Stan Geiger

The Annual Circus has Begun

It has become as predictable as Christmas. Every year about this time the Legislature prepares to enter session to decide who is going to get your money. And the political-educational complex kicks into high gear.

Below is a quote taken directly from the blog of House Speaker Lance Cargill.

Investment and reform in education
We’ll support continued investments in education, coupled with more accountability, increased standards and better results. A good first step is a performance pay plan for our school teachers, so that good teachers are rewarded for success. Teachers are professionals, and they deserve to be paid like professionals. For too long, they have been held back by a “one-size-fits-all” model of pay.

School teachers are professionals? School teachers deserve to be paid like professionals? A more absurd premise I could not contemplate.

Do teachers have to go through professional school, like lawyers or doctors? Do teachers have to pass any board examines to prove they know what they're doing? Nope, on both counts. A bachelor's degree from any out-of-the-way university that will hand one out will do.

Does it take professional skill to babysit kindergarten kids, or stand in front of a blackboard telling a bunch of booger-pickers that two plus two equals four? I think not.

Does it take professional skill to teach Oklahoma history to a class of middle-schoolers? No. Anyone that can read a book and regurgitate can teach such a class.

At the bottom line, most of what is taught in public schools could be taught by any housewife with a high school diploma. If you need a witness, take a look a home-schooled kids that can probably out-test the kids taught by the alleged professionals.

Does putting in 1050 hours a year on the job equate to a professional workload? Not by a damn sight.

School teachers are in no way professionals.

Understand, the comment from the politician does not come from one of those free-wheeling, tax-and-spend liberal Democrats. Oh no. The comment came from a Republican, as he laid out the conservative agenda for the coming session.

Author Gore Vidal once said, "The two parties are really one party representing four percent of the people."

When it comes to education funding, at least, I'm inclined to agree.

On the other side of the aisle, Democrats Brad Henry and Sandy Garrett staged a dog-and-pony show yesterday to announce Henry's support for $1,200 raises for teachers this year. The cameras of Oklahoma News Report were on hand---which wasn't surprising at all. The OETA is governed by a board comprised solely of educators. Educators have their own statewide TV network to use in spreading their nonsense.

And yes, your taxpayer dollars subsidize that operation as well. Keep that in mind the next time OETA does one of its little telethons asking for your contributions. You are already contributing---whether you want to or not.

Meanwhile, the private-sector TV media is doing its part. I saw a standard piece of fluff a couple of nights ago. I believe it was aired by KJRH, though I wouldn't swear to it.

The piece put a teacher on the air to claim teachers have to dig into their own pockets to supply classrooms. She mentioned numbers of $600, $700 and $1,000 a year. I've heard that tale before; it's one of the stories used to drum up sympathy for the poor, downtrodden hero of the classroom.

I'm going to call that story bullshit. I'm going to continue to call it bullshit until I see documentation. I want to see the physical items teachers claim they purchase. I want to see receipts. Then I want proof that any purchase physically made by a teacher wasn't later reimbursed by the school. Only then will I believe teachers are supplying classrooms out of their own pockets.

But, for the sake of argument, let's assume teachers are, in fact, having to supply classrooms out of their own pockets. Why? If I were a parent with a kid in a public school, seeing a story that said schools aren't supplying classrooms wouldn't generate sympathy in my mind, it would piss me off. Schools are up to their butts in tax money. If that money isn't going to something as fundamental as classroom supplies, where is it going?

KOTV is on the bandwagon. Last night, that station did its perfunctory put-a-teacher-on-the-air-to-say-whatever story. This teacher actually claims to be going beyond supplying the classroom; she claims she digs into her own pockets to supply the households of her students. She cited an instance in which she claimed to have purchased a mattress for one of her students because the poor thing didn't have a place to sleep.

I didn't exactly grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. I spent 13 years in Tulsa Public Schools. No teacher ever bought me anything. Not a mattress, not a bicycle, not a pair of sneakers, not so much as a pencil. More bullshit, I'd say.

This teacher also laid claim to working "overtime." In addition to her public school job, she teaches as an adjunct at TCC. The time she puts in on her so-called full-time job in public schools plus the time she spends at TCC doesn't equal the time put in by a person with one real job. But she calls her TCC job "overtime."

The KOTV story also reported bad numbers. The station undercut the average teacher pay figure in the state, reporting it as a little over $38k a year. Henry, in his press conference, citing what he called the most recent numbers available, said the average pay for an Oklahoma teacher is $42,379 a year.

The regional average pay figure, according to Henry, is $43,519 a year. Hence his justification for promoting the $1,200 raise. He wants to bring the Oklahoma average pay figure to the regional average. That's a story in itself.

This regional average educators and their lackeys keep talking about is a moving target. There are seven states in our region: New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, in addition to our own. If they all hand out teacher raises this year, what happens to the regional average? It goes up, yes?

For that matter, since Oklahoma is a part of the region, giving Oklahoma teachers raises will boost the regional average---even if all the other states sit still.

Pointing at the regional average gives educators an annual excuse to scream for pay raises---all other considerations aside.

A smiling Sandy Garrett, meanwhile, took the podium and proudly stated her target is the national average. The same logic that applies to chasing a regional average applies here.

Oklahoma is one of the cheapest states in the country---if not the cheapest---in which to live. Should Oklahoma teachers, in light of that fact, get paid the national average?

Oklahoma's school day is shorter than that of other states. Oklahoma's school year is one of the shortest in the nation. Again, should Oklahoma teachers get paid the national average?

If we paid Oklahoma teachers the national average wage, they would likely, when workload and cost of living is considered, be the best paid in the nation.

Using Henry's average pay figure, the average teacher in this state is making over 42 grand a year. The state's average wage as a whole is maybe 35 grand. And even that figure is deceivingly high. The state's aggregate average wage figure includes everybody. It includes doctors and lawyers, school superintendents and university presidents, CEOs and football coaches. In other words, it includes a lot of people that make way beyond average wages. The average for school teachers includes only school teachers.

It is clear to see that the average school teacher in Oklahoma already makes 10 to 15 grand a year more than the average average Oklahoman with a real job. Still, teachers bitch.

Three or four years ago, the average teacher pay figure being reported in the media was about 34 grand a year. So the average pay figure is up 8 grand, or 23.5 percent, in just the past few years. Still, teachers bitch.

Three or four years ago, the state relieved teachers of any responsibility for their health insurance. They were paying a mere 25 percent of the premiums; now they pay nothing. People that can't afford insurance for themselves pay taxes so teachers can have it for free. Still, teachers bitch.

The Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System is a reported $7 billion in the hole. That's a credit card bill, folks. We owe teachers $7 billion in retirement benefits for which there is no funding. That comes to $2,000 for every man, woman and child in the state. That's what every Oklahoma citizen currently owes teachers above and beyond what they already contribute. The pension system allows teachers to retire in their early 50s and get paid for life. Still, teachers bitch.

The school day is 6 hours long. The typical school year is 175 days. That's 1050 hours a year that teachers are actually required to teach. Figuring against the average wage, the average teacher in Oklahoma is getting paid over $40 an hour---plus benefits. That's just the average, mind you. Some make more. Still, teachers bitch.

How much does it take to satisfy school teachers? The answer is, we can't get there from here. Nothing satisfies teachers.

Pay close attention in the days and weeks ahead. Pay close attention to the comments and actions of politicians; pay close attention to what you see in the media. You will get an excellent lesson in how the political-educational complex works to hide truth, spew forth propaganda and steal your money.

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