In the fiscal year of 2011-12, our School District had the highest percentage (12 percent) in hiring teachers with the least experience—first- and second- year teachers.
This was more than double the Los Angeles County average of 5.3 percent.
In 2014-15, our district was third in the county with a local record high of 18.35 percent-almost double the county average. Nearly 1 in 5 teachers in our district had little, if any, real experience in the classroom.
It is understood that a few new teachers should be hired each year to replace some of those retiring. It can save the School District employee costs and help balance its budget.
But how does the CCUSD hiring so many first- and second-year teachers affect our students learning?
If nationwide employment trends hold true in our district—which is likely –within four years, 40 percent of these teachers either will be working at other school districts or out of the teaching profession altogether.
And our School District will be, once again, searching for replacements.
We were told that the School Board-backed idea of raising District salaries to the median county level was desirable so we could retain and hire the best teachers. It was not to jeopardize our children’s quality education by hiring so many inexperienced, first- and second-year teachers, to help offset the School Board’s continued annual deficit spending.
(LA Co USD Per Student Deficit Spending)
Let the Good Times Roll
Gov. Brown promised to pay back school districts for the money when he was cutting educational funding to balance the state’s budget during the nation’s Great Recession. His Local Control Funding Formula is now paying back in annual increases to school districts statewide.
It could be said that with these four years of annual funding increases, we find our school districts in better financial shape than before.
Why is our District one of only three unified school districts in L.A. County that continues to deficit spend during these better times?
CCUSD projections show that the School Board will continue to deficit spend well into the next decade.
(Comparing 2011-12 to 2015-16 USD Average Salary Surveys2)
After years of raising teacher salaries over 25 percent and spending over $17M on district- wide salary increases, our average district teacher salary, in comparison to the other 48 unified school districts in L.A. County, moved up from 44th place in 2011-12 to 41st place in County ranking in 2015-16.
Over that same period, the number of veteran teachers whose employment cost the district over $100K increased 400 percent — from 30 teachers, in 2011-12 to 120 teachers in 2015-16.
If our average district salary is still one of the lowest (41st) in L.A. County, why are we still paying the third highest percentage (7.17 percent) from our general fund to CalSTRS and CalPERS pension funds?
Why does the School District have the highest numerical gap between its ranking of what it pays to state pensions and its average salary?
Something is not right. This doesn’t make fiscal sense. Why is the District spending far more than most all the other districts in L.A. County when our average teacher salary is well below the county average?
These previously unseen District irregularities makes me wonder what other spending anomalies are not being publicly acknowledged by the School Board.
It makes it look as if the Board’s oversight of the District’s finances is showing some cracks in its public facade of responsible oversight.
If the deficit spending and pension anomalies are not rectified soon, they will lead to more outlay of long-term costs, thereby, leaving less money in the District to spend on our children’s education.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com