Santa Barbara Unified Board of Trustees Approves Inflation-Related Stipends for Staff
By the Santa Barbara Unified School District
The Santa Barbara Unified School Board of Trustees approved a $2,500 stipend for employees throughout the district.
The proposal was brought forward after faculty and staff members brought concerns about the rising costs of housing, inflation, and healthcare expenses during a recent listening tour at the district’s schools. The superintendent, select board members, union leaders, and cabinet members visited all schools and invited staff to share their concerns. Inflation was brought up frequently during these meetings, along with other topics like professional learning and curriculum needs.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, the board approved a $2,000 one-time payment to employees and a $500 one-time payment for increasing healthcare costs. Additionally, substitute teachers will be receiving a $1,250 stipend per semester if they worked a total of 45 assignments over that time period.
The payments will cost more than $4,958,000. It’s funded by the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant.
“I have been meeting with employees and have heard firsthand how hard the cost of inflation here is, particularly for those who care for family members, whether it’s childcare or elder care. We care about our employees and their families. We are committed to looking for ways to improve our employees' compensation and benefits, and we hope this helps to ease some of that pressure,” said Dr. Hilda Maldonado, the District’s superintendent.
Employees can expect to see the check arrive next month.
48 Comments
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Dec 13, 2022 11:56 AMLearning Recovery Emergency Block Grant Funding Description
Provides funding to county offices of education, school districts, and charter schools to be used for learning recovery initiatives through the 2027-28 school year that, at a minimum, support academic learning recovery, and staff and pupil social and emotional well-being.
Not sure how given school peeps more money due to inflation supports "academic learning recovery".
I love how the government operates. Pump economy with trillions of $ of handouts that causes inflation, then give government employees more money to cover the cost of inflation that the government started in the first place.
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Dec 13, 2022 04:14 PMSBLocal, don't forget a token amount to the voters who are to unaware or to propagandized to realize they're barely getting scraps of the massive stimulus that will lower their cost of living by much more than the pittance received in the "stimulus check"
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Dec 13, 2022 03:40 PMI am concerned about this money being given to employees district wide which includes many in admin. like the assistant superintendents, and superintendent who
are generously compensated some over 200k and benefits. I think that money should be going to the unmet needs of the students and teachers who make less than 100k . Our district has said in years past that they don't have enough money for summer of learning or interventions for the thousands who are behind. Superintendent and vice superintendent's perks could be detrimental to students whose parents can't afford tutors and need more help than our district is in the habit of giving. Would be good to see a clear, transparent breakdown of who/what Learning recovery monies is specifically going to.
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Dec 13, 2022 04:08 PMUnfortunately, the number one priority for public schools is taking care of members of the teacher’s union. Coming in a close second is the administrative staff. Students are the lowest priority. For example, let’s say a school downsizes and is required to lay off teachers. Would they lay off an older teacher whose students consistently perform poorly in standardized tests, or would they lay off an enthusiastic young teacher whose students consistently perform well in standardized tests? Naturally they would fire the younger teacher who achieves better outcomes for their students. Seniority for union members is a higher priority than student’s learning. To give another example, which teacher gets paid more, a young enthusiastic teacher who puts in lots of extra hours and whose students perform well on standardized tests, or a teacher who has been around for a long time who puts in the bare minimum effort they can get by with and whose students perform poorly in standardized tests. Of course the teacher who has been around longest gets paid the most. Pay is based solely on seniority, and raises are never awarded based on achieving superior learning outcomes for students.
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Dec 13, 2022 04:15 PMGreat idea LoveSB and spot on Chip.
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Dec 13, 2022 06:13 PMBravo Chip.
I had a need o look at the Lompoc Unified salary list online.
Yikes!
I had to get past page 9 to see a salary less than 100k.
I think there was 10-15 teachers per page racking up 140k.
The Transparent Ca. website is an eye opener.
I love teachers, but damn that outlay does not equal the outcomes.
I would fire employees that perform like they do.
Anything but the norm is a better than what the money is spent on now.
