savings

The Long-Run Impact of the Reduction in Classroom teachers

A recent study, by The Hamilton Project, looked at the impacts of cuts to government employment rolls, including educators. Their findings should open a lot of eyes.

One area where there is a sound body of literature to draw upon is the returns to education – specifically, the impact of class-size on student achievement and lifetime earnings. Drawing on this evidence, we quantify the impact of reductions in the number of public school teachers on our country’s future.

In 2011 there were over 220,000 fewer teachers in America’s classrooms than in 2009, a reduction accounting for nearly forty percent of the decrease in public-sector jobs during this period. This decline in the number of teachers increased the student-teacher ratio by 5.9 percent.

To determine the consequences of these reductions, we assumed that class-size increases were applied equally across all grades in K-12 schools. We then drew from recent research that links future earnings with class size to assess the wage impacts for today’s children, when they become working-age adults.1 All of this is explained in more detail here, but the bottom line is that this research suggests that the Great Recession will live on for decades through the lower future wages for our children.

Of course, an important test for the efficiency of government spending is whether the benefits exceed the costs. The savings from these cuts, in terms of teacher salaries and benefits, are $11.8 billion per year nationwide. While a significant figure, it is substantially smaller than the estimated present value in foregone earnings of $49.3 billion dollars for the children, whose education is affected by larger class sizes. To put a fine point on these findings, this translates into a per-student, per-year loss of nearly $1,000 in future earnings. In summary, the foregone benefits are more than four times larger than the current budget savings!

Investing in classroom teachers then, not only improves the economy today, but vastly improves the economy of the future. There's hardly a better return on investment that can be made. Someone ought to tell columbus lawmakers.

DAS misled about having SB5 documents

We posted an article a few weeks ago, concerned that the administration was hiding key facts from the public. We were also concerned that the SB5 analysis generated by the Department of Administrative Services was compromised and error ridden. We wrote to the DAS chief legal counsel

Can you provide me with a list of employees who provided the analysis and generated this report, a copy of all emails, spreadsheets, memos, and documents from said employees regarding this report.
Thanks

We received the following response

I do not believe there is a list responsive to your request. The report came from the Office of Collective Bargaining.

Your request for emails, spreadsheets, memos, documents from "said" employees is vague and overbroad. Therefore, it is denied.
However, you are welcome to amend your request so that it is more specific.
Thank you,

Lisa Iannotta
Chief Legal Counsel
Department of Administrative Services
30 E. Broad Street, 40th Floor
Columbus, Ohio 43215
(614) 728-3475 Direct Dial

Well it turns out that was a lie. Not only is the Office of Collective Bargaining part of DAS, but Plunderbund now has in its possession the proof. What they have more than explains the reluctance of the administration to turn over documents relating to their flawed SB5 analysis

From: Duco, Michael
To: Blair, Robert; Menedis, Nicholas; Wykoff, Pieter
Cc: Trackler, Julie; Colson, Harry
Subject: Columbus
Date: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 9:20:31 AM

I left a message for Jan Campbell for the same information that I asked Toledo for. I am not sure that they will cooperate. I am walking over to SERB to see what kind of data they may have. I know that you want an aggregate number but there may be no way to give you it with any amount of precision.

Maybe what they should do is show what the savings to the State, a city (Toledo) and a school district and a county. If you all provide me with a school district that would work with us and a county we can work on these snapshots. While an aggregate number is big I am worried that it will be challenged and we will not be able to defend. My only solution is to use the savings garnered in Toledo and the state divided by the number of employees to come up with an average savings multiple that by the number of public employees and use a factor of 5% either way. I chose 5% because the elimination of five sick days is approximately 2% savings which Toledo and State workforce would not capture and say 3% for potential pick up coverage. Let me know your ideas or whether you think this formula is defensible.

A number of the people cc'ed in this single email work for DAS and were involved in some manner in the creation of the SB5 analysis that we know some had reservations about. The administration is getting dangerously close to serious lawsuits with their constant disregard for public records law.

SB5 Roundup

Top 3 Today

The top 3 news stories for you today.

  1. Savings fostered by collective-bargaining law anything but a sure thing

The Administration uses fuzzy math to calculate savings from S.B.5 - savings that come out of paychecks in the form of eliminated step increases and increased health premium contributions. The Administration then claims the savings don't come from salaries.

"He can't have it both ways," said Dennis Willard, spokesman for We Are Ohio, the coalition pushing the November referendum, arguing that the governor cannot say there will not be pay cuts but at the same time promote the kind of savings that will come out of workers' paychecks.
  1. 1 signature vs. 3,000
Just two business days after Kasich signed SB 5, We Are Ohio was able to collect more than enough signatures to start the referendum process. Now we wait the ten business days to see if Secretary of State Husted will certify at least 1,000 valid signatures and if Attorney General DeWine will certify the proposed summary.
  1. Rally supports referendum on SB 5
DAYTON — More than 200 representatives from local unions, community and religious groups opposed to the passage of Senate Bill 5 gathered in the auditorium of Teamsters Local 957 Monday night to rally support for a referendum on the November ballot.

The rally was one of more than 1,000 labor events across the country commemorating the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tenn., where he had gone to stand with striking sanitation workers.