I actually did some research on this topic after reading about how the Prince George's Public School (PGCPS) system was laying off over 1,000 teachers in order to close a severe budget gap. I'm going to take a minimalist approach to this one, and I'm just going to list the facts as I found them. See if you make the same connections I did.
- David Hill for The Bowie Star reports that PG county is cutting 1132 teaching jobs
to close and $85 million budget gap (Feb. 3, 2011).
- PG Office of Management and Budget report for FY 2010:
Total Budget: $2,580,142,000
Board of Education Budget: $1,617,400,000 (62.7% of the total budget)
- PGCPS Budget Management Services (FY 2011 Annual Operating Budget):
Total 2011 Education Expenditures: $1,633,526,541
Total Salaries/Wages: $1,061,792,252 (34% of this is for teacher salaries alone)
- Oct. 19, 2010, Gazette.Net reports that "Prince George's leaders are the highest paid
in the state," and that "Jack Johnson [the County Executive at the time] makes
$174,540 per year, the most of any county executive in Maryland."
- June 28, 2010, The Washington Post says that the current Superintendent of PG
School, Dr. William Kite, is contracted until 2013 to receive an annual salary of
$250,000.
- Chief Human Capital Officers Council lists Vice President Joe Biden's annual
salary as $230,700.
Need I say more? Maybe instead of laying off teachers, school and government officials should look at taking a severe pay cut. It won't solve the problem, but it would make them look less hypocritical about saying that they're doing everything they can to save teaching jobs.