Throwing Low-Hanging Fruit at Our Schools

June 08, 2011 at 1:08 PM

By CAROL VOYLES

It’s easy to be critical of Talbot County’s public schools; after all, they receive over a thousand dollars more per pupil than our private schools. The private schools aren’t required to teach special needs pupils, and aren’t serving thousands of meals to the 35 percent of students living at or below the poverty line.

No one can be critical of our schools’ performance, however. Our schools are among the best in the nation, and should be congratulated for doing a remarkable job, in spite of the fact that 2010 revenues were already $2,000 per pupil below the state average. Still Talbot County’s high schools are rated among the top 50 public schools in the nation for their advanced placement programs, and 87 percent of graduates go on to higher education.

Isolated pay scales have been targeted as proof that our schools can easily make additional cuts. There has been an effort made to keep our best teachers; and some, especially experienced teachers and principals salaries, remain somewhat competitive, close to the middle or in the bottom third among Maryland’s counties (2009-10 Maryland Public School Fact Book); but the average teacher salary was near the bottom by 2009, and last in 2010 (TCPS 2010 Annual Report). Average teacher salary was $57,097 in 2009, and $54,833 in 2010. Salaries seem to be about as low as they can realistically be to remain competitive, and our schools now face a $2 million cut.

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