This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE 7/12/05

What do we do about the cost of education?
We see the schools, both city and county locally, having to make cuts in teaching as well as administrative positions in order to meet budget requirements.
And there are also other incremental increases such as for participation in sports and music.
It appears that the Legislature is going to come up with at least a 300 million increase in education for the next biennium.
A study in the Oregonian Sunday laid the cause of the need for increased educational funding strictly at the door of pensions and health benefits that accrue to employees.
They reported that Oregon is 55 percent more than the national average for employee benefits and that class sizes are 33 per cent more than the national average.
They also note that some teachers are retiring after 30 years and receiving more retirement money than when they were teaching.
They also looked at possible solutions.
On scaling back pensions they said: “Courts have ruled against most attempts to roll back pensions for current workers. Unions would oppose efforts to give future employees smaller pensions.”
Well, what about scaling back health benefits: They wrote: “Districts are making more employees pay more out of pocket and capping what they pay for insurance. An insurance pool run by the Oregon School Boards Association has dampened rate increases” and they note Governor Kulongoski is pushing for a statewide insurance pool.
How about cutting salaries? They write: “Cutting salaries, which average about 5 percent above the national average too far to offset high benefits could mean losing valuable teachers and other workers to other states.”
Well, how about shifting more of the state general funding to schools? They point out this move would cause a fierce fight by other agencies such as public safety and social services as well as others.
How about cutting administrative costs: The study points out that schools spend about 7 percent of their money on superintendent offices, payroll and other services more than a the national average.
So....if none of these things can be done...other than try to tinker with some of them.....what is the answer?
The President of the Teachers union had this answer: “Teachers and other school employees have played by the rules and earned their health insurance and pensions. Legislators and taxpayers need to find better ways to shore up schools than to raid the benefit packages of veteran educators.”
So...the arguments go both pro and con....but the problem will only get larger as the years go by unless something is done.
In the olden days people used to say that “Preachers and teachers are the poorest paid of all.”
Well...that isn’t the case anymore....at least for the teachers.
But....unless some reining in is done in education funding...the school year will continue to become shorter...and the classroom sizes larger......a terrible combination.

This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.