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Dec 13, 2022 07:36 PMChip, you may have a point, but please don’t make the mistake of implying that older teachers are all burnt out and useless. Yes, I know, you didn’t SAY that, but the implication is there.
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Dec 14, 2022 08:50 AM6:13@
When evaluating claims like this, you should consider the source, which is neither transparent, nor California.
"Transparent California" is just one of the many names used by the tax-exempt "free-market think tank" Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI). NPRI refuses to divulge its own funding sources, stating, “NPRI respects the privacy of our donors, which includes the amount of a donor’s gift”.
NPRI's primary funding source, as determined by The Conservative Transparency Project, is Donors Capital Fund, a dark-money source of funding for conservative groups. Its donors also include The Cato Institute, co-founded by the Koch brothers, and organizations affiliated with the climate change denial movement.
NPRI spends 75% of its revenue on six-figure salaries and benefits. Its goal is to undermine support for employee unions nationwide, thereby decreasing salaries and increasing corporate profits.
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Dec 14, 2022 09:38 AMMy spouse is an administrator who has been putting in over 70 hours a week. It is not healthy or sustainable. Working at a school has been incredibly difficult because of unprecedented staffing shortages (from custodial to aides to teachers to admin) and civility has seemingly gone downhill in recent times. Also, the quality of hires is way down making management a highly undesirable job. While school staff is full of amazing people doing amazing things, many are worn down and not able to put in extra efforts. Ironically, money is now there for after school programs and summer programs, but there is not a sufficient work force. They can't get staff to do it because it is not worth it to them - they are tired. This is a real problem.
So, the district has a lot of new extra funding to help the kids play catch-up - I have no problems with them spending the money to help support their staff who desperately need it. As another poster said, if you think they are all getting such a great deal, I'd challenge them to step up and do it themselves. They are hiring for many positions all over the county.
BTW - the posted salaries that many are referring to include statutory benefits (include insurance costs etc and should not be confused with what these people actually take home. I'm surprised they aren't noticing the exorbitant health insurance costs...
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Dec 14, 2022 01:29 PMyes Chip, your comment smacks of age-ism. It's why there is a protected class. In most cases, the older teachers my children have had were incredibly effective, as they've had decades to hone their craft and teach a wide variety of students. Sadly, a few of them have since retired. To answer your question about who to fire...principals and districts certainly have ways of encouraging retirement for teachers when it is deemed necessary.
Also, when it comes to NPRI & where they get their money, it doesn't matter. Is the data on Transparent California mostly accurate? That's what matters - as long as people realize a few things:
1. It is very rare for base salary to be $100k for teachers, particularly in elementary. When (if?) it happens, it is typically for a teacher with 30+ years of experience. I haven't found one.
2. Many people like to look at "total pay and benefits", ignoring that benefits are not cash. I get benefits at my company, and they cost about the same as teachers' benefits.
3. Statistically, the average public school teacher works about 52.8 hours a week during the school year, which when calculated out yearly comes out to being 1900-2000 hours a year. I'm 30 years into my career and with vacation and holiday and sick time, my annual hours are a bit less than 1800. (I work a bit more than that, so probably equivalent to a teacher.)
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Dec 14, 2022 01:53 PMNo ageism intended on my part. There are many older teachers who have e been around a long time and do things a little differently who are absolutely outstanding. I think these teachers are assets to the community. I was taught by some teachers like that back in the day myself. I did not a intend to generalize and I apologize if it I came off that way, definitely do not intend to knock older teachers across the board. However, my point stands. Years of service is the only consideration used to decide what teachers are paid and who is let go first. This is arguably a form of ageism, and it does not put the best interests of the f students first. I dont understand why it should be a point of controversy to suggest students should be the number one priority in the public education system and teachers should be compensated based on how well they perform in educating students.
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Dec 15, 2022 10:02 AMThanks for heads up on Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI).
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Dec 13, 2022 04:09 PM“Staff”? Well tell us just as previous commenter stated who the money is going to. Teachers, janitors, etc. vs. those making over 100K for example. We won’t ever know.
