Q&A – Reimagining Public Education & Moving It Forward
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s entry: I have two notes today that I wanted to share related to the broader discussion of teacher raises and the public education establishment that we’ve been having over the past few weeks. First, is a note from an educator I received on Wednesday following that day’s Q&A.
Good morning, Brian. I have emailed you several times over the last several years, usually in response to something related to education as I myself am a teacher. I quietly applauded in my kitchen as I hustled off to work while listening to your last segment on teachers' salaries over the last few weeks. Yes, I'm a teacher; however, I teach in the private sector, and quite frankly I do feel the need to vomit when again and again I hear the "Whoa Is Me" song from the typical public school teacher. Please do not get me wrong; there are many very good teachers out there, but for ten solid ones, there are maybe twice that who should never have chosen the field, usually choosing it for the wrong reasons. Nothing made me happier this summer than to see for the first time in my 30 years of teaching in South Florida a billboard advertising the School District of Palm Beach County. We need competition, for it's the only means to establish good schools for all. I teach middle school within a private faith based school, and each year as I awake at 4:30 AM to plan a day as I like to say "on the front lines, I venture forth without a doubt that what I do is so profound with the potential to affect generations. I take my job extremely seriously. I dress the best I can, leaving my house, of which I have purchased by myself, to unlock potential and push minds to want a lifetime of discovery. Each year, I negotiate my contract based on my performance. I love what I do; however, it took me many years to find a great school, one where I have the freedom to teach instead of the government pushing lesson plans and tests into my hands to cram down the throats of children who couldn't afford any other way, and who went on to hate learning. I remain hopeful, for it's the most necessary of virtues in education, that one day schools will run like businesses attracting the best teachers, and thus generating the best students.
Thank you, Brian, for your voice. Never shy away from the truth.
& Another note from a listener with an idea about how to do things differently...
this is why universal school choice is so important.... Fund students and not systems. Minimize and eliminate public schools. Let the parents choose which private/charter school to give tuition dollars to. Admin costs shrink. Privatize and compete.
Bottom Line: The note from the first educator made my week. The message didn’t do so simply because it was complimentary of what I’ve been attempting to do for three weeks, which is to educate this community as to what the Classroom Teachers Association salary demands were, what the community considerations are, and what the market-based compensation increase should be. The note made my week because it’s a faith restoring moment. From time to time when discussing law enforcement, I’ve shared my father’s saying. There are few people in society who are better than good cops. There are few people in society who are worse than bad cops. Thankfully almost all cops are good cops. The saying could effectively be said of teachers as well...with one major caveat. Sadly, almost all teachers aren’t especially good teachers. The teacher who submitted today’s note spoke to that condition. This reality makes great teachers, like the one who submitted today’s note, that much more valuable. They’re worth their weight in gold in terms of their impact on children and our society. What’s been especially frustrating for me over the past three weeks isn’t that the CTA got everything they demanded and more from the Palm Beach County School Board, which is comprised of members of the CTA. It’s the level of angst, and often vitriol, directed at me by some of the theoretically “good teachers”. From the onset all I did was share with this community the demands of the CTA, which was otherwise ignored by a CTA compliant local news media, and to breakdown what the market case for a raise should be – which as an analyst is something I do with every issue I cover. At the crux of the issue, I made the case for why the average raise for a public-school teacher in Palm Beach County should be 5.8% as opposed to the 7.5% demanded by the union. A figure that was only 1.7% lower than what the union demand was. And for that I routinely heard from teachers, who in theory were/are the “good” teachers direct commentary at me that I can’t air and/or that I wouldn’t air because if I did it would frankly be embarrassing for them and the profession at large. How ironic is it that educators take an affront to my educating this community on what’s happening behind the scenes with what will directly impact them and that they’ll end up paying for?
My goal isn't and hasn’t been to make enemies with the “good” or even potentially good teachers. We need them. I’ve shared a couple of the relatively tame and airable examples of this recently. You’re familiar with the saying that blood is thicker than water. What has become clear to me in recent weeks is that it applies to teachers as well. That’s what’s been bugging me. The moment the union makes a demand and there’s more money to be had to heck, with everything and everybody else. Many would probably be horrified to know what some teachers have suggested happen with those who’re at risk of being taxed out of their home as our property tax bills will begin to be due in less than a month. Let’s just say it’s been made clear care far more about maximizing their raise than they do the community being able to afford to pay for it. I can only imagine how that mindset might translate in the classroom. That’s what’s bugged me the most. The control the union, their propaganda, and their relative greed has over potentially good teachers in this community. Even many non-union members root for the interests of the union because they're compensated based on the CTA contract results.
The Americans Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten’s outfit, is the parent union of every teacher’s union in the state of Florida. They, and their agenda – which is political, remain the biggest problem we have in education today. This means teachers who remain members of that union, at minimum, contribute to the biggest problem we have in education today. And that takes me to the second note which picks up on a couple of themes from the first one.
Universal School Choice is something I advocated for my entire professional career. For years in this community (a couple of decades) I was told time and again that it would never happen and that even if it did it would destroy public education and children would suffer. Undeterred, I continued to provide results-based analysis, cost-based analysis (illustrating how it was affordable) until the job was finally done. And here we are. None of the union’s lies and diatribes proved true. But to the point of the second note. The work at this point isn’t done. The Palm Beach County School Board is responsive only to the CTA that their members of, not the residents of this community, that they are tasked with serving. After the school board delivered a 10.5% increase in teacher compensation (7.5% raise in addition a 3% bonus) - which is effectively double the average wage increases of salaried professionals in Palm Beach County, the superintendent said he would have been in favor of giving more if it was there. Member teachers are complacent with the status quo. It’s clear much more change in this community, in particular, is needed. With the universal school choice battle being won, and ultimately the biggest part of the solution for what needs to happen next...to put an end to the status quo self-entitled education establishment that serves itself more than this community.
I’m just getting started on the next steps to reimagine and reshape public education going forward.