Most people in the private sector are earning less than they did several years ago.

Why did the district pay teachers for two furlough days just a few months ago?   That was like giving them two extra paid vacation days,  

How much more in solar panel debt service is the district paying than it would have cost to buy the panel generated energy (kwh) from PG&E?

Why is the district preoccupied with a $250 million facilities investment, but has no plans to force change in union work rules, hiring, compensation and termination practices?  We force our children to submit to second rate schools (globally), but require no action on the issues that really matter.

Suggest the SRVSD 1) reduce compensation, benefits overall by implementing pay for performance structure including termination of high seniority low performing staff, and increasing pay of high performers. 2) Increase the use of technology in the class room to cut  labor hours and increase program quality.  In short, restructure to cut costs and improve quality.

Stop crying about reduced funding, and get busy using the resources you have more effectively.

Folks, I'm one of the members of the Parcel Tax Oversight Committee mentioned above. Over the past 2 years I've spent more time learning about the internal finances of the SRVUSD than I could have imagined. I went into my time on the oversight committee as a parent of 2 children going through the school system, and a tax payer and concerned SRVUSD resident. I worked hard volunteering to see that the parcel tax measure passed, but then wanted to get involved further to do whatever I could to make sure that the promises made during the parcel tax campaign were followed through on. Yeah, I know, a campaign promise followed through on, hard to believe. But it is so easy to complain and criticize and all that does is further foster this polarized world we live in today. Instead I chose to get involved and see for myself what was going on and be a part of the solution, not the recreational complainers. From my time on the committee, I have gained an immense appreciation for the wonderful job the SRVUSD district is doing, maintaining what are exceptional educational standards in the face of historic budget cuts. Quite frankly, how they do it I cannot say. But what I can say, with intricate knowledge of their budget is that they are doing a great job of directed what little available funds they have towards the most important needs.

And furthermore, to suggest that they can just change the pay structure for their teachers is a great example of not understanding the reality we face. Would we like a better system for evaluating teachers and a compensation structure that matches up with that? Sure, but the fact of the matter is that public school teachers earn a fraction of what they deserve for the importance of their jobs, particularly when you compare that to the obscene bonuses and compensation Corporate executives earn for outsourcing jobs and laying off workers when the value of the work they do in many cases is marginal at best. Meanwhile, the solar panel project is something that not only was the right thing to do and will save millions, yes millions of dollars for the district over their lifetime, the project was aided with Federal Stimulus funds. You want to see the financials, just look here http://srvusd.ca.schoolloop.com/file/1276351943671/1275747792896/1832151316252438225.pdf . The district should be commended for not only making sound long term financial decisions for the solar project, but at the same time setting a positive example for our community and for our kids in making choices that are positive for the environment.

So instead of taking the Fox News approach of suggesting there is a problem without actually taking the time to learn the facts, I would encourage everyone to learn more about what is going on. For example, to suggest teachers get paid for furlough days demonstrates a total ignorance of the facts. The whole purpose of furlough days is to reduce the # of days teachers get paid and save money for the district without having to lay off teachers resulting in increased class size. The facts, as I have learned over these past 2 years are that we are so incredibly fortunate to have a school district that has found a way to perform at such high levels with such low funding. And why is the district concerned about facilities investment? One reason they've managed to maintain such high academics these past years is diverting funds that would normally have been used for things like maintenance of existing buildings/infrastructure. Eventually that is going to become a big problem. The district recognizes that and is preparing for it with the bond offering. Consider if you had to choose between plugging a leak in your roof or feeding your family. That is the kind of choice the district has had to make and they have done the best they can, but realize that you cannot defer maintenance forever. How can that not make sense folks? It is just common sense. Get informed. I guarantee you will be impressed.

School teachers may be under paid for the job they do. Unfortunately we don't perhaps pay more for the good ones, and terminate the bad ones.