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Dec 13, 2022 04:31 PMWell, at least the weekend was relatively free of lame con comments.
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Dec 13, 2022 04:52 PMSome more context on how the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant is supposed to be used (see below). Am I missing something or did the School Board misappropriate these funds?
The budget provides nearly $8 billion for the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant, which would provide funding to local educational agencies (LEAs) to increase or stabilize the amount of instructional time provided to students, provide learning supports to students, and address other barriers to learning, like providing mental health services or counseling. We wanted to clarify that, unlike the Arts, Music, and Instructional Materials Discretionary Block Grant, which will go out on a per-pupil basis, this funding will go out to LEA’s based on their unduplicated pupil count.
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Dec 13, 2022 08:29 PMWhat about our students? This is another misuse of funds intended to benefit students — and teachers — with classroom aides, reduced class sizes, individualized instruction. WAIT: Tax Paid Housing for teachers is next . Do you get $105,000 for life? Check your self-funded pension
PLEASE CHECK OUT:
2013–2021 salaries for Santa Barbara Unified | Transparent California
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/school-districts/santa-barbara/santa-barbara-unified/
We have local teachers paid up to $233,000 per 7-month academic year with lifetime pensions. We have too many administrators and must put students first.
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Dec 14, 2022 04:23 AMYou might win for the most misleading post on Edhat this year. No teacher in the district is paid $233000 a year If you are taking about the data for Todd Ryckman in 2020, (which is salary and benefits), he was not a teacher. He was the head of IT. The data has an error in it.
While some teachers make around $100,000, most are in the $60,000. All I know is that I my school district is constantly begging people to apply for jobs. If was such a good deal, I don't think they wound need to do that.
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Dec 14, 2022 08:33 AM7 month academic year? Since when is summer 5 months long? Your comment is chock full of misinformation, SBWOMAN
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Dec 13, 2022 08:49 PMApply for the vacant SBUSD Trustee seat. Deadline is this Friday. Have your say. The above article payments will cost more than $4,958,000. It’s funded by the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant.
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Dec 14, 2022 08:09 AMGuarantee none of the complainers will step up to serve and make things better. So much easier to just keyboard complain.
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Dec 14, 2022 08:23 AMThe reason they need to address "inflation" is not stated... "Inflation" happens when you mis-manage our country. Didn't they (Teacher's Unions) support the democratic ticket...? Don't they support the nearly $100 BILLION to fund the Ukrainian war ...? Don't they support shutting down the petroleum industry...? What about the 1.9 TRILLION dollar "American Rescue Plan...? The above all have consequences that support inflation.
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Dec 15, 2022 10:30 AMYou are aware, are you not, that inflation is also occurring world wide? No?
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Dec 14, 2022 11:11 AMIt's extremely uncommon for anyone in any public or private profession to include all compensation (medicare contributions, health and life benefits, mandated SDI costs, stock options, etc) when stating how much money one makes. I would bet no one here does that. 99.9% of people would quote their annual salary or hourly wage only. So why do people look at Transparent California when talking about how much money public school employees make? My only answer to this question is that it shows seemingly inflated dollar amounts that back up their antipathy to public schools and reinforce their political perception that teachers are lazy money-grubbing whiners. The actual SBUnified teacher salary schedules are here: https://www.sbunified.org/employment/salary-schedules . As you can plainly see, the highest teacher salary in the district is $102K, or not enough to buy even the cheapest house in Santa Barbara.
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Dec 14, 2022 01:27 PMThank you "SBDUDE." I knew this article would bring out the teacher bashers. When teachers cannot pay their rent without several roommates (let alone afford a house) good teachers will look elsewhere.
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Dec 14, 2022 07:32 PMOh cmon man.
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Dec 15, 2022 09:56 AMRemember 7-month job for $102K up to over $200K at MUS, with Cold Spring teachers up in $180s. No employer guarantees compensation for a single employee to buy a home anywhere. Most working buyers build equity to afford to buy hear.
