, even people with zero home support. Will we see an appreciable change in test scores? Likely not. That does not mean that they have not been educated.

All I am asking is to be paid market value and if you compare Buffalo's teachers to the surrounding area then we are not paid market value. Now you could make the case that the surrounding areas are paid too generously, but that's a different story.

Do I think increasing the salary of Buffalo's teachers is going to have a significant impact on outcomes of standardized testing? No. What increasing the salary will insure is that intelligent young professionals will continue to consider teaching as a viable career and will bring that intellect to address problems of classroom management, content development, etc.

In reality, the "best" schools do no better or worse of a job educating than the "worst" schools. They simply deal with different student populations and their needs are different so too should be the education.

I remember teaching a while ago at Burgard and one of my students had been killed running away from the police with a sawed-off shotgun in his hand. I think back and wonder if understanding the difference between meiosis and mitosis was relevant for this young man. He happened to know the difference and would have likely graduated but I think that his "education" needed to be different than the one size fits all approach that NYSED has been taking.

You have the same problem that Buffalo cops have with State Troopers or Amherst police. Each market is different. As public servants the metric is the same for small business, what is the market demand, replacement cost, supply of qualified applicants, and what is the minimum you can pay to attract and retain candidates. Right or wrong.

The theory of value and supply and demand applies to everything, it is what drives selection of a mate, to commodities, to professions etc. etc. Value is based on the mindset of the consumer vs extraneous factors. Meiosis , I am thinking you teach biology. As Homes said value is forced by government in many arenas, some good some bad in my opinion but that's the world we live in. My friend is a veterinarian, she can tell you about her pay vs a physician's pay vs school loans and blood sweat and tears educational and work difficulty.. It's not pretty for her.. but animal life has less value than human life. She could make the same argument you do, but she is controlled by free market forces.

As a consumer what value does the populace get for paying for education in NY? That is a difficult question.

[NY The Vampire State]

The above post is spot on.

Not all doctors, electricians, cashiers, drivers get paid the same. Why should teachers be any different? If you want better pay you should find another job. Why do so many teachers become out of touch with reality?

[Genoobie]

Just want to make sure everyone understands. 1) The analysis was generated by a neutral third party. 2) The board voted down the contract, unanimously. No mention of things they didn't like, etc. They just turned down the whole 3rd party review. Seems to me that the board is unwilling to negotiate.

[nogods]

What increasing the salary will insure is that intelligent young professionals will continue to consider teaching as a viable career and will bring that intellect to address problems of classroom management, content development, etc.

That is true....but there are people who don't see a school tax bill as an investment in our future but rather as an impingement on their ability to buy a more expensive car, or take a more lavish vacation. They think school districts should hire the lowest bidders for teachers rather than the best and the brightest. If all teachers were working for minimum wage they would complain about the minimum wage being too high.

[Save Us]

Yes because WNY economic demographic is just upper middle to affluent. There are no elderly or poor or people on fixed income paying high taxes. Sometimes the lines get blurry as to who's future we are investing in.

The obligation that government has to its constituents is to pay what is necessary to attract and retain qualified public servants no more no less. When government ignores free market dynamics you have debt and bankruptcy, like we have in the US now. You don't need a JD to understand that. You can't ignore arithmetic.