I recall that teachers in Norway go to the best universities (Think UC/Ivy League) and are paid accordingly. No C student's from "teacher's colleges" there. How can we justify our best and brightestchikdren being taught by teacher's who have not excelled themselves, and can't be rewarded or terminated based on their merit.

No "evaluation" system is needed. The principal and department heads know who is good and bad. Get their assessment and Act on it.

The fact is that the teachers got two furlough days and were later paid for them. Now we are short money. To me that's stupid management and extra paid vacation

Teachers were not paid for their furlough days. That is the whole purpose of the furlough was to save money, which it did. As to your suggestion of creative destruction to make a better system, I don't necessarily disagree with you on that at a national level, but we have to be pragmatic about it. I would be extremely surprised if the district you served on the school board for was the SRVUSD. The SRVUSD is a fantastic district. I have a child in 5th grade and another in 8th grade. They have had exceptional teachers and exceptional facilities throughout their time in the SRVUSD from kindergarten on up and are thriving. To suggest that the SRVUSD needs to be "creatively destroyed" is absurd. We have great teachers, great administrators and great facilities. We are the fortunate ones in this State that are thriving despite the challenging economic climate we are facing. We should be applauding the district for the job they are doing, not trying to tear them down. There is no doubt that the public school system in this country is in trouble, but let's appreciate that at least in the SRVUSD, they have managed to succeed and excel despite that.

So...What's the plan to change our schools to put them on par with the best in the world? Is it more facilities spending? Or is it something much harder to do...change a system that hold kids hostage to a system to which there is no meaningful alternative.

Shanghai test scores: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/education/07education.html?pagewanted=all

Teacher Quality:

For starters, the United States needs to increase its pool of quality teachers. Almost half of its K-12 teachers come from the bottom third of college classes. Classroom leaders such as Singapore, South Korea, and Finland select from the top ranks. In Finland, only 1 in 10 applicants is accepted into teacher training.

http://www.allvoices.com/news/8506241-next-us-education-reform-higher-teacher-quality

What happens if an insurance company charges all drivers the same rate? Bad drivers flock to that company, and good ones go to companies that offer better rates to good drivers.

What happens when you pay all teachers based on seniority. Good teachers and prospective teachers are discouraged from the occupation, and poor ones flock to a place to make "easy money".

Sam, it is one thing to selectively learn the facts, such as the furlough days. I can admit I was wrong there and appreciate being corrected on that. I want to be accurate and be corrected when I'm wrong. But, if you pin your hat on that and choose to avoid all of your other omissions and errors, then there can be no credibility. The projections on the solar panels are for a $25 million savings over 25 year life of the panels. That is savings, not cost. Yes, those are projections and we'll need to monitor the output, but to date, given the sunny weather I have heard they are trending above projections and there is a 17 year guarantee of 95% performance from SunPower, so even if the projections are not met, SunPower would reimburse the district for any lost savings up to 95% of projections during that 17 year period. It is a can't lose situation, so trying to frame this is a spending waste or anything else negative is just using the Fox News model of disinformation to create a narrative that you prefer. As to pay for performance for teachers and competition with China, please come down off your fantasy cloud. We cannot and should not try to compete with a country that has such low standards of living and human rights. If that is who we want to be, then we have completely lost sight of what made this country great. If pay was by merit here, Teachers would make what fund managers make and fund managers would get fired. We need pragmatic solutions, not talking points.

So talking about Finland or Singapore as models for how to do things may have some merit, but ultimately, the real discussions need to be about how we get to wherever it is we need to be. What is it we can learn from them and how can we incorporate it into our systems here? Talking about eliminating money from politics and corruption from Washington, or how do we create a system in which teachers are paid commensurate not only with how well they perform, but equally important, the value of their jobs (which I would argue should be at the very very top of the payscale), is a serious conversation in which there are major challenges to real progress. I wish I had the answers there, but it might seem easy to just say "this should happen" or "that should happen" and "why aren't we doing it like them?", but that doesn't get us anywhere. We need to work together to find solutions and applaud those like the SRVUSD that are doing the best they can in a difficult climate. The proof is in the results. The results are not opinion, they are fact. Despite the deep budget cuts, the SRVUSD continues to perform at the top for districts of its size in California. I am in and around my kids classrooms on a weekly basis. I see first hand how exceptional their teachers and administrators and facilities are. How can you argue with that?

