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August 30, 2006 Focus on Budget: FTE – A Case Study on Teacher Seniority & The Fallacy of Average This article, the seventh in our series on Full Time Equivalency (FTE), shows how your school district might attempt to “solve” a financial crisis by eliminating low-seniority teaching positions. While on the surface, this may seem to be the most equitable solution to a common and often complex problem, real numbers must be used – not averages – or the financial crisis will not really be averted. One approach might be to change the staffing ratio . Another might be to put hidden cuts into place. In both cases, the aim is to eliminate teaching positions with little or no regard for the quality of the music program or the needs of students. Putting the Focus on Music Students Several principles emerge that must be taken into consideration. 1. By law, eliminating the actual people (not positions) must be done according to seniority in the following order within any curricular area targeted for cuts: part-time, non-tenured, tenured. 2. The district may not give consideration to individual teacher quality or merit. However, the district may pre-determine a goal for the number of cuts in any curricular area. 3. A financial crisis will always expose the education philosophy of your administration and board. If your music teachers have not adequately demonstrated the curricular validity of music a higher proportion of cuts may be aimed at the music program. 4. Salaries of low seniority teachers are normally below the average figure used by the school district in balancing the budget. 5. If the district uses average calculations during the budgetary process, the budget will not be balanced. 6. If the district wants to actually balance its budget, it must base the budget upon actual salaries. 7. As staff people are proposed for elimination, music program advocates must determine whether the district is using the average salary or the actual dollar amount for each person up for elimination. 8. Cuts in the music program are normally listed in one category, ie, high school or elementary school, so they may significantly affect the quality of student instruction. For example, a low seniority high school orchestra teacher may be replaced by a higher seniority elementary general music teacher, even though the latter may never have had any educational preparation to teach strings. A Closer Look at the Numbers and Seniority OK, so let’s say your school district has come up with a proposal to solve an impending financial crisis. They announce the elimination of 5.2 FTE positions held by low seniority instrumental music teachers. By using the average teacher salary figure of $38,000, the district claims this will produce a savings of $197,600. Sounds like the crisis is solved (even though we, of course, don’t like the fact that it takes a serious chunk out of the music program), doesn’t it? However, with the cooperation of all the music teachers in the district, advocates compiled the following table of the real salaries of the instrumental music teacher salaries, organized according to seniority order:
The 5.2 FTE low seniority positions proposed for elimination were in elementary band (D, E, F, G), secondary band (G, H), and orchestra (D, E). Look what happened when advocates added up the actual salaries of the teachers slated for elimination: Elementary Band $57,930 D: 30,408 E: 10,990* F: 10,296* G: 6,236* Secondary Band $21,356 G: 17,370* H: 3,986* Orchestra $51,920 D: 29,634 E: 22,286 Total $131,206 As you can see, the district would only save $131,206, a budgetary miscalculation of over $66,000. To actually save the anticipated amount of $197,600, the district would have needed to eliminate 7.2 positions, an action they publicly declared they would not take. Playing By The REAL Numbers: It’s The Only Way to Go Thanks to the legwork of music program advocates, this district was forced to go back to the drawing board, so to speak, with calculators in hand. They came up with a solution to the financial crisis that was based on actual figures, not averages. In this district, when advocates exposed the fallacy of the administration’s average calculations, the public saw tangible proof that undermined the credibility of the budgetary decision-making process they had perhaps blindly trusted. This provided a strong foundation for the advocates’ case that actual figures were necessary and, better yet, it helped advocates when it came time to demonstrate the financial viability of the music curriculum. Using all of these calculations, along with other information related to student participation in music programs and the FTE student load advantage of music performance teachers, the district was able to save its entire music curriculum. Until Next Time, John Benham |
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Scott Brady |
