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Healthcare costs are part of the problem for sure, but I hope you don't really think that its the whole problem. If they were, you'd see the same relative cost increases in every industry, which isn't the case. A big part of healthcare costs are also driven by bloated administrative overhead that is in large part a direct result of government policy... you know, kind of like education.
Bong,
I think healthcare costs are a major factor but the big difference b/w private industry and the public school districts; the increased healthcare costs have been passed down to the employees via increased monthly premiums, less generous plans or the combination of the two. I know where I work, my monthly premiums have increased 4 fold over the last 8 years while my deductibles, co-pays, and out of pocket maximums have all increased as well.
Teacher's unions, on the other hand, fight tooth and nail to not even have to pay a dime towards their healthcare. Some have given in over the years recently but they still pay only a pittance of a percentage of their take home pay for their premiums compared to similar white collar workers in the region.
If teachers want to be paid salaries similar to other white collar workers (which I argue in many districts, they already get, especially if you pro-rate their salary over a full working year), then they should pony up and also pay a similar amount towards their healthcare premiums to ease the burden on the taxpayers.
If they were, you'd see the same relative cost increases in every industry, which isn't the case. A big part of healthcare costs are also driven by bloated administrative overhead that is in large part a direct result of government policy... you know, kind of like education.
I don't doubt that administrative bloat is a problem - whether in public agencies like school districts, quasi-public organizations like our universities, or private industries like health insurance itself.
On the other hand, isn't it the case that private industries have been fairly successful at compensating for rising health costs by reducing labor costs? Something which could be achieved in schools by smashing unions and reducing teacher pay and conditions to where they were in the 1920s, but even then the inputs are still less flexible in public agencies - you can't outsource education, and no matter how poorly paid, you still need a person standing there in the 4th grade classroom.
If teachers want to be paid salaries similar to other white collar workers then they should pony up and also pay a similar amount towards their healthcare premiums to ease the burden on the taxpayers.
True - or we could fix the health costs themselves. Or make everybody happy and do both?
Bong,
I think healthcare costs are a major factor but the big difference b/w private industry and the public school districts; the increased healthcare costs have been passed down to the employees via increased monthly premiums, less generous plans or the combination of the two. I know where I work, my monthly premiums have increased 4 fold over the last 8 years while my deductibles, co-pays, and out of pocket maximums have all increased as well.
Indeed. In fact that is one of the major reasons why real wage growth has been so stagnant in this same period: increases in real compensation are going to pay for rising health insurance costs instead of being added to wages.
Quote:
If teachers want to be paid salaries similar to other white collar workers (which I argue in many districts, they already get, especially if you pro-rate their salary over a full working year), then they should pony up and also pay a similar amount towards their healthcare premiums to ease the burden on the taxpayers.
What ALL workers should be doing is lobbying for an end to employer-provided healthcare and a migration to one of the various models we know can do a much better job controlling health care costs (as in, any of the models used by the other lines on that chart).
A big part of healthcare costs are also driven by bloated administrative overhead that is in large part a direct result of government policy... you know, kind of like education.
It is private insurance companies that are the direct cause of most of our excessive administrative costs. In the parts of our system without private insurance companies acting as intermediaries--most notably core Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA--administrative costs are much, much lower.
Now to be sure, the fact that insurance companies in turn are regulated piecemeal by the states is also a contributing factor. But that just points in the same direction: a national system without private insurance companies acting as intermediaries would greatly reduce administrative costs.
I am going to just say it. It may be going on in some districts, but some have enough money that they can just raise taxes and be fine. Fox Chapel for example didn't get all that much money from the state to begin with. We are paying our own way. There will be a time when it won't work here either because the long term costs of teachers retiring at the $100K + level and the great healthcare they get, will be totally cost prohibited, but for now some wealthier districts won't lay anyone off at all. The poorer districts like North Allegheny and Peters. Lay offs.
yeah, this whole situation is a complete mess....whether or not overall budget cuts are needed is up for debate as said earlier, but one thing for certain is that the overall breadth of the cuts is completely ridiculous. Due to uneven subsidy dispersion, you have districts 10 miles from eachother seeing a difference of $10 mill chopped from the general fund compared to $500k.
All in all, urban districts are being disbanded beyond repair by all of this...PGH Public seems to be doing an amazing job of handling things though...affluent suburban schools are almost uneffected...and rural schools are being hit hard, though they're so small and already stripped down that there isn't much of anything to chop away from to help balance figures. It's all fairly disgusting, but in the least the government could have rewritten subsidy laws to place an even cut over EVERY district instead of letting some get off free while others have to cut staff and close buildings. The present funding system wasn't designed for any sort of cutbacks such as these being proposed...it was meant to help districts with a poor tax base accrue more funding to make ends meet and offer an education within the ballpark range of their wealthier competitors.
