ALSO
87% OF NORTH CANTON'S OPERATIONAL BUDGET
GOES TO TEACHER SALARIES/BENEFITS
Not long ago, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) published "District Profiles" data on its website.
As the SCPR is wont to do with this blog is to do in-depth analyses of various Stark County government issues.
Databases galore are made available to everyday Ohioians as one of the ways to check up on Ohio and local boards of education as to whether or not our taxes are being used effectively and efficiently.
Not long ago, the SCPR published a blog questioning whether or not we Stark Countians are getting our money's worth in light of the graphic constructed from ODE data and published on this blog.
Only four Stark County superintendents were willing to provide the SCPR with responses as to why so many Stark County districts (33%) received an "F" grade from the ODE.
The answers varied.
The main one was that the ODE keeps shifting the testing criteria upon which the grading is based.
Taking second in the list of reasons was that students were not comfortable take the tests online.
The SCPR is not buying either.
School boards across Stark County are not getting the job done in making sure that their respective highly paid superintendents are getting the job done in ensuring that Stark County students are getting a world class education.
Some think that the Canton Board of Education in hiring and continuing on with Adrian Allison in particular seems to be a shortchanging of Canton's parent/student community.
The Report thinks the Canton system may be on a path (LINK #1, LINK #2) to replicate the dire situation that exists with the Youngstown public education infrastructure. (LINK)
The Report believes that a perfect storm of educationally deficient parents, students, administrators (i.e. superintendents) and teachers (and their unions) and boards of education is to blame.
Of those factors, too many superintendents of schools appear to be more about making huge salaries and exercising authoritarian control than devising effective/efficient strategies to turnaround the quality of American education.
Stark County's education community leadership deficiencies appear to be in line with what is going on in large part nationally.
Over time, school officials from Ohio's 610 school districts will, through political lobbying. likely force the ODE to change it evaluation tools to the liking of school officials and bingo! all of a sudden the grades will skyrocket.
An embarrassing problem solved through political maneuvering, no?
Once the class of the world in educating generations of Americans with a "free" public education, America's school system is spiraling downward.
One of the claims for the downward movement by some has been the matter of teacher pay.
So let's take a look at the highest teacher pay in a Stark County school district as compared to the district having the lowest teacher pay.
CANTON LOCAL
On the chart above, on the criteria graded by the ODE, Canton Local (Canton South) received:
- four (4) "Fs,"
- two (2) "Ds,"
- two (2) "Cs,"
- two (2) "Bs,"
- zero (0) "As"
- including an overall grade of "C."
OSNABURG LOCAL
On the same criteria, Osnaburg Local (also referred to as "East Canton") graded out:
- three (3) "Fs,"
- three (3) "Ds,"
- two (2) "Cs,"
- zero (0) "Bs,"
- three (3) "As"
- including an overall grade of "C."
While there is a huge amount of difference in how each district got to an overall "C" grade by the Ohio Department of Education, Osnaburg (East Canton) seems to have a higher quality "C."
The East Canton Hornet district had fewer "Fs" and more "As" (actually the Canton South system go no "As") than the Canton South Wildcat district.
But look at the difference in what the teachers of each system earn "on average:"
Wow!
These two communities abut one another and yet there is nearly a $20,000 difference in what a Canton Local teacher earns over what one in the Osnaburg system earns.
Another notable factor in the teacher salary chart (prepared from data published by the ODE is that North Canton spends 87 cents of each operating fund $1 for teacher salaries. Another sizeable chunk of salary expense (a future blog will show) in North Canton is dedicated to administrative (superintendent, et cetera) expense.
What in the world is left for equipment, supplies and other financial support needs for a Hoover Viking student?le
The 87% factor leaves a mere $0.13 for the rest of North Canton's operational budget.
In North Canton, it appears to be all about the teachers and administrators at the expense of the students, no?
Somebody appears to not have been an effective negotiator in holding North Canton's teacher costs in line with most of the rest of Stark County.
North Canton supposedly recently resolved its leadership problem with the hiring of former Lake superintendent Jeff Wendorf in what appears to have been in a cloud of mysterious "wheelin and dealin" that made Lake officials very angry.
The "average" percentage devoted to teacher salary across Stark County is 78%.
North Canton is nine (9) percentage points higher.
Again, wow!
There is much more to be garnered from the ODE provided Ohio School District Profile database.
The SCPR will continue on with this ongoing series analyzing that data.
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