Parental choice: It's a catalyst for higher teacher pay

Here's the reply:

We have to find ways to attract and keep great teachers - so how do we find a way to make more of that $140,000 per class reach the teacher? It goes back to the basic rules of economics and the benefits of competition.

One answer is to empower parents with choice in education. Parents know who the best teachers are; in fact, parents fight each year to get their children into those classrooms. If parents controlled the $10,000 assigned to their child, you can bet they would make sure that principals paid what it took to recruit and retain the best teachers. If the principals didn't agree, they could lose their customers. There might even be bidding wars for the best teachers - what a wonderful thing!

I look forward to the day that the FEA understands the power of parental choice and its potential to bring more money to the pockets of good teachers, not school bureaucracies.

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 Tallahassee Democrat

Article published Aug 26, 2007

Parental choice: It's a catalyst for higher teacher pay

On Aug 19, the Tallahassee Democrat published a guest column by Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association (FEA) detailing the effects potential cuts in the state budget may have on Florida public education.

Revenues in Florida are dear and may grow more so in the near future. Mr. Ford correctly pointed out that Florida is in an educational crisis, with only two-thirds of students in Florida public schools graduating - and less than half our minority children graduate. However, the amount we spend in our schools may not be entirely to blame - we need to look more closely at how that money is allocated.

I agree with Ford that good teachers are critical - and it is common sense that more money will assist in the recruitment and retention of the best teachers. But our school districts need to look internally at their budget allocations. For example, Leon County spends just shy of $10,000 per pupil every year just in operating costs. That figure excludes construction costs and debt service. Leon County employs 2,325 teachers to instruct 32,342 students - a 14-to-1 teacher-student ratio. These numbers are all from published material from the district.

If Leon spends $10,000 per child, and the average classroom has 14 kids per class, that means we're spending $140,000 on behalf of those kids somewhere in the district. The average salary for a teacher in Leon is $43,412 - it follows then, that nearly $97,000 is spent per classroom that doesn't enter the teachers' pockets.

We have to find ways to attract and keep great teachers - so how do we find a way to make more of that $140,000 per class reach the teacher? It goes back to the basic rules of economics and the benefits of competition.

One answer is to empower parents with choice in education. Parents know who the best teachers are; in fact, parents fight each year to get their children into those classrooms. If parents controlled the $10,000 assigned to their child, you can bet they would make sure that principals paid what it took to recruit and retain the best teachers. If the principals didn't agree, they could lose their customers. There might even be bidding wars for the best teachers - what a wonderful thing!

I look forward to the day that the FEA understands the power of parental choice and its potential to bring more money to the pockets of good teachers, not school bureaucracies.

Bob McClure is president and CEO of the James Madison Institute in Tallahassee. Contact him at bob@jamesmadison.org.