Crisis 1960-2005!

Sick of the latest "Schools in Crisis" bullshit? Some links.

1) Oregon has been ranked between 25th and 32th in affluence for the last 15 years. (Bureau of Economic Analysis, "Per Capita Personal Income", July 2003). Several similar studies and statistics support. http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/regional/reis/drill.cfm

2) From an American Federation of Teachers (AFL-CIO) study,"Average Teachers Salary Compared to Per-Capita Personal Income", there are only four states ranked higher than Oregon. This illustrates the lofty compensation compared to what is possible for Oregonians to afford. www.aft.org/salary/2002/download/SalarySurvey02.pdf , Table I-6.

3) From AFT study, "State Rankings Average Teacher Salary Adjusted by AFT Interstate Cost-of-Living Index. Only nine states are ranked higher than Oregon. www.aft.org/salary/2002/download/SalarySurvey02.pdf , Table I-7.

4) From NEA and AFT statistics, Oregon teachers are the 13th highest state in K-12 average salaries. NEA(2004) has Oregon at 12th highest ($49,169). www.nea.org/edstats/images/04rankings.pdf , page 67.

5) The OSBA study, Comprehensive analysis of K-12 Education Finance in Oregon, by ECONorthwest, stated that there were only 5 states with higher total compensation for all Oregon K-12 education employees. This data is three years old, but contracts since that time have not changed the ranking. Also, "Benefit expenditures total $17,684 per full-time staff member, which ranked 1st nationally and is 11 percent higher than second-place Wisconsin." >From the CHALKBOARD PROJECT (April 2004). www.osba.org/hotopics/funding/2002/analysis/final.pdf

6) Oregon could freeze teacher salaries for five consecutive years and their compensation would still be greater than the 25th ranking state in compensation (from NEA 2004). This illustrates how far ahead the compensation has gotten in Oregon.

7) Only eight states have a "higher public union workforce", 57%.
www.trinity.edu/bhirsch/unionstats/State%20U_2003.htm . This in a state where the private sector work force is less than 9.4% unionized.

8) The percentage of "Education Employee (K-12) Benefits to Salaries" in all U.S. states is 24%. In Oregon that percentage is 38%. (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (Aug. 2003)www.nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d03/tables/dt165.asp

9) Oregon has the 4th highest student/teacher ratio (NEA, 2004). This is a direct result of the high teacher total compensation. www.nea.org/edstats/images/04rankings.pdf , page 18.

10) There are approx. 29,150 K-12 Oregon teachers (OSBA). www.osba.org/lrelatns/salary/0203smap.pdf