No Child Left Behind?!

[Bill Call]

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As to Mr. Call. Your numbers are all extreme examples of what the system MIGHT provide. There aren't a lot of first-grade teachers with doctorates, and I would challenge you to identify a first grade teacher with a compensation package of $95,000.. The 333 pay levels you cite are incongruous given that there are slightly more than 400 teachers in the entire district.
Furthermore, comparisons to private schools like Lakewood Catholic Academy are easy to dispute, because LCA has no special ed programs, and in fact, legally can lean on PUBLIC schools for support of special needs students. Let's stick to the "facts on the ground" and maybe we can get a clearer picture of where we are are where we need to go.

The 333 different pay grades are the possible pay scales paid by the district. I can provide you with a copy of the pay scales if you would like one.

The cost of between $65,000 and $95,000 include fringe benefits and again are from figures provided by the district.

The district is assuming declining enrollment and fewer teachers. The anticipated 19% increase in salaries and benefits is attributable to projected salary increases and increases in the costs of fringe benefits.

If the district's projections are correct the future salary and benefit cost range for a teacher with 18 years experience would be between $77,350 and $113,050 per year.

Is $77,350 to little? Is $113,050 to much? What do you think?

In a sense it is the public schools that lean on the private schools. The Lakewood district spends $10,000 per student. If all 620 students at LCA attended Lakewood public schools the cost to the district would be over six million dollars per year. Where would the money come from?

Joan: The Lakewood City Schools spend $10,000 per student. How would you spend the money?

[Jeff Endress]

In a sense it is the public schools that lean on the private schools. The Lakewood district spends $10,000 per student. If all 620 students at LCA attended Lakewood public schools the cost to the district would be over six million dollars per year. Where would the money come from?

While your figure may well be correct, if Lakewood were to absorb 620 additional students there would not be an additional $6,200,000.00 in expenses. Operation of the entire school systems physical plant is included within the per student average. This number would not change. Likewise for the costs of the Board itself, administrators, etc. I would expect that the system could absorb that number with little, if any, increase in the teaching staff. The only realistic increase would probably be in books and supplies. In essence, the total budget would not change, or would change minimally. It would be spread over a student body which had increased by 620 students, thus actually lowering the per student cost. We would probably also receive greater state aid which would further defray any actual costs and further lower per student numbers.

Jeff

[Joan Roberts]

Mr, Call

A first-grade teacher who can give 23 new minds a year a solid footing in reading and math, plus instill a genuine enthusiasm for learning, is worth $95,000 to me. Maybe more. We're talking about effects that last a lifetime.
On the other hand, a burnout going through the motions teaching 7th grade math should be given a year to shape up or be shown the door.
In truth, I would like to see "pay scales" abolished and individual teachers paid for their production. My problem isn't the dollars we spend, but how they're allocated.
However, you are tossing around numbers with virtually no context. Exactly how many teachers are getting paid your extremely theoretical $95,000? Are they first-grade teachers, as you imply? High school teachers with doctorates (some have them)? Big difference.
Also, you throw the $10,000 figure out as though it is somehow wildly extravagant. Last year, 20 districts in Cuyahoga County spent more than $10,000 and 5 more spent more than $9,500. Lakewood isn't even near the top of the list.
One reason Lakewood spends so much is its history of operating 14 buildings in a district with less than 7,000 students. That's virtually unheard of in this day and age, yet you ascribe all of it to teacher salaries.
I know we've veered away from the topic of NCLB into school spending. The fact that one discussion leads to another tells us more about OUR perceptiions than the realitiies of education.