J.H. Snider\u2019s presentation before the My name is J.H. Snider, and I am the president of iSolon.org.\u00a0 I am a former school board member and have published dozens of op-eds on education politics and policy in publications including Education Week<\/em>, The Washington Post<\/em>, and U.S.A. Today<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n I am here today to report on the findings from my two sets of Public Information Act requests seeking the methodology used to calculate K12 salary statistics.\u00a0 The first involves my local public school system in Anne Arundel County; the second the Maryland State Department of Education.<\/span><\/p>\n My basic findings concerning MSDE are:<\/span><\/p>\n My basic findings concerning the Anne Arundel County Public Schools are:<\/span><\/p>\n Citizens should not have to endure such hardships in seeking K12 compensation data.\u00a0 Employee compensation represents more than 80% of local school budgets and the public should not only have the right to access this information, but access it in a way that it is meaningfully public.<\/span><\/p>\n This distinction between salary data being public and meaningfully public is critical.\u00a0 In Maryland, at least 50% of employee compensation data is public and few politicians would dare to argue publicly that it shouldn\u2019t be.\u00a0 But as my Public Information Act requests with AACPS and MSDE demonstrate, it has often not been meaningfully public.<\/span><\/p>\n My specific recommendations to you are:<\/span><\/p>\n On the risks, I will elaborate.\u00a0 When I first sought maximum salary data in 2008, the AACPS Public Information Officer complained to the Maryland General Assembly that this information was public and complained of my request for this information in an email sent to thousands of AACPS employees, including my children\u2019s teachers.\u00a0 That proved to be very intimidating, an experience that no citizen in pursuit of this information should ever have to endure.<\/span><\/p>\n None of these recommendations requires that the General Assembly pass a special law.\u00a0 Indeed, it is entirely within your power to implement them, assuming you could get the local school districts to provide the raw data that is legally public and they are legally obliged to provide.\u00a0 Such an action would require political courage. As you contemplate it, please remember that very few if any Maryland politicians would dare to say publicly that government salary related data shouldn\u2019t be public. If there is a good reason for that, there is a good reason for pro-active public disclosure.<\/span><\/p>\n #<\/span><\/p>\n Primary Supporting Documents<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Public Information Act correspondence with MSDE\u2019s Public Information Officer.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Public Information Act correspondence with AACPS\u2019s Public Information Officer.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n [\/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_toggle title=”Teacher Contracts” open_toggle_text_color=”#d2a39d” closed_toggle_text_color=”#000000″ icon_color=”#d2a39d” open_icon_color=”#d2a39d” admin_label=”Toggle Teacher Contracts” _builder_version=”4.16″ title_font=”|on|||” title_font_size=”20px” body_font_size=”12px” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” z_index_tablet=”500″ title_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” title_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” title_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” closed_title_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” closed_title_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” closed_title_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” body_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” body_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” body_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” body_link_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” body_link_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” body_link_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” body_ul_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” body_ul_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” body_ul_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” body_ol_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” body_ol_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” body_ol_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” body_quote_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” body_quote_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” body_quote_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” border_width_all=”2px” border_color_all=”#000000″ box_shadow_horizontal_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_vertical_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_blur_tablet=”40px” box_shadow_spread_tablet=”0px” text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” use_border_color=”on” border_color=”#000000″ border_width=”2px” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u00a0Negotiated Salary Schedules for the Six Bargaining Groups for FY2019<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
Maryland Department of Education\u2019s Board of Education,<\/strong><\/span>
Nancy S. Grasmick State Education Building,
200 West Baltimore Street, 7th<\/sup> Floor Board Room, Baltimore, MD,
January 24, 2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n
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\u00a0<\/h4>\n
Negotiated Text of the Contracts With the Four Bargaining Groups (as of June 26, 2017)<\/span><\/h4>\n
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Summaries of the Unit 1 contracts for the major categories of Unit 1 employees (as of June 26, 2017):<\/span><\/h4>\n
- \n
- Anne Arundel population estimate as of July 1, 2016: 568,346<\/span><\/li>\n