I'm employed with a fairly poor rural district, and we're probably cutting 30 positions with about 10-15 being teachers. No clue yet if I'm involved, but the thought process behind it all is that we're due a good 20-25 retirements over the next year or two and that anybody furloughed now will be back in between 1-2 years, maybe 3 tops. I'm more or less using this whole situation to explore other career opportunities if I am furloughed...clearly the present administration doesn't care too much for public education, so I'm more than likely out (if I find another career) so that I'm not dealing with this every year for the next 4-8(God forbid...) years of Corbett's regime.
From an employee perspective, you have to be invited back if you're furloughed so it's all just a waiting game. What's really sad, is that all of the recent grads/subs are basically done as far as getting hired. Districts will have to bring back their furloughed teachers first...so anybody else who wasn't hired is completely out of luck. It's all a damned shame and surely is about to cause havoc for our unemployment numbers. For larger districts, who are cutting in the hundreds or even thousands(Philly)...that's not such a great situation for being rehired. As long as you're looking at about 5-20 cuts, it shouldn't be too crazy of a wait...but it's still discouraging to say the least. I'm basically using my unemployment period to fund job exploration, hopefully I find something that pays more than I make now(low 30k range) so that I get a sort of consolation prize while I'm in waiting.
yeah, this whole situation is a complete mess....whether or not overall budget cuts are needed is up for debate as said earlier, but one thing for certain is that the overall breadth of the cuts is completely ridiculous. Due to uneven subsidy dispersion, you have districts 10 miles from eachother seeing a difference of $10 mill chopped from the general fund compared to $500k.
This was pretty much my point. I had to protect my child from such a thing by moving to a very strong school district financially. It worked out great. If it didn't I would be working nights to pay for private school. What else can anyone do if they feel education is important?
This budget cutting will effect the poor the most. I think people need to get used to such a thing. People that are working hard and still struggling don't want to deal with handouts so much. I feel the poor are going to get hit pretty good in the next several years or even decades. The giving middle class is dwindling at an alarming rate. As many of them move towards poor people aren't going to be wanting to cost shift of the really poor. The city schools are going to have to cut a ton of fat. Interestingly, they may be able to pull that off. Maybe they had WAY too many administrators? I don't know. Maybe too many leaching off government? Not sure. Guess this will force the issue.
This was pretty much my point. I had to protect my child from such a thing by moving to a very strong school district financially. It worked out great. If it didn't I would be working nights to pay for private school. What else can anyone do if they feel education is important?
This budget cutting will effect the poor the most. I think people need to get used to such a thing. People that are working hard and still struggling don't want to deal with handouts so much. I feel the poor are going to get hit pretty good in the next several years or even decades. The giving middle class is dwindling at an alarming rate. As many of them move towards poor people aren't going to be wanting to cost shift of the really poor. The city schools are going to have to cut a ton of fat. Interestingly, they may be able to pull that off. Maybe they had WAY too many administrators? I don't know. Maybe too many leaching off government? Not sure. Guess this will force the issue.
Good for you...too many people realize that issue way too late. Corbett is clearly not a man of the people and doesn't care much for the working class or the poor...but basically, I'm hoping that Democrats can at least regain majority control during the next election to mitigate some of Corbett's ideas. It's clear that Corbett has an extremist agenda, just like Walker and Christie..there needs to be a buffer until this guy can be voted out. It's disgusting to think of what he's about to do to human services/health care/etc and not just education. Then toss in the whole shale drilling and business tax breaks...yeah, he's an @sshole of a human being.
This whole thing is going to boil down to a massive screwjob of public schools. The man is putting into action a scenario that is going to literally cripple urban districts and any district that isn't in a good tax-base situation, more or less forcing them to become poorly performing districts with overcrowding and stripped programs. Then he's going to basically give families the choice to leave these districts outright through vouchers...thus crippling these districts even more. I mean, who wouldn't pull their kid and use his voucher system considering what will become of these districts? He's basically creating a scenario for his own gain and playing puppetmaster...it's sick. There's a whole trail connected to Republican School reform stretching back to Tom Ridge's regime, in which they failed to enact any of their crazy ideas. Oddly enough, Corbett brought back Ridge's Sec of Education, Ron Tomalis, to serve the same role for his regime...our education system is going to go from a top 5 performing national institution to battling it out with West Virginia and Mississippi at the bottom, all due to a multi-decade pissing match between Republican and Democratic ideals.
The entire country needs a massive overhaul when it comes to the current education system...no corner unturned..but until that happens, why in the world would you seek to reform something that ranks at the top of the national system with consistently improving benchmarks??? The whole thing is completely idiotic and smells of crazy old politicians with too much free time on their hands...
Then he's going to basically give families the choice to leave these districts outright through vouchers...thus crippling these districts even more. I mean, who wouldn't pull their kid and use his voucher system considering what will become of these districts?
The voucher bill most likely to arrive on Shaler Tom's desk will be limited to kids with very poor parents, who are disproportionately likely to attend failing, if not miserably failing, public schools. If the issue is gaining these people some kind of basic, qualified education - in other words, if the issue is these children's best interests - then there can really be no objection to the PA House bill or, in general, the principle of school choice for their benefit. To argue otherwise is to place oneself in a very invidious moral position.
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