Note: Many readers have asked me to focus on the interesting questions brought forward in this blog article. New info was coming at such a fast rate, the new posts were distracting attention from older ones (probably overwhelming many people at the same time). I will try to keep it up top for some time to encourage people to give it a glance.
While recently researching classroom dollars spent by some of the largest districts in our state on the State of Arizona Auditor General's website, I ran into some perplexing information regarding teacher salaries in the PUSD. So perplexing, as a matter of fact, that I believe further investigation into the information is warranted by independent certified public accountants. I will try to make the following as painless as possible to read, but bear with me, as we all know numbers can get confusing.As seen on
http://www.auditorgen.state.az.us/Reports/School_Districts/Districts/Peoria%20USD/Peoria%20USD.htm,
under "fiscal year 2006" we see that in:
2004, the average teacher salary in the PUSD was $41,245
2005, the average teacher salary was $43,495
2006, the average teacher salary was $50,182
Does anyone else see a problem here? There is an increase of $6,687, YES, SIX THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED EIGHTY SEVEN DOLLARS, reported in the average teacher salary between years 2005 and 2006! Moving at a maximum allowed two horizontal rows to the right (professional growth), and one vertical row down (years of experience, which don't actually indicate years of experience in the PUSD due to base row removals and numerous "freezes"; maybe I'll exlore this more at a later date), the MOST MONEY a teacher can add to his/her salary from one year to the next on top of measly one to two percent base salary "raises" is $3350, again, the MAXIMUM AMOUNT A TEACHER COULD INCREASE HIS/HER SALARY ON TOP OF SMALL BASE RAISES WAS THREE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS during the same period, not deducting the money spent on tuition to move horizontally for professional growth (which is why the 2004-2005 increase of $2250 seems somewhat more plausible despite continued exodus from buyout option). This reported monumental jump in average teacher salary also comes at the tail end of a mass exodus of highly experienced and higher paid teachers due to a controversial teacher buyout plan that bled our district of its most qualified and highly experienced teachers, replacing them with new, bottom of the salary schedule teachers, which should lead us to naturally assume that salary averages would be driven downward. This was, mysteriously, not the case in PUSD.
How in the world did the increase in average salaries NEARLY TRIPLE from the previous fiscal year?!Even if ALL teachers in the district remained fully employed from the 2005 school year through the 2006 school year, with none of our highest paid teachers leaving due to a "buyout", with ALL of those teachers moving over two horizontal rows of professional growth (which has NEVER happened in the PUSD; moving horizontally just one row is not even acheived by ALL teachers) the heavenly increase of $6,687 dollars in average teacher pay is still ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE under almost any scenario, including hypothetical scenarios that would say all lower level, lower paid teachers exited the district (which of course isn't the case, either).Who provided the Auditor General's office with these numbers? If incorrect,these umbers are a horrible slap in the face to all teachers of the Peoria Unified School District and all taxpayers who support them. Someone must put an end to these deceptions. I challenge ANYONE who knows ANY teacher in the Peoria Unified School District to find a teacher who received such a huge salary increase, and ask that they contact me immediately to assuage my fears of this outrageous deception's implications. This appears to be one of the biggest travesties of the truth yet. Some people say the PUSD has already lost its credibility, and this certainly may be the turning point for those who have disagreed with that assertion in the past. What in the world is going on here? This must be explored further. I can only hope the Arizona Republic and the Auditor General's Office itself who have reported on teacher salaries in the past are made aware of these GLARING INCONSISTENCIES. May the truth prevail!
(: Dominic
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