Ongoing and Reliable Revenue Needed

By Harry M. Keiley

I applaud the Police Officers Association and Firefighters Union for their work in securing a competitive compensation package for their members. ("The Rising Price of Protection," Feb. 6, 2003)

Our public safety officers deserve nothing less than to be the highest paid in the county. It’s in the community’s interest to offer police officers and firefighters a competitive wage and benefits package. By doing so, the City is able to hire the best candidates in the region. As a result, our community benefits.

However, anyone who implies that the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District does not need ongoing and reliable revenues is deeply mistaken. If we are to provide a quality public education for all students and pay teachers (and other employees) a professional wage, we must allocate the necessary resources to our schools.

We can’t rely on the federal or state government to adequately fund our schools. The current administration in Washington is more interested in a war budget and tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Due to the unprecedented state deficit, Sacramento has cut school funding by more than $4.5 billion during the past two fiscal years. The funding of our public schools is the collective responsibility of the federal, state and local government.

According to the independent advocacy group Ed Source, "teacher salaries in California failed to keep pace with inflation from 1990-1999". As a result, it has been difficult for our district to recruit highly qualified teachers, especially in the areas of math and science. Moreover, more than 50 percent of teachers leave the profession within the first five years of teaching. One of the primary reasons for the high turn over rate is that teachers cannot afford to remain in the profession.

If we are to attract and retain the best and brightest to the teaching profession, we must be willing to pay them a professional wage. The overwhelming majority of SMMUSD’s teachers have advanced degrees.

However, due to the chronic under funding of public education, teachers continue to be paid less than a professional wage. With an annual salary of $38,000, many of our beginning teachers need a second job to make ends meet. In addition, with a maximum salary of $78,000, far too many of our veteran teachers (27 years or more) cannot afford to retire.

In addition, to the low pay, our class sizes are exceedingly large. Many class sizes at the high school level exceed 35. Our high school teachers are responsible for five instructional periods per day. The simple math -- a SMMUSD high school teacher has a daily student caseload that exceeds 175.

For teachers the sound of the 3:15 school bell is not the end of our workday. For educators it is simply the end of the instructional day and the continuation of our workday. Long after our students go home, teachers spend countless hours correcting student papers, tutoring, preparing lesson plans, conferencing with parents and serving on committees.

Teaching is not an eight-to-three job, nor is it a forty hour work week, On average, classroom teachers work between sixty and seventy hours per week. These additional hours are not paid at an overtime rate… teachers don’t get paid overtime.

At the same time, teachers today are being asked to do more with less. The era of accountability and standards has placed teachers and our profession under the microscope. We are scrutinized and criticized by many in the national media and the opponents of public education blame us for societal failures.

Teachers and public schools are often labeled as failures. With the passage of the deeply flawed and highly punitive No Child left Behind legislation, the federal government has stacked the deck against teachers and teacher unions.

How are we to leave no child behind when we don’t have the resources needed to do the job? How are we to leave no child behind when we teach in overcrowded classrooms? How are we to leave no child behind when we cannot retain highly qualified teachers in the profession?

We need ongoing and reliable revenues to ensure that SMMUSD’s teachers (and other employees) are the best paid in the county. We need ongoing and reliable revenues to lower class sizes. We need ongoing and reliable revenues to make certain that all children are provided a quality public education. We need ongoing and reliable revenues to protect the quality of life for all Santa Monicans. An investment in our schools today is an investment in our community’s future.

The CEPS initiative would provide SMMUSD with the ongoing and reliable revenue we need and the community expects. After much analysis and debate, the Santa Monica Malibu Classroom Teachers Association endorsed the initiative. We did so with the full knowledge that the initiative would not harm City employees or union members.

SMMCTA is grateful to the City Council for their past support of our schools. We welcome any proposal that provides our public schools with the reliable and ongoing revenues we so desperately need. To date, the CEPS initiative is the only viable option to ensure the continued excellence of our local public schools.