Fact vs. Fiction: Reality of Teachers Salaries and Benefits

Listening to so many stories of heresay, rumors, reading statements put out by SEA representatives regarding lack of raises, unfair salaries etc., I thought it would be a good idea to put the facts out there for all taxpayers to make the decision on if teachers are being treated "unfairly."

Again, all of this information is public and should be examined by the citizens of this city as we have every right as taxpayers to know compensation of our city employees, just as we as federal taxpayers have the right to know the pay of our members of Congress.  

It's funny, I've never once heard anyone put up a fight about knowing the salaries and benefits of Congress, but for some reason, looking at the same information for other public employees that are funded via tax dollars is now "wrong?"  It's a matter of public record and every tax paying citizen has the right to know how their tax dollars are being spent.  

I've been told by some that giving teachers salary information is "wrong."  I'm not sure I understand.  It is the teacher's union that publicly claimed through media that no teacher had received a raise since 2008.  So fact checking this claim and finding evidence to the contrary is now considered "wrong?"  Would you rather we just say: "That's not true...I have evidence to prove otherwise, but I don't want to upset you by showing it, but you still gotta believe me, okay?"

So, using that logic, please tell me if you would also have a problem with this hypotheical scenario:

John Boehner (Speaker of the House) publicly states via media that his yearly salary is $174,000.00, just like the rank-and-file members of the House of Representatives.  You, a tax payer with a vested interest in his pay, want to confirm that.  You check the PUBLICLY AVAILABLE RECORDS of Congressional pay rates and easily discover that he is wrong and actually is compensated $223,500.00 per year.  You let others know, but somehow, YOU are the one who is now wrong for pointing it out?  

The only people that are bothered by someone exposing the truth are those whose arguments are nullified by that truth or those with something to hide.  

Sorry, but sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Apparently, this has also become an argument of semantics. 

Apparently, a "step increase" is different than a "pay raise."  So the teachers union will argue that the teachers have not "technically" received a raise since 2008, but a number of teachers have received "step increases" in their pay.  Well, that's a nice play on words and all, but in the end, both of them equate to a teacher being payed a higher salary, don't they?  They both mean that the tax payers are responsible for more funds to cover the increase in your pay.  Here's a couple of analogies to point out the absurdity of this "word game:"

Social Security TAX (6.2% tax on all private sector employees checks - not applicable SDS Teachers btw) is now renamed "Social Security Pay Decrease." Newsflash:  The same 6.2% is STILL coming out of your check each pay period. They can call it the Social Security Never Gonna Be There When You Retire Fee"...it's still 6.2% out of your check.

Just to make sure you get it...

A father gives his son $10 for lunch.  Dad calls it his son's "stipend." His son prefers to call it his "lunch money"  Either way...the kid's got $10.00.  

Got it?

Call it what you want, taxpayers are not that stupid...so we would appreciate an end to the semantic games.  Whether or not union/BOE contracts state "step increases" or "raises" is immaterial to a tax payer.  We see the bottom line:  we are paying more money.

To those "bothered" by teacher's salaries being examined by the tax paying public, I ask you, are you also bothered by this publicly available information as well?:

Congress: Leadership Members' Salary (2013)
(Rank-and-file members of House of Representatives) - $174,000.00

Senate Leadership
Majority Party Leader (Harry Reid) - $193,400
Minority Party Leader (Mitch McConnell) - $193,400

House Leadership
Speaker of the House (John Boehner) - $223,500
Majority Leader (Eric Cantor) - $193,400
Minority Leader (Nancy Pelosi) - $193,400

A cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase takes effect annually unless Congress votes to not accept it.  All CRSR (retirement), Social Security and Health Care details are publicly available as well.

Well, if you actually stick to your logic above, then you should be furious right now! But, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's probably a near 100% chance that your not.  Am I right?  No need to answer.

That all being said, since the individual teachers are not what this particular argument is about and to show good faith to those who may disagree with me here that my true goal is to only point out inaccuracies and false statements being propagated, I will instead choose to post first/last initials and if you then desire, you may go onto http://www.tos.ohio.gov/teacher_salary and research for yourself, which may be a better way since those opposed to seeing the truth may have to be faced with it when they further examine this site.  

But first, let's take a look at the FACTS.  Let's see exactly how "unfair" Strongsville City School Teachers really have it:

Some of the "Unfair" Benefits of being a Strongsville City School Teacher:

1) 10.2% of annual salary contributed (via 100% Tax Payer Dollars) yearly to pension  Ex: Employee with salary of $80,000.00/year receives a tax payer funded yearly pension contribution of $8,160.00 for total of $88,160.00 when combined with yearly salary (does not include health care benefits).  Not too shabby.

2) Only 10% (maximum) of Health Care Premium is paid by employee. (Maximum amount paid by employee is $175.00/month for Family and $75.00/month for Individual.  (Remaining 90% of employee health care premium funded by tax payer dollars).

3) 184 day work year.  7.5 hour work day.  (Avg. work days in the private sector:  240 work days/year).

4) Retirement at age 55.  Teachers can earn nearly 80% of their highest salary for the rest of their lives.  So, if a teacher retires with a salary of $80,000 at age 55 with 31 years on the job, they will receive approximately $60,000 a year for the remainder of their lives and free (tax payer provided) health care throughout their retirement years.

