A false choice

Now that the so-called stimulus money for the states and localities has mostly been used and those same governments are having to face major deficits, the media drumbeat has commenced for the choice between either a good education for the children or saving money. For example, just this morning CBS News broadcast a piece about the effect of budget cuts on education and highlighted it with a tearful plea by a Cleveland teacher not to put money ahead of the education of the children.

While this is the standard story that comes from the media in times when money is short, it is a phony choice. The issue is not how well to educate the children. The true issue is the proper level of pay and benefits for teachers and administrators in the school systems. More than 85% of all school expenditures are for wages and benefits, so the level of compensation directly controls the size of the school budgets. Decades ago, when teachers were paid low salaries with few benefits, there was a push to increase pay in order to attract better teachers. Today, however, teachers' unions have succeeded in wresting fat contracts from local school boards that give teachers high pay for nine months work with generous benefits that are much better than those available to most workers in the private sector. These levels of compensation, which may have been sustainable during an era of strong economic growth, can no longer be maintained without significant pain for the taxpayers. The solution to the problem, however, is not necessarily layoffs of teachers and larger class sizes. Much better would be a freeze in teacher pay and a cut in some of the more extravagant benefits. In essentially every jurisdiction across America, however, the teachers' unions have refused any such freezes or cuts. As a result, the school boards are left with cutting staff to close budget gaps.

So let's be clear: the teachers' unions are not allowing freezes in pay or cuts in benefits; they prefer instead to see some of their members fired. This gives the unions the ability to cry about the damage done to the education of the children resulting from larger class sizes, a potent weapons particularly when the cry is taken up by a complicit media. The school boards have no choice; they are required by law to balance their budgets. Tax increases are possible in some areas, but cannot be achieved in most parts of the country. So the real question is this: do teachers care more about the education of the children or about protecting every penny of their salaries and benefits? That tearful teacher from Cleveland should have been asked that question. Apparently, however, it is beyond the scope of CBS's thinking to even articulate it.