New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg did the country a big favor yesterday by announcing his intention to freeze the salaries of all of his teachers and administrators?and in one fell swoop eliminate the need to lay off any instructors. (4,600 jobs had been at risk.) Lo and behold, firing teachers isn't the only response to the funding crisis.
Furthermore, consider Mike Antonucci's astute question: ?What kind of pay ?freeze? results in an average salary increase of 3.3%?? He goes on to quote the Times:
The mayor's move does not entirely freeze teachers' pay. Teachers typically receive an annual raise and ?step increases? for seniority and for earning advanced degrees or academic credits. Teachers will still receive step increases, which can range from around $400 at the beginning of a career to more than $8,000 for teachers who reach 20 years. Teacher salaries would still go up an average of 3.3 percent based on such increases, education officials said.
So remind me again why we need $23 billion in federal funding money borrowed from China to avert 100,000 teacher layoffs nationwide? All we have to do is to give every teacher in America a smaller raise than expected, and we'd save just as many jobs. In a time of record-low inflation, and salary cuts across the private sector, that doesn't seem like too much to ask. Perhaps this is why the edujobs bill might go down in flames?
-Mike Petrilli