So the whole "pay for performance" argument is kind of a joke at this point when we're talking about a range of annual salaries that even at the peak top out well below $100k. Meanwhile, you have jobs in which little or no true value (derivative trader???) is actually created, yet pay is regularly in six figures and bonuses can be as much as a teachers entire annual salary. Before we get too caught up in pay for performance, we first need to find a way to change the way this country values teachers and the contribution they make so that top teachers actually earn what they deserve and are worth while Wall Street executives that ran this country into the ground and outsourced millions of jobs took home and continue to take home exorbitant pay. We want to have a higher rate of attracting top college students to teach in public schools, pay for performance is not the change that is going to make a difference. Personally, I couldn't be more impressed at the energy, talent, dedication and enthusiasm of the teachers at Greenbrook Elementary and Charlotte Wood Middle School that have taught and are teaching my kids. Perhaps the SRVUSD could offer lessons to less successful school districts on how they manage to thrive under such challenging conditions.

For information on the solar program, I already posted the link for the detailed savings projections above, but again, here it is. http://srvusd.ca.schoolloop.com/file/1276351943671/1275747792896/1832151316252438225.pdf It really wasn't too hard to find. And for some narrative, look here http://srvusd.ca.schoolloop.com/solar . It makes me wonder why you are trying so hard not to find this information. I guess that would also be convenient for your false narrative. The solar project in particular makes me so proud to be a part of this district.

Teachers are not under paid and the district has to free up funds in other areas to pay for inflated salaries and unfunded pensions. The very same people who took a job to SERVE the public have proven that they are self serving. A superintendent making 240,000/yr plus a pension to match. That is someone that wants to serve? Look at it this way, pensions are like deferred payments that the taxpayes have to pay. Take a teacher in our district. I looked up all the salaries at Mercury News. 80,000/yr teacher is really costing the taxpayer 160,000. A half million for the super. Look at the website pension tsunami. For just TWELVE retirees from SRVUSD we are paying $123,225.20 Monthly$1,478,702.40 Annually. I am so tired of hearing that they don't make enough money. So sick of hearing "We work hard.' 'We work ngts/wknds'' We buy our own supplies", and the best one is, 'We do it because we love it." Then turn around and ask them to contribute to their pensions, work more with less, work beyond their iron clad contracts, go to merit pay and see what your answer is. The truth is, teachers are contracted to work less days/hrs, have more prep time, more teacher work days, more min. days, parents donate supplies, are asked to empty their checkbooks at registration, fundraising is out of control and spending is up. What we hear and what we get do not match up!

Why is it that public education is the most funded program paid for by taxpayers and they still need more money? Dan why do you compare a teacher to Wall Street? Comparing a teachers salary to the top 1% and we are suppose to agree with this analogy? Does a Wall Street exec. leave work at 3pm, work only 180 days a year, have the guarantee of medical/dental bennies for life, job security after two years regardless of performance? I think not. I speak for the 99%, we can't afford it anymore!