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Dec 15, 2022 10:34 AM@9:56, the average teacher works 1900 to 2000 hours per year, per the interwebs. At the low end of 1900 hours, that's like getting 4.5 weeks off total, if you worked 40 hours a week every other week.
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Dec 14, 2022 12:18 PMsbdude: transparent california gives figures for salaries and also benefits given seperately. Many teachers at Montecito Union for example make 105k and 145k if you include benefits. Most teachers don't make this much and could use bonus but some don't need it and many in administration make well over 200 k and 260K if include benefits.
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Dec 15, 2022 09:51 AMSalaries for Montecito teachers are more like $145K to $210K. SBUSD Trustee Alvarez who works at MUS is over $300K. School Administrations are over $330K. The accountant at small 180 student Cold Spring has a ‘ME TOO clause so whatever Supt is paid he is paid, plus board gave him unilateral authority to enter into contracts including construction contracts for District taxpayers. The school board is the only oversight. They’re a joke. With increasing property tax revenues with 50% for schools watch salaries for administrators, with no business or performance risk, increase to over $400k with 90% lifetime pensions. It’s our money intended to brn fit students not top heavy administration.
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Dec 15, 2022 10:29 AM@9:51, but you cannot compare apples to oranges. Montecito Union (and Cold Spring, for that matter), are NOT SBUnified. MUS spends 2 to 3 times more than SBUnified per student. They have more money because #1: Montecito, homes are worth more and #2 they are ONLY an elementary district. It costs more to educate secondary students.
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Dec 17, 2022 09:01 AMThe article (and this discussion) are about Santa Barbara Unified, not the Montecito or Cold Springs districts.
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Dec 14, 2022 01:13 PMI am all for paying teachers more at all levels of K-12 education. I am even for paying school admin more if it means you are getting professional managers who know how to effectively measure performance. The problem is the Teachers Union that undermines administrators ability to have a performance based approach to paying good teachers more and getting rid of the bad ones. You can then attract more teaching talent.
To Alexblue's point about joining the school board - yes 100%. The problem is what the school board needs is a fiscal conservative mindset. This type of person will never get elected.
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Dec 14, 2022 05:28 PMSure hope some of you that know the system and want to do something good are applying for the vacating looser cap's seat , the cheerleader that brought in the worst superintendent that has done the worst damage to our schools in history . The "sisters" as this board collectively calls themselves probably already have decided in advance who the " machine" wants.
It's such a sham. They don't care about the kids. Good for SFO for recalling their School Board last year! Why not here?
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Dec 15, 2022 10:13 AMFollow the money- NPRI's known funders include:
Americans for Prosperity Foundation: $29,500 (2014)[18]
Bradley Foundation: $25,000(2016)
DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund: $668,405 (2010-2013)
Phone: (702) 222-0642
Email: office@npri.org
Website: http://www.npri.org/
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Nevada_Policy_Research_Institute
Nevada Policy Research Institute - InfluenceWatch
https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/nevada-policy-research-institute/
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Dec 16, 2022 05:33 PMGreat commentary. Love the feedback.
I’m the Director of Research at Transparent California, thought I’d throw a few facts into the discussion.
First, on the actual topic of this post – the pay of Santa Barbara Unified staff.
We collect that data, using public records requests to obtain data straight from the district’s own payroll records. If we look at that data, we can see that in 2021 the median total pay and total compensation (including the cost of benefits) for full-time SBUSD staff was:
Administrators $126,395/$151,863
Certificated $93,131/$112,498
Classified $51,214/$65,169
SBUSD data can be found on our site at:
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2021/school-districts/santa-barbara/santa-barbara-unified/
Now, to address some of the issues brought up by commenters regarding Transparent California.
A-1671036613 “"Transparent California" is just one of the many names used by the tax-exempt "free-market think tank" Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI).”
Yes, NPRI does more than Transparent California. Similar to how Facebook is “just one of the many names used by” Meta, or Pizza Hut is just one of many names used by Yum Brands.
As for disclosing funders, what does that have to do with the data itself? If I was a paid employee of the Sherwin-Williams Paint Company and I told you the sky was blue, would you say “no it isn’t, you get paid to say that!!”
