History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
Personnel costs prove tough to contain
- 01-12-2011
-
By Sean Cavanagh/Education Week
Personnel costs—the salaries and benefits that sustain the K-12 workforce—consume an enormous portion of school budgets, and many policymakers are determined to drive those expenses down, even as they also seek to improve academic achievement and the quality of instruction. Yet reducing those costs is not as simple as chopping away at the state or local education budget, or eliminating programs or services. State pension systems, which typically cover teachers, generally are protected by state constitutions and other laws, and courts have made it difficult to reduce benefits for current enrollees. And teachers’ salary schedules and health-care costs are often protected by hard-fought collective bargaining agreements at the local level. There’s a lot of money at stake. The nation’s public schools employ more than 6 million workers, and instructional staff receive about $295 billion in salary and benefits, according to federal estimates. (more…)
Send this
Print this
