From 2008-09 to 2012-13, the statewide median teacher salary rose by 10 percent -- and the median for downstate suburban districts increased almost twice as much. Read More
Tag: Unions
Statewide median teacher salaries in the region increased by more than 10 percent from 2008-09 to 2012-13, according to a report released by the conservative think-tank Empire Center for Public Policy. Meanwhile, the report released Monday notes that while student enrollment, especially in upstate schools, have largely decreased, staff reductions haven’t kept up with the rate at which students have left. According to the study, more than 76,000 students have left New York state schools from 2008-09, while districts have cut 25,350 positions. Read More
The Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative group, released a report Monday, meanwhile, that points to decreasing enrollment, increasing teacher salaries and high levels of staffing as factors in the continuing rise in school spending. Teachers in the Schenectady City School District earned a median salary of $59,651 in 2012-13, compared to $51,300 five years ago, according to the report. Read More
The full extent of the continuing rise in school spending since the recession was not inevitable or unavoidable. It was the result of (a) increasing teacher compensation costs driven largely by automatic pay raises, and (b) continued relatively high levels of staffing, relative to enrollment, especially in non-teaching titles. Read More
New labor contracts for 52 teachers’ unions and 104 school superintendents, ratified since July 1, 2013, are now available on www.SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center’s government transparency website, which is home to the most complete public collection of collectively-bargained school district contracts in the state. Read More
One of teaching’s most hallowed traditions may be on the way out under a new contract that is on the table in a northern Westchester County district. Read More
Now that another legislative session is in the books in Albany, pundits, lawmakers and the media can evaluate which interest groups and organizations came out ahead and who was left wanting. The only consensus regarding the outcome of this session is that the legislative results for organized labor ran the gamut, from overwhelming success for certain unions and coalitions to a bitter disappointment for others—though with several major labor initiatives passing and little legislation going through with wide-ranging consequences for labor, it’s safe to say that labor unions fared pretty well this go-around. Read More
Reportedly, the terms of a tentative agreement between the teachers' union and board of education in Westchester's Bedford Central School District would do away with step increases for newly hired teachers. Read More