Yeah, baby! $125,000 Starting Salary for Teachers

[Marc Bousquet]

Crossposted from http://howtheuniversityworks.com

I'm not generally a big fan of "charter schools," which more often than not are sleazy operations that combine experimenting on other people's children with transparent attempts to break schoolteacher unions.

But one NYC charter school really breaks the mold by offering the same argument for developing teacher talent that administrators make for themselves: you pay for it. A starting salary for teachers of $125,000 a year, to be exact.

Yeah, baby.

But here's the great part: he's paying his principal <em>less</em> than the teachers. A lot less--just $90,000 to start. Oh, double yeah, baby.

I effing love this guy.

Reaction from the administration? Predictable. Robert Logan, president of the city principals' union, called the scheme “the craziest thing I’ve ever heard," continuing, according to the New York Times, “If you cheapen the role of the school leader, you’re going to have anarchy and chaos.”

Hey, we could some of that kind of anarchy and chaos right here in higher ed.

Keep in mind that the kid--aged 31--is himself the first principal, so he's chosen to pay himself less than the faculty. I bet he's going to get results a lot better than a boatload of half-million-a-year university presidents who can't graduate 50% of their students in six years.

Read the NY Times article yourself.

Enjoy. Then organize.

What if we followed this kid's lead and jammed up those administrators the way they've jammed us up all these years: make 'em contingent, make 'em compete for janitors' wages, and tell 'em to ask Medicare for their chemo?

All right, I guess we couldn't find it in ourselves to be that cruel. That's why they get paid the big bucks--not to be smarter, or "better leaders," but to be ethically blunt, serviceable, and willing --willing to live large and build new gyms and business facilities while the faculty starves.

Oh, Great Spirit, hear my prayer. Just give me one university president willing to follow this kid's salary scale for her faculty and herself. Please. That would be an experiment worth watching.

[Mnemosyne]

1. This man gives me hope!

"The school’s creator and first principal, Zeke M. Vanderhoek, contends that high salaries will lure the best teachers. He says he wants to put into practice the conclusion reached by a growing body of research: that teacher quality — not star principals, laptop computers or abundant electives — is the crucial ingredient for success.

“I would much rather put a phenomenal, great teacher in a field with 30 kids and nothing else than take the mediocre teacher and give them half the number of students and give them all the technology in the world,” said Mr. Vanderhoek, 31, a Yale graduate and former middle school teacher who built a test preparation company that pays its tutors far more than the competition. "

:applause::applause::applause:

Thanks for sharing, Marc! :hi:

[stray cat]

2. wouldn't that increase the price of tuition?

Of course I would love the pay raise....

[lonestarnot]

3. Damn! Now we're talkin'! Maybe I'll go get my teaching credentials if the trend starts here.

:applause:

[Skinner]

4. I think this might actually work.

I am reminded of what Joe Biden said many times during his recent presidential campaign. I can't remember whether he was talking about education or some other issue:

"Don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget."

It's a deceptively simple thing to say. If you think something is important, you should be willing to pay for it. In an education system with limited resources, you need to set priorities. Making quality teachers your top priority -- and paying a salary that guarantees you will get the best -- seems like a smart move. I will be very interested to see if this is a success.

[soothsayer]

5. don't california teachers get paid that much already? for 9 mos work