OSNABURG TEACHERS (EAST CANTON) GETTING "SHORT END OF PENCIL" ON TEACHER PAY?

One of the very best newspapers in northeast Ohio is the Cleveland Plain Dealer which publishes online as Cleveland.com.

In terms of doing research on government data, it is in the experience of The Stark County Political Report (SCPR, The Report) that the Plain Dealer far surpasses The Canton Repository and, accordingly, is "the best!" resource for Stark Countians who want to know how Stark County stacks up against the rest of Ohio and the nation in given area of research.

But when it comes to publishing what appears to be propagandistic (The Report's opinion) for The Rep's favorite economic development project (namely, the HOF-VP) of which no Stark County based media outlet comes remotely close to Repository publisher James Porter's output.

Of course, through Gatehouse Media, now owner of The Rep, The Independent, The Alliance Review and blankets Stark County with an in effect media monopoly.

Accountable to whom?

But it is gratifying to have the Cleveland Plain Dealer as a resource.

Otherwise, one has to depend on high quality national newspapers, which, of course, will not be paying a whole lot attention to Stark County.

As the seemingly self-appointed point man for the HOF-VP; undoubtedly, Porter apparently takes a lot of pride in his biased and unvetted (in terms of incisive questioning) presentation of the HOF-VP case for public support (including taxpayer dollars unaccounted for by the HOF "private sector" officials) of the project.

Who can question, but a hardened cynic, that entertainment (i.e. the HOF-VP being the Disneyland of Northeast Ohio) is a more important Stark County resource than paying for and getting the very best teachers to staff our county's 17 public school districts? (sarcasm folks, sarcasm!)

Of course, readers know that the SCPR is the best at data compilation among local media in taking Stark County Political subdivision data (e.g. auditor's office data)  and creating charts showing in a glimpse the comparative conditions of various aspects of local government units.

Today, the Plain Dealer published accessible data from which the SCPR was able to create the following chart showing the relative pay in terms of median pay of Stark County's 17 public school districts.

Take a look at this map.,

Hmm?

Overall the Stark County "median" pay is $53, 053 across the 17 Stark County districts which as seen in the PD article excerpts below places Stark County's teachers significantly below the state of Ohio median of $56,117 which likely translates into at about 25th place among America's 50 states.

Take a look at these excerpts from Cleveland. com:

Canton Township (the locale of Canton Local School District [Canton South]) abutting/adjacent to Osnaburg Township (the locale of Osnaburg Local School District [East Canton]) and yet there is a $30,000 differential in the median pay of teachers of Canton Local over and above Osnaburg Local.

Wow! no?

Either Canton Local teachers are overpaid or Osnaburg Local if the pay of its teaching staff got anywhere near what Canton Local teachers in "median" annual salary, given the following Niche rating system, would be one of the top districts in all of Ohio.  (Niche Rankings LINK)

It could be that Cleveland.com's data is not accurate and the SCPR needs to back off the adulation of Plain Dealer's school district database.

Historically, The Report has found other Cleveland.com databases to be very accurate.

Undoubtedly, if there is something wrong with the database, one would expect Canton Local/Osnaburg Local officials to speak up, no?

Time will tell.

But isn't it shocking that there could be such a great disparity between adjoining school districts and, indeed, with nearly every school district located withing Stark County?