Phillip Reese Sacramento Bee Responds

I received the following email from Phillip Reese of the Sacramento Bee. I have included the pertinent parts with websites. However it appears that there is a much bigger problem than I originally realized. It appears that the NEA, the Fordham Foudation, and others have uncritically used the California Department of Education statistics on average teacher salaries computed using FTEs without understanding that these so called average teacher salaries have over reached the mean through the addition of administration and non-teaching psychologists salaries.

I will contact the CTA and direct them to this potential problem with California Department of Education statistics.

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The source of my data is the California Department of Education report at the link below. The title at the top of nearly every page of the report is "2007-08 CERTIFICATED TEACHER SALARY PROFILE BY COUNTY BY DISTRICT." Please note the word "teacher."

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/fd/cs/documents/j90summary0708.doc

After getting your note, I compared the number of teachers listed at the link you sent me with the numbers listed in the above report. They match pretty well -- the 60,000 administrators, counselors, etc., you refer to do not appear to be included in the dataset.

I would also note that the NEA, which I don't think is composed of ignorant, right-wing hacks, estimates the average teacher salary in California at a level very close to the official figure given by the state.
http://www.nea.org/home/29402.htm

The sentence you refer to is actually not part of any article. It is in the brief introduction to a database that lets users compare teacher salaries across different districts. ( http://www.sacbee.com/1098/story/995141.html ). Neither the introduction nor the database makes any subjective statement about whether teachers are or aren't paid too much. (omitted by blog editor for confidentiality concerns) might use the database to note that the average teacher salary in Vista Unified District is lower than most other districts in San Diego County.