Wisconsin Teachers Benefits 58% Higher than National Average!
This past summer, Governor Doyle's Task Force on Educational Excellence issued their final report. This document was developed in response to a daunting charge from the governor in which he asked the task force to study, and make recommendations for change on, wide ranging aspects of Wisconsin's public school system. This charge included reviewing existing barriers to academic achievement for students, studying ways to attract and retain quality teachers, and an analysis of issues relating to early childhood and special education in Wisconsin.
Not surprisingly, the section of the report that addressed teacher attraction and retention was centered on public school teacher compensation. The report included statistics that show Wisconsin teacher salaries lagging behind other Great Lakes states, as well as a decline since 1989 in Wisconsin's rank among the fifty states average teacher pay. In response to these, and other troubling statistics about Wisconsin public school teacher pay, the task force made a number of recommendations related to teacher compensation.
In the Task Force report, no mention was made of Wisconsin teachers' national rank in the fringe benefit component of total compensation. U.S. Census Bureau data from 2001-2002 shows that Wisconsin provides the second most generous fringe benefits in the nation,in terms of per-pupil costs, for teachers. Only New York teachers enjoy more lucrative benefit packages than educators in Wisconsin. In 2001-2002, Wisconsin taxpayers spent an average of $1,397 per pupil on public school teacher benefits while the national average was $884 per pupil. Thats 58% more than the national average.
So something as fundamental about this either shows that the Task Force and their findings were biased, were incomplete, weighted disproportionally with people in education and government, or simply wrong. Look at the dynamics of our local Long Range Facility Task Force and their 'GroupThink' we had in Hudson. I think the same can be said for this Task Force.
In the know @ On the Borderline
Not surprisingly, the section of the report that addressed teacher attraction and retention was centered on public school teacher compensation. The report included statistics that show Wisconsin teacher salaries lagging behind other Great Lakes states, as well as a decline since 1989 in Wisconsin's rank among the fifty states average teacher pay. In response to these, and other troubling statistics about Wisconsin public school teacher pay, the task force made a number of recommendations related to teacher compensation.
In the Task Force report, no mention was made of Wisconsin teachers' national rank in the fringe benefit component of total compensation. U.S. Census Bureau data from 2001-2002 shows that Wisconsin provides the second most generous fringe benefits in the nation,in terms of per-pupil costs, for teachers. Only New York teachers enjoy more lucrative benefit packages than educators in Wisconsin. In 2001-2002, Wisconsin taxpayers spent an average of $1,397 per pupil on public school teacher benefits while the national average was $884 per pupil. Thats 58% more than the national average.
So something as fundamental about this either shows that the Task Force and their findings were biased, were incomplete, weighted disproportionally with people in education and government, or simply wrong. Look at the dynamics of our local Long Range Facility Task Force and their 'GroupThink' we had in Hudson. I think the same can be said for this Task Force.
In the know @ On the Borderline
posted by Anonymous @ 5:50 AM
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