A tale of two counties
Sunday, May 30, 2010
...Take a snapshot of one year, 2006, when times were flush. In Fairfax, the county executive, an unelected technocrat, proposed a budget with a relatively robust spending increase of about 6 percent. In Montgomery, County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, a career politician then running in the Democratic primary for governor, pitched a gold-plated, pork-laden grab bag of political largess that drove county spending up by 11 percent...
...At the same time, Jerry D. Weast, Montgomery's schools superintendent, negotiated a contract that promised pay increases for most teachers of 26 to 29 percent over three years -- about twice the raise Fairfax teachers got -- plus health benefits virtually unmatched in the region. Montgomery County Council members, most of whom were hoping for union endorsements in the fall elections, rubber-stamped Mr. Duncan's contracts. The Board of Education, equally beholden to the teachers union, did the same for Mr. Weast.
...The results have been striking -- and strikingly unaffordable -- in a county where more than half of all spending goes to public schools. The average teacher salary in Montgomery today is $76,483, the highest in the region. Average pay for teachers is now almost 20 percent higher in Montgomery than in Fairfax and has increased much faster than in most local suburban school systems. Since 2000, salaries for Montgomery teachers, as for many other county employees, have nearly doubled, rising at almost triple the rate of inflation.
Teachers are pillars of any community, and Montgomery's are highly rated. But their compensation has outstripped the marketplace. Today, Montgomery schools spend about 20 percent more per pupil than Fairfax schools; they consume a greater share of the public spending than in any other locality in the region. The spending gap is not about classroom quality and student achievement; in those terms the two school systems are comparable. Rather, the difference is compensation, which accounts for 90 percent of Montgomery's education spending...
Here's what I posted to the Washington Post's online article: "None of this is a surprise to the parents who this year fought Weast's misguided plan to deny specialized services to preschoolers with special needs. Against the will of parents, therapists, and special-needs advocates, Weast forced through a misguided plan that the board of education rubber-stamped. As in the past, public hearings were a farce, and teachers were hired for the new program before the board or council had taken action on the proposal. Most troubling, Weast travels around the country holding up Montgomery County as a national model. We will suffer the consequences of his actions long after he has left office."
ReplyDeleteMr. Fred Hiatt, step up and take responsibility for what you have created with your cosy relationship with Weast. Was it only this past March when you exhorted those of us in Montgomery County to not lose an opportunity to extend the contract of this arrogant sleazy ineffective 'CEO?' How hypocritical can you get. Suddenly the Post is 'shocked, shocked.' Give us a break. No wonder readership is down and the only thing saving your corporation is the Kaplan portion of the company. I would love to see an investigation of the relationship between the Post and Weast. Let a real reporter get to work, we can't wait.
ReplyDelete