"Howard", is a listener who took it upon himself to do some quick math. Here is what he found out about teacher pay.
Lee,
Thanks for taking my call today. It is always a pleasure to talk with you and the “Love Cannon”. Below is a spreadsheet demonstrating the savings consolidating our current 575 school districts down to only 105 school districts would create.
The numbers are based on conservative estimates and known averages Please keep in mind the savings are based on salaries and compensation packages only. If savings from a reduction in utility, maintenance, security, training and other costs were included the savings would be considerably greater.
School District Consolidation Numbers
Superintendent Average Salary
$100,000.00
Average Additional Compensation
$50,000.00
Total Average Compensation
$150,000.00
Average Total Compensation for District Support Staff (i.e. Asst. Superintendents, Clerical Staff, etc.)
$450,000.00
Total Average District Compensation
$600,000.00
Number of School Districts in Okla.
575
Estimated Total Pre Consolidation
$345,000,000.00
Number of Districts in OK County
15
Number of Districts in Tulsa County
15
One District for each remaining County
75
Total # of Consolidated Districts
105
Estimated Total Post Consolidation
$63,000,000.00
Average Savings Post Consolidation
$282,000,000.00
Number of Teachers in Oklahoma
41,775
Average Salary Increase Per Teacher
$6,750.45
You can skip this next part.
My next statement will make teachers VERY angry (my wife is a teacher by the way). We have too many teachers in the state. There are 688,300 K-12 students in Oklahoma and 41,775 teachers. That is an average of 16.4 students per teacher! I’m not really suggesting a reduction in teachers but HB 1017 signed in to law by Gov. Henry Bellmon in 1990 set the classroom size to 20 students. If this average was maintained the state would only need 34,415 teachers which would raise the salary increase from $6,750.45 to $8,194.10.
As always, "Gun 4 Everybody!"
Howard