- Anne Arundel median household income:<\/span>$89,860, 29th (in the top 1%) among all 3,143 U.S. counties.<\/span><\/li>\n
- U.S. Median household income: median household income: $53,889<\/span><\/li>\n
- Anne Arundel per capita income in past 12 months:\u00a0$41,706<\/span><\/li>\n
- U.S. per capita income in past 12 months:\u00a0$28,930<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Basic Statistics for the Anne Arundel County Public Schools<\/h4>\n
According to the Anne Arundel County Public Schools:<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
- \n
- Number of teachers:\u00a06,600+<\/span><\/li>\n
- Teachers; average salary: $62,722<\/span><\/li>\n
- Operating budget: $1,121,630,500 FY17 operating budget<\/span><\/li>\n
- Investment per pupil per year:\u00a0$13,493<\/span><\/li>\n
- Number of schools: 126<\/span><\/li>\n
- Number of students: 81,000<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
For another compilation, see Anne Arundel County Public Schools<\/a> by The National Council on Teacher Quality. Note that it relies in part on AACPS provided data, including salaries, which are often misleading.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_toggle title=”Correspondence Seeking K12 Teacher Compensation Data” open_toggle_text_color=”#d2a39d” closed_toggle_text_color=”#000000″ icon_color=”#d2a39d” open_icon_color=”#d2a39d” admin_label=”Toggle Correspondence Seeking K12 Teacher Compensation Data” _builder_version=”4.16″ title_font=”|on|||” title_font_size=”20″ body_font_size=”12″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” border_width_all=”2px” border_color_all=”#000000″ border_style_all=”solid” use_border_color=”on” border_color=”#000000″ border_width=”2px” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
J.H. Snider\u00a0Testimony<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/k12transparency.isolon.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/MSDE-Logo-300x141.jpg\")
<\/h3>\nPresentation on K12 compensation transparency
before the Maryland State Board of Education<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n- MSDE does not collect disaggregate salary data from local school districts,<\/span><\/li>\n
- MSDE lacks a detailed methodology for aggregating those salary data into average salary statistics, instead leaving that methodology to the discretion of local school districts,<\/span><\/li>\n
- MSDE does not enforce what limited guidelines it does have,<\/span><\/li>\n
- MSDE does not check for consistency in the methodologies used both across and within local school districts in calculating salary statistics, even when anomalies are brought to its attention;<\/span><\/li>\n
- MSDE bases its maximum salary statistic for teachers not on actual salaries but on the salary schedule, which in my county may represent only about two-thirds of actual salary,<\/span><\/li>\n
- To explain the statistics it reports to the public, MSDE refers requesters to Maryland\u2019s 25 local districts, where requesters must submit Public Information Act requests for the information,<\/span><\/li>\n
- MSDE makes numerous controversial assumptions in the presentation of its salary statistics but fails to disclose them in its published reports.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Starting in 2008, AACPS has consistently failed to comply with both the spirit and letter of the Public Information Act concerning public access to salary data,<\/span><\/li>\n
- In response to my Public Information Act requests, AACPS has complained to thousands of its employees and the Maryland General Assembly that this information is legally public,<\/span><\/li>\n
- AACPS techniques for avoiding compliance with the law have varied substantially over time and tend to be quite sophisticated,<\/span><\/li>\n
- AACPS has failed to provide the salary information that MSDE asserted local Maryland school districts would provide in response to my various Public Information Act requests to MSDE,<\/span><\/li>\n
- In response to the Public Information Act request I submitted to AACPS in response to MSDE\u2019s guidance that I seek this information locally, AACPS asserted that it had fulfilled my request despite almost completely ignoring my actual requests and justifying its assertion by providing me MSDE\u2019s ambiguous guidance that I already included in my Public Information Act request.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- MSDE should publish all raw salary data online in a machine-readable format and with consistent methodological assumptions across all local school districts,<\/span><\/li>\n
- MSDE should explicitly disclose its methodology, including all the types of compensation data excluded from public disclosure, and<\/span><\/li>\n
- MSDE should disclose its reasons for making salary data pro-actively public, including:<\/span>\n
- the % of employee compensation in school budgets and its centrality to the budget process,<\/span><\/li>\n
- the Public Information Act\u2019s unenforceability and failure to work in this area, and<\/span><\/li>\n
- the extraordinary public difficulty, cost, and risks associated with acquiring this information without pro-active government disclosure.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Teacher Association of Anne Arundel County (TAAAC’ ; “Teachers”; Unit 1)<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
- Association of Education Leaders (AEL; “Administrators”; Unit 2)<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
- American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees, Local 1693 (AFSCME; Unit 3)<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
- Secretaries and Assistants Association of Anne Arundel County (SAAAAC; Unit 4)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- Teachers; average salary: $62,722<\/span><\/li>\n
- Anne Arundel median household income:<\/span>$89,860, 29th (in the top 1%) among all 3,143 U.S. counties.<\/span><\/li>\n