And, speaking of pay, my total compensation from NPRI for managing the data collection process on Transparent California last year was $8,000. Email us (records@transparentcalifornia.com) and I'll send you a copy.
By the way, I’m posting under my actual name, not a pseudonym as some seem to prefer.
GOLETAISGOOD “the posted salaries that many are referring to include statutory benefits (include insurance costs etc and should not be confused with what these people actually take home. “
No, the data does not include statutory benefits. Only paycheck compensation plus optional additional costs – like retirement contributions by the district and payments for healthcare premiums by the district.
MM1970 “ I get benefits at my company, and they cost about the same as teachers' benefits.”
If true, you work for a VERY generous company. The total contribution to teacher retirement on their behalf by their employer in 2021 was 26.48% of their salary (to CalSTRS). In private industry companies contribute 6.2% to social security plus an average 4% 401K match. Total 10.2%. That’s it. Which means teachers get about 16.28% of their pay more than that in retirement contributions.
With a median pay in SBUSD of $93,131 that means they get $15,162 more than private employees do – every ear. If a private employee got that much and put it into the average 401K for 30 years, it would be worth over $2 million.
Is $2 million not enough to be worth considering?
“the average public school teacher works about 52.8 hours a week during the school year, which when calculated out yearly comes out to being 1900-2000 hours a year. “
The normal teaching “work year” is 185 days. 185 days is 26 weeks. 26 * 52.8 is 1,395 hours, nowhere near 1900-2000. May want to check that calculator.
There are other studies that peg the average work week of a teacher more in the high 40’s, but we can go with your number. Using your numbers, a full time teacher works about 700 hours a year less than a full-time private employee. That’s just a fact.
SBJOE “If you are taking about the data for Todd Ryckman in 2020, (which is salary and benefits), he was not a teacher.”
Just so you know, this data comes direct from the district’s pay records, and once accepted we send an email to the person who gave it to us to recommend they review to make sure there were no errors. We received no notification from SBUSD that the data posted had any errors in it. If they feel there are errors they can send us a revised data set any time and we'd be happy to post it.
“While some teachers make around $100,000, most are in the $60,000”
Median is $93,131 in 2021, which means half make more and half make less. Very few SBUSD teachers make $60,000 or less. The starting salary was $57,200. Only three full time teachers are listed making less than $60,000.
SBDUDE “It's extremely uncommon for anyone in any public or private profession to include all compensation (medicare contributions, health and life benefits, mandated SDI costs, stock options, etc) when stating how much money one makes.
Neither do we. See answer above to GOLETAISGOOD
Thanks for the link to the salary schedules, but as a data source we would rely on the district’s own pay records (as reported to the IRS) over a printed piece of paper.
Thanks to all, love the conversation!
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Dec 17, 2022 01:16 AM@ 5:33 - Bullpuckey, piled deeply.
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Dec 17, 2022 08:34 AMIs that supposed to be insightful commentary? Would love to hear what you think is incorrect, would that be too much to expect in a rational debate?
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Dec 17, 2022 08:37 AMCorrection, the starting teacher pay in SBUSD in 2021 was $52,816 (per the CDE data.) My error, but does not change the fact that only three teachers made $60K or less that year...
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Dec 17, 2022 10:37 AMThanks for the facts.
I can tell who those waste of money educators are when commenting here arguing about facts.
Same thing about "science".
The 4 down votes on my original post makes that abundantly obvious.
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Dec 17, 2022 09:13 AMThanks for your input, TMADDISON. For the record, 185 days means there are 37 weeks in a school year. Also, the median salary you quote of $93K (achievable only after working 12 years and having 60 post-graduate semester units) sounds like a lot but in fact is not very good money in Santa Barbara, where the typical rent for a 2BR apartment is pushing $4K/month.
Even with the recent raises, teacher recruitment and retention is a giant problem in Santa Barbara and many other high-cost areas.
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Dec 18, 2022 09:09 AMOn the weeks, you are correct. I inadvertently used a 7 day calendar week instead of a 5 day work week.