5) Tenure - This is a system of compensation based solely on the amount of time an employee has worked for the School District, not on their individual merit as a teacher.  I don't think I need to go into why and how this is so wrong on so many levels...but here are some perks of tenure:  Near 100% guaranteed job security. Individual performance ratings are either non-existent or have nearly zero influence on automatic pay "step-increases."  I don't see the private sector being all that successful if we were paid on how long we've been with a company vs. individual performance...that's probably why no one seems to use this system but the schools! 

*There are several additional ways for teachers to earn additional income within the School District as well that I will not go into in this post, but think it worth pointing out their existence

The above five points alone may have be news to some of you who have never looked into what exactly the issues were all about.  Making informed decisions on ANY subject requires more than going back and forth on message boards spouting rhetoric and talking points.  It requires truth to be told.  It requires the cards to be put on the table.

I understand that both the BOE and the SEA would have to both agree for their negotiating terms to be released to the public.  Personally, I have NO clue why the taxpayers are not at the table with them!  We are the ones footing the bill for all that is being discussed...so why in the world don't we have a say in this?  This is akin to having a middle income grandpa have to go wait in the other room while his two children talk over who will get more of GRANDPA's money and where it will be allocated.  Ridiculous.

However, the SEA can say whatever it wants about the BOE's proposal, but the BOE has publicly stated that it would like to release its negotiation proposal to the public for review.  

SEA's response?  Silence.  I sure heard a whole heck of a lot of "teachers" on the message boards here stating that they "hoped their union would show their proposal so the public can see how little they are asking for."  Well, if that's true, why aren't you pressuring your union leadership to show the proposal to the public?  Or if that was such a gigantic sentiment among the teachers, why is it still being hidden from the public's eyes?

I know that when I'm not trying to hide anything, I don't really care who sees what's on my paper.

My true hope in all of this is that teachers and BOE can come to an agreement.  I believe that it is only fair that if we are looking into teacher's compensation packages, that we also look at compensation packages of the BOE members as well, being that both are paid with our tax dollars.  

That being said, I do not consider an "agreement" keeping in place a system that allows tax dollars to fund 10.2% of each SDS teacher's annual salary and have taxpayers fund the 90% of each SDS teacher's health care premiums.

There needs to be an understanding.  This system is unsustainable.  Anyone and everyone can complain about what they deserve, how hard the work, etc. at any company in the world, but if there is NO MONEY to pay you with, nothing is going to happen. It's time for the teachers union to come back down to earth on expecting such a substantial tax payer funded benefit package with near zero contribution from the employees themselves.  

Until that happens...there will be band-aids continually placed over gaping wounds, doing nothing to stop the inevitable collapse of the system.

All information below is public record and available at Ohio State Treasurers website: http://www.tos.ohio.gov/teacher_salary   The OH State Treasurers website has a disclaimer and directions for any inaccuracies in its data reporting.  All information appears exactly as displayed on the state's website.

Example of salary and benefits of a current SDS teacher (taken from OH State Treasurer's Website):

Name:   T.L.L.

Yr Position School Salary/yr Days Worked

2008 Reg. Teacher Allen Elem. $74,348.00 184

*with 10.2% tax payer funded pension ($7,583.50) added = $81,931.50

2009 Reg. Teacher Allen Elem. $80,869.00 184

*with 10.2% tax payer funded pension ($8,248.64) added = $89,117.64

(salary increase of $6,521.00 between 2008-2009)

2010 Reg. Teacher Allen Elem. $80,869.00 184

*with 10.2% tax payer funded pension ($8,248.72) added = $89,117.64

(no salary increase from previous year) 

2011 Reg. Teacher Albion M.S. $80,869.00 184

*with 10.2% tax payer funded pension ($8,248.72) added = $89,117.64

(no salary increase from previous year) 

Salaries for 2012 year were not yet available on the website.  

Now, unless the Ohio State Treasurer's website is incorrect, that looks like a $6,521.00 salary increase for T.L.L. occured in 2009.  That's about an 8.8% salary increase in one year.  That would also completely dispel the SEA's statement that no teachers have received salary "raises" since 2008.  Wait, I'm sorry, it's a "step increase."  Call it what you will, but T.L.L. took home a little over $6,500.00 more that year.

According to the state's website, between the years 2008-2011, T.L.L.'s salary averaged to approx. $79,238.75, not including the 10.2% tax payer funded pension. When the pension is added to salary, T.L.L.'s combined salary/benefit compensation averages out to approx $87,321.11.  

Let's remember something as well...we still haven't figured in the savings for health care premiums.  SDS Teachers are only responsible to pay a maximum of $150.00 for family and $75 for individual health care premium.  The balance (remaining 90%) is picked up by the taxpayer.  

I don't speak for the city's residents, but I don't think there are many folks in this city that would be complaining with that kind of compensation.

I hope it is becoming apparent that not only are pay increases occuring, but the benefits that accompany them are, by private sector employees standards, beyond "fair." 

But the point is this:  The system can no longer sustain paying these benefits solely on the tax payer's dime.  If you believe so, then prepare yourself for a long and very dismal future...because emotional pleas about what someone "deserves" and testimonial stories may be nice, but unfortunately, numbers don't lie.  

This isn't about "hating teachers."  This is about dealing with economic reality.  And it's time we face reality or accept facing insovlency.

-Myron