I would love to see some teachers chime in too. It is such a fallacy that teachers leave at 3:00 pm and only work 180 days a year. Those once again are pathetic big business talking points. My brother is a 4th grade teacher, works every weekend, and never ever leaves right after school on any given school day. My son's 5th grade teacher works virtually every weekend and often e-mails the class at 8:00 pm at night, still working. The teachers in the SRVUSD are so extraordinary and dedicated and we are so lucky to have them. To suggest they are not underpaid once again shows someone out of touch with reality. They do not average anywhere close to $80k a year, that is near the top of the pay scale and still is not even enough to afford to live in the area that they work without a 2nd income. We don't need to compare them to the top 1% to show the disparity. I worked for 13 years at Charles Schwab & Co in Finance & Accounting, and was at the Director level my last 8 years, making a comfortable 6 figure salary, creating zero value for society for the world around me. I am confident I speak for the 99% in knowing in my heart that teachers deserve those kinds of salaries well before someone performing the kind of work that I do deserves it. It is sad and I will continue to speak up for teachers and those that deserve better than we provide for them.

Dan, I like that you fight for GOOD Teachers. Good teachers deserve to have you in their corner. Good teachers deserve to be recognized and rewarded. Hence, merit pay. I don't know where you are getting your numbers but you are not correct. There are several SRVUSD employees exceeding 6 figures and several teachers grossing over 80,000. Teachers get to move up the pay scale based on time served not on performance. Good teachers are let go due to seniority, once teachers are tenured, they are guaranteed a job regardless of performance. Sounds like you have ended up with some good teachers or, perhaps it was not a mistake, seeing how you volunteer your time. California cannot sustain these salaries and pension obligations. Tell that to your kids who will be suffering at the hands of those making the economic decisions now. Greed and public service are not suppose to go hand in hand, yet the numbers tell us otherwise. Here is the link to the salaries. http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries. Where is the student in all of this? It is never about the student. More money will not solve the problems with public education.

Sam, you talk provide talking points about a system. I provide facts about our school district. You call a disaster a school district that is performing at the top in the state for districts of its size. Where exactly is the disaster in that? Maybe we are arguing two different things. I am arguing that we are lucky to live in the SRVUSD and they are doing a phenomenal job performing at such high levels in the face of such a difficult economic environment. Sounds like you are arguing about inherent flaws in the California public school system. If so, I agree with you about those flaws, but I thought we were talking about the SRVUSD.

These r the guys who paid teachers for two extra days not worked, who so far refuse to publish results on the solar panel investment, who ask for $250 million for facilities and parcel tax yet have to plan to break with the bad system.

So A+ for "plays well with others"
F for confronting the real issues.

Real issues? What are the real issues they are avoiding? How about academic results??? Not to sound like a broken record, but SRVUSD is one of the top performing schools in the entire state for districts of our size. FACT! In the last 4 years the district has lost $82 million in funding yet continues to improve academic performance. FACT! But, one reason why they have managed to maintain success is to defer maintenance. Just as our nation has deferred maintenance on highways and infrastructure, eventually that will catch up with us and in the case of the SRVUSD, that could result in harm to our children. Asking for additional funds to upgrade our facilities is the right thing to do. FACT.

What exactly is your tunnel vision on solar panel investment results. They were only put into service less than a year ago. To expect results to be published so quickly on something like that, when there is already a 95% performance guarantee, it is almost as if you are grasping at straws, hoping to find some statistic you can latch onto to suggest some failure when success is already guaranteed, even if only 95% of forecasts occur, since a 95% efficiency rate is, as I said, guaranteed. Perhaps if you focus that time on something productive and constructive, it will benefit everyone.

I too am a member of the PTOC and echo many of Dan's comments. While on the PTOC, I learned that SRVUSD continues to do a fantastic job in its mission in the face of mounting fiscal pressure. The district continues to maintain a high quality of education despite not receiving $82 million from the state over the last four years. I think the issue here is not about more money but not getting the money that the state has promised the school district but has failed to deliver. The question is how does the SRVUSD community try and make up this deficit in order to maintain and increase educational performance.

Student enrollment has increased over the last several years because of the SRVUSD's performance. However, the funding per student has decreased over the last four years. These trends look like they will continue over the next several years.

The SRVUSD community has done a tremendous job supporting local schools with the parcel tax, bond measures, educational foundations and individual school site foundations. I hope this continues because I want to live in a community that supports education.