As for whether $93K is good money, if it's not good money for teachers then the comparable private wage is even less. Comparably educated Santa Barbara County residents make (according to the US Census Bureau) $81,861, which means certificated employees make $10,721 more. If you include their benefit advantage that becomes $25,791.
Generally the question is not whether one can buy a house on an income, but whether they are making more than they would make doing something else with their education. If they are (as SBUSD employees appear to be doing) then it's pretty difficult to see that as an "unfair" wage situation.
Do you have any actual data on teacher recruitment and retention or are you just repeating words you've heard, usually from people with a vested interest in saying them?
I have been trying to get such data from various districts that make that claim for quite some time, all refused. Usually they tell me they don't even keep track. How does SBUSD answer your question on that - with data?
I've done some calculations based on public records for districts, and typically what I've seen is that districts receive about five "fully qualified" candidates for every job opening. I hired hundreds in my career in private industry, and can tell you any HR manager who got 5 fully qualified applicants for every job would be in heaven, not complaining about problems with recruitment.
I've also looked at voluntary termination rates (again from public information) and found them to be about 1/3 to 1/5 the comparable rates in private industry. No data on how many are leaving for salary reasons (as opposed to other reasons) is available, but unlikely 100% of those leaving are leaving because of pay.
I've asked districts for exit interview data (how private industry identifies such problems) and uniformly have been told "we don't do that."
So.... actual data (as available at least) contradicts the assertion that there is a problem with recruitment and retention, and whatever problem there is is not so important that districts actually ask people why they're leaving and keep data....
If there is any real data on this, however, I'd love to see it.
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Dec 18, 2022 12:12 PMI don't know about the "big" data. But, I do know that nurses and police officers with less or similar education make more and have better benefit programs. Also, if the district is going to pull in increased revenue through increased property taxes, where should that increase go? We had a major loss of employees last year. Almost all who left, other than just retiring, listed 1) working conditions and 2) not being able to afford housing in this area. I know that doesn't fit your big data narrative, but that is the reality on the ground-level.
However, we can agree that the housing situation is bad for all, but the school district is one of the biggest employers in SB. If they can use the increasing tax revenue to help teachers remain in the district, that helps the community on a larger scale. I have wondered if there were ways to help teachers or the work-force employees in different ways than salaries through tax breaks and housing allowances. I've heard this tried in other cities with similar issues, but I'm not sure how successful those have been.
Trust me, I look at my salary with a little awe at the numbers, as I come from a lower-socio-economic background, but I also know how much my mortgage cost per square foot. I also know how many hours I work beyond contract. I don't have children. I can't imagine trying to raise a family in this area. I don't think we should fault people for trying to ensure they can raise their families in the community in which they invest so much.
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Dec 17, 2022 01:00 PMI'm not sure this will make much of a difference given that most people commenting have their minds made up already, but here are some anecdotal personal stats.
I have worked at SBUSD for over 25 years, been in education for over 30.
I have a master's degree
I paid for my own education and the only loans I took out were while I was in grad school because you are essentially an indentured servant working in schools without getting paid.
I have to pay for my own credential licensure including any new required classes or tests that they want to add to the requirements--thank goodness we haven't had to do that in a while, but if you are a new teacher there are additional expenditures.
My salary on Transparent California now has (it didn't always) three categories: a listed base salary--before retirement, and health insurance are taken out; additional salary such as teaching summer school, my stipend for additional roles and responsibilities, and hourly pay when we sub for other classes; and benefits compensation which is higher for others when they add dependents or take on a higher cost PPO. I take the lowest PPO and I don't have dependents.
I spend over 50% of my salary on a condo. I bought it around 16 years ago and rented out a room for the first 10 years to afford to live there. I had a little help from my parents for a down payment so I wouldn't have to pay mortgage insurance.
I haven't taken a "real" vacation in over 25 years.
