LETTER TO THE EDITOR

A question:   In view of the fact that Maine state workers receive full health benefits when they retire, how effective have the lobbyists for educators been in getting the same benefits for retiring educators?  Don't we pay the same amount of money into the same system?  And yet, [we] do not get the same benefits upon retirement.  Extremely difficult to see the equity there. 

Colin Roy

Maine's student-teacher ratio fell from 12.9 to 1 in 2003-2004 to 11.9 to 1 on 2004-2005. This represented a 7.4% improvement, the best in the country and left  Maine 7th overall, with only Vermont, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Virginia, New York, and New Jersey ahead of Maine. Again Vermont, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey came in ahead of Maine as did Connecticut and Massachusetts.
 
Maine's average salaries for public school teachers fell .6% during the same time period, the largest decrease in the nation. Only West Virginia and Alabama teacher salaries also declined from 2003–2004 to 2004–2005.

Nationally, 74% of schools made AYP, down 1%.  Ninety percent of Maine's teachers are highly qualified. In 30 states, over 90% of their teachers are rated highly qualified.

To see this data and a report on percentage of students who scored at or above proficient on state tests in 2005 in 4th- and 8th-grade math and reading, see "Room to Maneuver," the December 14, 2005 Education Week special report on the progress of the No Child Left Behind Act:  http://www.coloradoea.org/media/nclb_1214.pdf

The high quality of instruction Maine schools have enjoyed over the last decade is due in large part to the high quality of its well-educated, experienced teachers. Unfortunately, a large number of them are at or near retirement age with more than two-thirds (67.3%) over age 45 and nearly one-third (30%) over 55.

This means the teacher-force upon which the future quality of our students' education depends must be recruited now and retained in the classroom during the years ahead. That is becoming increasingly difficult due to increased state and federal mandates, heavy workloads, and a loss of teaching time that create poor teaching/learning conditions.
 
To compound the recruitment problem, Maine's beginning teacher salary as required by law is only $15,500 and Maine's average beginning teacher salary rates 45th in the nation, well behind our neighboring New England states.
 
Likewise, Maine's average teacher salary, a key to retaining good teachers, actually declined from 2003–2004 to 2004–2005 and is only 38th in the nation. The average salary of $39,610 for 2004–2005 is $8,087 below the national average and $4,331 below the next lowest state in the region.
 
Simply stated, the teaching environment is deteriorating and Maine's salaries are not competitive, which puts the quality of our teacher workforce—and thereby the quality of our schools—in jeopardy. The recruitment and retention problem is particularly acute in our small rural schools.
 
Public opinion polls conducted in 2002, 2004, and 2005 all confirm voters' support for their teachers. A December 2005 poll 84% of voters said that teachers are doing a good or excellent job—with 94% of public school parents giving them a positive rating.
 
The public also sympathizes with the economic pressures that most teachers face. Fully 64% of voters express the view that Maine teachers are underpaid.
 
Given public support for high-quality schools and the need to recruit and retain high-quality teachers, Governor John Baldacci has initiated legislation to raise the minimum salary to $30,000.
 
"The Maine Education Association supports the Governor's call for a higher starting teacher salary. We must act now to avoid a future crisis." says MEA President Rob Walker. "As recent studies have shown, Maine must increase educators' salaries to be competitive with New England and beyond or be prepared to watch the quality of our schools erode."

The results of this four-phase study point to several conclusions. The sizes of Maine's public schools are not the key determinant of school success. Some smaller schools are more effective than others, and some larger schools are more effective. Regardless of school size, approximately one in five of Maine's public schools may be considered higher performing and performing beyond expectations.
 
The cost of higher performing smaller schools is greater at the lower grades, but not in the case of middle schools. No clear pattern emerges at the high school level.
 
In terms of distinguishing characteristics of higher performing schools, the available data is limited, but what does exist suggests these schools are clearly focused on academics and support professional development activities for improving teachers and teaching. And this academic focus may be seen in performance; more students are taking higher level courses, scoring higher on national tests, and graduating from high school.
 
But, overall, the information available about higher performing schools, particularly as it relates to the teaching and learning processes, and what goes on in these schools on a daily basis, is unknown. Clearly, obtaining this information, and helping others adopt these practices, approaches and dispositions, is important for providing all Maine students opportunities to academically excel.
 
Recommendations

A.  Continuation of present policy governing small isolated high schools, and all island schools.
B.  Increased allocation for smaller isolated lower grade–level schools as follows:

C.  Continuation of increased allocations for individual schools be contingent upon:

For the complete report, see:
http://www.usm.maine.edu/cepare/pdf/Cost_and_Characteristics_of_Maines_Higher_Performing_Schools.pdf

The President's FY 2007 budget requests $54.4 billion in discretionary appropriations for the Department of Education, a decrease of $3.1 billion, or 5.5 percent, from the 2006 level. The White House says that the education budget demonstrates an effort to eliminate underperforming programs, while increasing resources that promote the competitiveness of the nation's students and the nation itself.
 
Funding for most of the major education programs was held level. A number of programs were zeroed out in the FY 2007 budget, including Even Start, Comprehensive School Reform, Gifted and Talented, STAR Schools, Ready to Teach and Arts in Education, along with a number of smaller programs. The president, as he did last year, zeroed out the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program. Congress restored some of that funding for FY 2006, so the final outcome remains to be seen. This is just the opening salvo in a long process that needs to be carefully monitored.

A study of 950,000 Swedish men has shown that taller men get a better education, a researcher said. The study, to be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, could suggest short people are discriminated against as they are expected to be low achievers, said researcher Finn Rasmussen at Sweden's Karolinska Institute.
 
"The probability of achieving higher education in later life increases linearly with height," said the study. It looked at male conscripts into the Swedish army born between 1950 and 1975 and their education for up to 27 years after their height was measured at the age of 18.
 
"Men taller than 194 cm (6 ft 4 in) were two to three times more likely to obtain a higher education when compared with men shorter than 165 cm," it added.
 
Feeding variables into the study such as social background or intelligence, as measured by IQ, altered the outcome slightly, but a clear link between height and educational attainment remained, the research said.
 
The scientists did not draw conclusions, but Rasmussen said it could be something to do with social attitudes.  "We do not know if people have negative attitudes to[wards] short people. It is possible that there could something in society about the expectations of people or attitudes to what people can perform."

With the approval of the 2006 Federal Education Budget, public education will see the first reduction in funding in ten years. An across-the-board cut of 1% was applied to federal discretionary programs to help fund the new Hurricane Education Recovery Act.

First Class Education (http://www.firstclasseducation.org) wants all fifty states and the District of Columbia to reallocate school spending so that at least 65 cents oF every dollar goes directly into the classroom—on books and teacher pay—by the end of 2008.
 
The concept is taking hold; the "65 percent solution" has already swept through state capitol domes in Texas, Kansas, and Louisiana. Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue (R) introduced legislation, joining seventeen other states that have proposed bills to meet that 65-percent threshold. Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty and Florida's Jeb Bush are also throwing their weight behind the plan. Currently, the national average classroom spending is about 61.5 cents on the dollar, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.

For further information and to order free previews, visit our Maine Workbooks webpage, http://www.qworkbooks.com/me.html