Thursday, March 01, 2018

West Virginia Teacher Strike 2018

Note: This post was updated at 8:30 PM on March 1 to add the table data at the bottom of the page. It was unintentionally omitted from the original version.  JDV


Summary: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
West Virginia’s teachers have certainly faced challenges over the last decade, as have nearly all Americans who are not independently wealthy. While their claims of poverty and unfair treatment can be proven statistically viewed one way, those claims do not stand up to contextual analysis. Everyone wants a bigger paycheck, and there is no harm in making a case for that. However, teachers in West Virginia knew the terms of their contract when they signed on the dotted line. Striking because one doesn’t like an agreement voluntarily entered into can charitably be described as unethical behavior worthy of a toddler. As long as a valid contract remains in force, these teachers belong in the classroom. Once the contract expires, they are more than welcome to negotiate changes to the conditions of their employment, and refuse to return to the classroom until a satisfactory agreement can be reached. There is no question that a teacher strike under those circumstances would be every bit as frustrating and disruptive to the lives of parents and schoolchildren alike as is the current strike. The difference is that teachers would be striking from a position of integrity rather than foreswearing the obligations to the community they freely chose to accept.


There’s a funny thing about statistics. Using exactly the same set of data, different people can “prove” wildly different conclusions depending upon the objective.
(Note: the data set used here is not the same as the one West Virginia teachers cite, but the numbers are close enough to make the illustration valid. The data used in this piece ranks the WV teachers at 47th nationwide in pay, and includes Washington, DC, for a pool of fifty-one locations.)
Take the West Virginia teacher strike. Among other concerns, they are outraged that they are ranked 48th in pay nationwide. Concern has also been expressed that compensation has been nearly flat over the past decade, and over the fact that their insurance costs are increasing.
For the vast majority of employees, wages have been flat to declining over the past decade or longer. Inflation affects all income levels, though without question it is the middle and lower income groups who experience the greatest hardship. Inflation has officially been low – except for those people who eat, heat and cool their homes, or drive to and from work. WV teachers certainly have not been exempted from these challenges, but then neither have all other folks in their communities.
Health insurance costs have risen for everyone in recent years, particularly since 2013. The two areas of direct out of pocket expense for the majority of consumers, insurance premiums and deductibles (the amount that must be spent before having the insurance provides meaningful benefit) have increased dramatically from 2008 to 2017. For individuals, average premiums rose 147% and deductibles 107% during that time. Those who married and produced offspring fared even worse, seeing increases of 176% and 202% respectively. For WV teachers to be upset with rising health care costs and expect taxpayers to cushion the blow for them is to deny the realities of life in the United States in the second decade of the twentieth century.



 

Average

Average

Average Family

Average Family




Individual Health

Individual Health

Health Insurance

Health Insurance



Insurance

Insurance

Premium

Deductible



Premium

Deductible





First two months of 2017 open enrollment

$393

$4,328

$1,021

$8,352
2016 open enrollment

$321

$4,385

$833

$7,983
2015 open enrollment

$286

$4,120

$727

$7,760
2014 open enrollment

$271

$4,164

$667

$7,771
2013

$197

$3,319

$426

$4,230
2012

$190

$3,079

$412

$4,079
2011

$183

$2,935

$414

$3,879
2010

$167

$2,632

$392

$3,531
2009

$161

$2,326

$383

$3,128
2008

$159

$2,084

$369

$2,760


Then there are wages, the high profile complaint teachers and their representatives have been most vocal about. From the data here, teachers rank 47th nationally in average pay. Devoid of any context it certainly sounds as though they are receiving the rawest of raw deals – except perhaps for their brethren in North Carolina, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and poor, abused South Dakota whose teachers find themselves dead last in the compensation rankings.
Providing a bit of context for the compensation numbers paints a very different picture, however.
Dollars received for the teaching job will never be the same across the country. The cost of living, and the tax bases that support public employee salaries, are dramatically different in New York City and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Perhaps a more accurate baseline for comparing of the relative value of teacher compensation would be to evaluate their salaries as a percentage of the Median Household Income (MHI) for their state. That would identify how well off a teacher is as a single income earner compared to the combined incomes of all members of a household in their state. That is a far more accurate reflection of how their compensation compares to the other citizens in their community, and how that compensation “fairness” compares to their peers in other states.
Looked at in this manner, the teachers of West Virginia find themselves ranked twelfth in the nation compared to their peers in average salary as a percentage of MHI. Not bad at all for a state that ranks 48 out of 51 in MHI. Even better, for those who are taking their newly minted credentials and entering the teaching profession for the first time, West Virginia’s teachers enjoy an average starting salary that comes in sixth in the nation.
Alas, South Dakotans are still dead last in average salary as a percentage of MHI, but they are a more respectable 43rd just starting out.

