County manager recommends less money than what schools want

Dear Fellow Tax Payer,

Every year there are more and more initiatives that are introduced into education with no real foundation in research to indicate that they will be able to do anything worthwhile. Take, for example, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. In 2009 there were 14,197 NC teachers holding NBPTS Status in their area of teaching. This is the greatest number of NBPTS teachers than in any other of the 50 states. The NBPTS proponents chide in on the difficulty of the process. They declare that every teacher that makes it through the process successfully (achieving status or passing the process) three do not. Now outwardly that sounds like a very rigorous process. Please note the following:
There are 4 major submissions made with two of these involving a 20 minute video or DVD of the teacher teaching and then providing written commentary on the segment. The assessor NEVER meets the teacher being assessed.
The actual test that tests the teacher on the content of their subject area (science, math, etc) is weighted VERY little. Theoretically a teacher could, in fact, fail all content area tests and still be a NBPTS teacher.

Now let’s take the fact that there are 14,197 teachers that have, at your expense, achieved NBPTS status. At around $2500 a pop that would be $35,492,500 of your tax money spent. If three teachers do not successfully complete the process for every one that makes it then this total tax money spent is $141,970,000. Even if you prove that NBPTS teachers are better than regular teachers then you can see that only 25% of your tax dollars are being utilized effectively. Also, there is a 12% pay raise involved in which your tax dollars are being spent on teachers that MAY teach better than a teacher that does not have status.

The NBPTS process cannot be undertaken unless a teacher has 3 years of teaching experience. A teacher with a 4 year degree who achieves NBPTS status will make $36,560 per year according to the 2009 NC pay scale for teachers. A teacher with a Masters Degree (usually meaning 2 more years of college with face to face time with instructors and monitored practicum/teaching) and not NBPTS will make $35,900. So the 4 month long process of NBPTS makes a teacher with a 4 year degree more valuable than a teacher with 2 more YEARS of education.

So let us take a look and a very conservative estimate here. Let’s say ALL of the 14,197 NBPTS teachers all have a BS degree in their field and they all had 3 years of experience at the time of their NBPTS status:

So ONLY for the NBPTS costs we have:

One teacher fee for application for the NBPTS process. $2500
This teacher, with a Bachelors Degree, will make an extra $3920 for the next 10 years (the duration of the NBPTS status) (pay source, NCDPI website) *this does not include pay raises based on years experience $39,200

Total $41,700
The number of teachers with NBPTS Status in NC as of 2009 (14,197, source, NBPTS website) and projecting only BS degreed teachers 14,197 x $41,700 = $592,014,900
Added costs if for every one teacher that made NBPTS status ONE did not. The application costs only were 35,492,500 for these teachers. $592,014,900 + $35,492,500 =
$627,507,400

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has a few reports on the effectiveness of NBPTS teachers. One very impressive study shows intricate details of the NBPTS process. This report asks if NC is getting its money’s worth. Authored by George Leef it is eye opening as to the ins and outs of the NBPTS process. Two other reports can be found at this site:
http://www.effwa.org/NATIONAL%20BOARD%20FOR%20PROFESSIONAL%20TEACHING%20STANDARDS.php

Will he go so far as to suggest cuts? Has there been more discussion about saving money by keeping Leesville Middle from converting to year-round? That conversion is such a total waste and so many other year-round schools should discontinue MYR for instant budget cuts.