[quote=SK in CV][quote=EconProf]Yes, if you could show I am hugely wrong.
But if your evidence only moves the needle a little, then no.
For example, CA teachers are not literally the highest paid if you count D.C. And maybe another state or two…but if our teachers are the second highest paid, or third, or fifth…
(Google Teacher Pay by State, or some similar label to see details of many studies. All show our teachers to be very highly compensated. Don’t forget to add retirement benefits, medical, other fringe benefits in to get total compensation.)
As to educaton results…another slippery item to measure. So feel free to cherry pick your study. But you have no case unless you discover our expensive schools give us remotely commensurate results.[/quote]
California per student spending is among the lowest in the country, despite the teacher salaries being among the highest. Class size is among the largest. (some justfication for higher teacher salaries?)
I cherry picked the most recent study I could find. Maybe I’m biased because I think my kids got a great education in public schools in CA. I got my money’s worth.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/qc/2012/16src.h31.html%5B/quote%5D
The chart you show put CA about in the middle compared to other states, but I could not tell what it was measuring/comparing. Maybe you can explain it to us, although I tend to distrust studies from the education establishment.
But yes, it showed CA to be far from the worst in the nation. I still maintain that we are not getting our money’s worth, and your comment about per pupil spending being low for CA is indeed colaborated by other studies. So how can CA teachers be highest paid (or nearly so), while per pupil spending is far from highest? Big classes are one answer (as you point out), but also wasteful layers of bureaucracy in school administrators, nonsensical rules, high building costs (unionized labor), and countless other inefficiencies unique to California.
Administrative bloat is a valid complaint of teachers. Administrators are wildly overpaid, and have their own unions to fight for their piece of the pie.