Teacher Compensation Data
Rank STATE AVERAGE STARTING SALARY AVERAGE SALARY % of MHI % of MHI Rank Starting % MHI Starting % MHI Rank State MHI Rank
1 New York $43,839 $75,279 156.18% 1 75.58% 7 23
3 District of Columbia $51,539 $70,906 150.16% 2 73.55% 8 5
27 Louisiana $38,655 $51,381 135.42% 3 84.18% 1 45
9 Pennsylvania $41,901 $63,521 132.91% 4 69.39% 16 20
28 Kentucky $35,166 $50,326 130.83% 5 82.96% 2 50
11 Michigan $35,901 $61,560 130.80% 6 66.23% 23 31
2 Massachusetts $40,600 $73,129 130.04% 7 59.83% 35 8
29 Montana $27,274 $49,999 129.43% 8 53.07% 45 37
14 Oregon $33,549 $58,758 129.18% 9 55.15% 41 17
5 California $41,259 $69,324 128.93% 10 64.84% 24 13
15 Ohio $33,096 $58,092 126.74% 11 62.09% 27 32
47 West Virginia $32,533 $46,405 124.65% 12 75.97% 6 48
39 Alabama $36,198 $47,949 124.63% 13 81.33% 3 47
16 Wyoming $43,269 $57,920 122.64% 14 71.02% 12 15
10 Rhode Island $39,196 $63,474 122.06% 15 70.37% 14 27
40 South Carolina $32,306 $47,924 121.47% 16 69.69% 15 44
13 Illinois $37,166 $59,113 119.95% 17 61.52% 29 19
50 Mississippi $31,184 $41,994 119.09% 18 77.89% 4 51
36 Tennessee $34,098 $48,289 118.72% 19 72.04% 9 42
4 Connecticut $42,924 $69,766 116.33% 20 58.89% 37 4
26 Indiana $34,696 $51,456 114.84% 21 66.74% 21 35
12 Delaware $39,338 $59,679 114.30% 22 68.11% 17 24
46 New Mexico $31,960 $46,573 114.07% 23 70.83% 13 46
7 Alaska $44,166 $65,468 113.58% 24 58.80% 38 2
23 Georgia $33,664 $52,880 112.89% 25 66.31% 22 39
20 Wisconsin $33,546 $55,171 112.88% 26 60.53% 33 28
45 Arkansas $32,691 $46,632 111.88% 27 76.38% 5 49
38 Texas $38,091 $48,110 110.79% 28 67.45% 19 26
49 Oklahoma $31,606 $44,128 110.32% 29 67.14% 20 43
18 Nevada $35,358 $55,957 110.11% 30 67.99% 18 34
48 North Carolina $30,778 $45,947 109.24% 31 60.59% 32 38
25 Iowa $33,226 $51,528 108.51% 32 54.60% 42 16
43 North Dakota $32,019 $47,344 108.21% 33 55.77% 40 25
42 Kansas $33,386 $47,464 107.23% 34 60.85% 31 30
6 New Jersey $48,631 $68,797 107.21% 35 71.14% 11 7
33 Idaho $31,159 $49,734 107.20% 36 60.36% 34 36
37 Maine $31,835 $48,119 106.84% 37 62.72% 26 40
30 Arizona $31,874 $49,885 106.75% 38 61.01% 30 33
41 Missouri $30,064 $47,517 106.42% 39 50.79% 46 22
44 Florida $35,166 $46,944 105.62% 40 72.02% 10 41
8 Maryland $43,235 $65,265 104.64% 41 58.75% 39 3
24 Vermont $35,541 $52,526 101.75% 42 59.74% 36 21
35 Nebraska $30,844 $48,931 101.67% 43 50.77% 47 18
22 Washington $36,335 $53,571 100.25% 44 54.04% 44 9
17 Minnesota $34,505 $56,268 98.09% 45 50.20% 48 6
32 Colorado $32,126 $49,844 92.24% 46 48.24% 50 10
19 New Hampshire $34,280 $55,599 91.92% 47 45.30% 51 1
31 Virginia $37,848 $49,869 90.49% 48 61.56% 28 14
34 Utah $33,081 $49,393 89.51% 49 49.93% 49 11
21 Hawaii $41,027 $54,300 89.48% 50 63.59% 25 12
51 South Dakota $29,851 $39,580 88.70% 51 54.21% 43 29