My car is over 11 years old
I work pretty much every weekend while school is in session--not 8 hour days, but at least 4 on Sunday and sometimes a few on Saturday. Rarely--but occasionally I work an 8 hour day on a weekend and last weekend I worked 8 hour days on Saturday and Sunday--but it is rare.
I work 12 hour days on occasion, 10 hour days are common, 8 hour days are rare--Fridays I go home and crash.
I come in early in the summer to set up my classroom and attend at least one week-long professional training a summer.
I spent this last summer working to change over to a new learning management system.
I attend student events when I can to support students. I have chaperoned dances as a volunteer.
I am a union member, often thankfully so, sometimes not.
I am appreciative of the 2,500 dollars, but I hope it isn't a way to get out of negotiating a salary increase when there is much more in the reserve than a "rainy day" safety measure and an increase in property tax revenue.
I pay property taxes as well and pay bonds for school districts I don't have children in or don't even work in.
I donate to the PTSA and purchase students' raffle tickets, wrapping paper, etc.
I go to non-school related dance and folklorico recitals that students invite me to.
I am an effective teacher with data to prove it--and research shows that expertise and experience are far more effective than youthful enthusiasm and popularity. Not that there aren't exceptions.
I am still a learner and read books, listen to podcasts, and attend webinars on instruction, grading practices on my own time and at my own expense.
I pay for tissues, paper towels, bandaids, equipment, and fix my own and students' furniture.
I buy prizes and incentives for educational games we play in class. I pay for any media we use as supplemental materials. I buy books for students and I just made cookies for a treat before break.
I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting because it is such a norm, I don't pay attention anymore.
My car gets dented and dinged by new drivers in school parking lots.
I absolutely love my job, and to be honest, I never planned on staying in SB because of the expense. I commuted my first year and then after lived in a 500sq ft moldy apartment for 10 years. I made the sacrifices to remain here, but I didn't have children. If I were to do it all over again, I probably would, but I can't say my choice would be a great idea for everyone.
I work with incredible collegues. I did not go to school in this district/area, and I worked and then subbed for many districts before being hired at SBUSD. Sometimes I think the people who have grown up here and have children in this district are a little spoiled. The problems I hear people complaining about are problems the whole state of California have and they are actually less of an issue than most places in the state. I'm not saying the district is perfect, but if you are looking for perfection, you are always going to be disappointed.
Teacher quality and the ability for teachers to work together to improve instruction is the number one thing to improve outcomes. It is difficult to retain quality teachers when you can't foresee a financial future, and if you don't give them time to work together.
Most importantly, I'm not special. Many teachers do the same and there are teachers doing even more than I'm doing.
Please, keep this in mind the next time you want to rant about the state of education.
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Dec 17, 2022 01:41 PMOops, I should also mention. I really don't get any breaks. We have a nutrition break of 15 minutes, but students are staying after or coming early to get help. Then, lunch is 30 minutes. I am usually eating a protein bar on the way to the bathroom and then need to set up for my next class--and I never get away from students. I usually eat a lunch during my prep period which is after 2pm, but I also need to prep for the next day. I am constantly working and eating at the same time. I don't get to go to the bathroom the minute the need arises. Can't tell you how many physical issues that causes. I don't think any other industry would get away with those kind of conditions, but teachers accept it as the norm.
I'm not sure we count those minutes within the hours that teachers work.
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Dec 17, 2022 02:57 PMLivin - Finally, somebody posts something that is actually factual on this topic!
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Dec 18, 2022 09:13 AMThanks for the input. FYI TransCal has always broken out income in the categories you see on the site today.
The display is different on computers vs. mobile devices, perhaps that's what you're seeing.
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Dec 18, 2022 04:59 PMThe SBUSD institution is way too Admin-heavy (in numbers of employees and and dollars), and that’s why it’s not working for any of us, including the teachers themselves.
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Dec 18, 2022 08:29 PMActual numbers show the opposite, at least in terms of employee numbers.
Overall average for the state for admin is about 5.6% of staff. SBUSD has 4.4% admin, so the number of admin employees is a bit lower than statewide average.
Have not done the numbers on total payroll cost, but doesn't look out of whack there either.