National Median Household Income Data

Rank State 2015[42][43] 2009 2008 2007 2004–2006
47 Alabama $44,509 $40,489 $42,666 $40,554 $38,473
2 Alaska $75,112 $66,953 $68,460 $64,333 $57,639
33 Arizona $52,248 $48,745 $50,958 $49,889 $46,729
49 Arkansas $42,798 $40,489 $41,393 $42,229 $41,679
13 California $63,636 $58,931 $61,021 $59,948 $53,770
10 Colorado $66,596 $55,430 $56,993 $55,212 $54,039
4 Connecticut $72,889 $67,034 $68,595 $65,967 $59,972
24 Delaware $57,756 $56,860 $57,989 $54,610 $52,214
5 District of Columbia $70,071 $59,290 $57,936 $54,317 $47,221
41 Florida $48,825 $44,736 $47,778 $47,804 $44,448
39 Georgia $50,768 $47,590 $50,861 $49,136 $46,841
12 Hawaii $64,514 $64,098 $67,214 $63,746 $60,681
36 Idaho $51,624 $44,926 $47,576 $46,253 $46,395
19 Illinois $60,413 $53,966 $56,235 $54,124 $49,280
35 Indiana $51,983 $45,424 $47,966 $47,448 $44,806
16 Iowa $60,855 $48,044 $48,980 $47,292 $47,489
30 Kansas $54,865 $47,817 $50,177 $47,451 $44,264
50 Kentucky $42,387 $40,072 $41,538 $40,267 $38,466
45 Louisiana $45,922 $42,492 $43,733 $40,926 $37,943
40 Maine $50,756 $45,734 $46,581 $45,888 $45,040
3 Maryland $73,594 $69,272 $70,545 $68,080 $62,372
8 Massachusetts $67,861 $64,081 $65,401 $62,365 $56,236
31 Michigan $54,203 $45,255 $48,591 $47,950 $47,064
6 Minnesota $68,730 $55,616 $57,288 $55,082 $57,363
51 Mississippi $40,037 $36,646 $37,790 $36,338 $35,261
22 Missouri $59,196 $45,229 $46,867 $45,114 $44,651
37 Montana $51,395 $42,322 $43,654 $43,531 $38,629
18 Nebraska $60,747 $47,357 $49,693 $47,085 $48,126
34 Nevada $52,008 $53,341 $56,361 $55,062 $50,819
1 New Hampshire $75,675 $60,567 $63,731 $62,369 $60,489
7 New Jersey $68,357 $68,342 $70,378 $67,035 $64,169
46 New Mexico $45,119 $43,028 $43,508 $41,452 $40,827
23 New York $58,005 $54,659 $56,033 $53,514 $48,201
38 North Carolina $50,797 $43,674 $46,549 $44,670 $42,061
25 North Dakota $57,415 $47,827 $45,685 $43,753 $43,753
32 Ohio $53,301 $45,395 $47,988 $46,597 $45,837
43 Oklahoma $47,077 $41,664 $42,822 $41,567 $40,001
17 Oregon $60,834 $48,457 $50,169 $48,730 $45,485
20 Pennsylvania $60,389 $49,520 $50,713 $48,576 $47,791
27 Rhode Island $55,701 $54,119 $55,701 $53,568 $52,003
44 South Carolina $46,360 $44,625 $43,329 $40,822 $39,454
29 South Dakota $55,065 $45,043 $46,032 $43,424 $44,624
42 Tennessee $47,330 $41,725 $43,614 $42,367 $40,676
26 Texas $56,473 $48,259 $50,043 $47,548 $43,425
11 Utah $66,258 $55,117 $56,633 $55,109 $55,179
21 Vermont $59,494 $51,618 $52,104 $49,907 $51,622
14 Virginia $61,486 $59,330 $61,233 $59,562 $55,108
9 Washington $67,243 $56,548 $58,078 $55,591 $53,439
48 West Virginia $42,824 $37,435 $37,989 $37,060 $37,227
28 Wisconsin $55,425 $49,993 $52,094 $50,578 $48,874
15 Wyoming $60,925 $52,664 $53,207 $51,731 $47,227

None of this necessarily suggests West Virginia teachers are not deserving of greater compensation and benefits. What the broader data picture does show is that they are not as ill treated as the case they are making claims. They have left the classroom at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons. The ones most harmed by this poorly considered strike are the children they claim to place above all else in this world and their friends and neighbors in every community from Morgantown to Bluefield and Charles Town to Huntington.

Source for teacher compensation data:
Source for Median Household Income data:








2 comments:

  1. You said it....statistics can be used to prove most anything. Basically, proving nothing....other than statistics can be manipulated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I admire the courage it takes to post snark publicly like this, Mr/s. Anonymous. I merely pointed out that union guided talking points are not the only means of looking at the situation, and that other interpretations are at least equally as valid. No manipulation required, simply the removal of selective tunnel vision. If you actually have something constructive to offer, please do so.

    ReplyDelete