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Please take advantage of this opportunity to learn the facts about questions that may arise during the lead up to voting for the Falmouth Schools budget. If you have questions that are not addressed below, please feel free to call me! There will also be a full presentation of the 2010-11 Falmouth Schools budget in THE PORTAL, which will be delivered to all homes in Falmouth by the first week of June.
Thank you, Barbara Powers, Supt. of Schools, 781-3200
Q: Are Falmouth teachers the highest paid teachers in the state?
A: No, they are well paid but not the highest paid in all categories of experience. One only needs to look at salary scales in other southern Maine districts to see that teachers can out earn Falmouth teachers elsewhere as first year hires or at the top of the salary scale with 25 years of experience and a master’s degree. Falmouth is committed to offering competitive salary and benefit packages in order to attract and retain the highest quality teachers possible, but is not the clear leader in the state.
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Q: I’ve heard that one physical educator and one second grade teacher earn what seems like a lot of money. Is it true?
A: The top of the scale in Falmouth is $69,800 (25 years, masters + 30) plus benefits. That’s a lot of experience and a lot of study. Some teachers are paid coaching stipends, which add significant time and some money to the 185-day teaching calendar and salary schedule. Others are paid stipends for leadership, co-curricular advisories, certification support, etc. The contract, which is not yet fully resolved, calls for a zero increase for those at the top of the scale and has not yet been publicly released.
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Q: I also heard that the same physical education teacher earns over $100,000 and is about to receive a $3000 raise. Is that much true?
A: No. One physical education teacher earns near the top of the scale but also coaches two varsity sports, adding many, many days to his school year and about $9000 in stipends to make up for that time. This teacher is not scheduled to receive any increase for next year -- certainly not $3000! The contract hasn’t even been settled yet, but no increase for teachers earning top salaries is anticipated. Even if we add his benefit package on top of his salary and stipends, it does not reach six figures.
It should be noted that one community member continues to misquote the compensation package for some current and retired teachers and includes ALL benefits as earnings. The numbers quoted were not from School Department sources but rather a state website which doesn’t explain what should appear to be discrepant information with other teachers on the list.
For example, the physical education teacher’s health benefit was listed as considerably higher than anyone else’s. That’s because the spouse of this teacher is also employed in Falmouth and it was less expensive to the district to lump their coverage together as a package and link it to only one of their names.
Also, four teachers on the “top ten” list of salaried individuals in the district are actually retired! The salary quoted included a significant retirement stipend reflecting unused sick days.
Asking a few questions before jumping to and publicizing wrong conclusions would be useful in the context of honest and accurate public discourse.
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Q: I read that Falmouth's per pupil costs are much higher than another southern Maine community. The comparison was $12,500 for Falmouth and $8,500 for Scarborough.
A: According to the 2008-09 Department of Education data, Falmouth's per pupil cost is $10,074. It has gone down over the past two years given our budget reductions. Scarborough's is indeed lower at $8,406 while the state average is $9,625. However, it should be noted that the Town of Scarborough covers the cost for schools of technology, athletic fields and grounds maintenance, and capital improvement. If that was taken into consideration, our per pupil difference in cost would be closer. Our per pupil costs are actually more in line with those of Cape Elizabeth, MSAD 51 Cumberland/North Yarmouth, and Yarmouth.
For more information about per pupil rates in Maine please visit the Department of Education’s website at www.maine.gov/education/data/ppcosts/ppcosts.htm and you can make your own comparisons. The public pronouncement of $12,500 as Falmouth’s per pupil cost is simply false.
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Q: Is is true that Falmouth would only rank 24th in the country “if Falmouth was a state” in SAT scores?
A: This comparison is extremely misleading. If one studies the table of SAT score averages across the nation, it doesn’t take long to see that it is an absolute apples vs. oranges comparison. In Falmouth, 98% of our students take the SATs as part of state-required testing. The 23 states with averages higher than ours have an average participation rate of only 8%! Most often, the scores being averaged are from top students in Kentucky or Missouri or South Dakota choosing to take the SATs in order to apply to selective East coast schoolsl. If you took the top 8% or even 50% of Falmouth’s test scores, the school would easily rank #1 in the country “if it was a state.” We also recommend considering far more than a single data point whenever one reviews the impact of a high school education in terms of responsible citizenship.
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Q: I’ve heard that $74,000 is paid to 37 teachers to “tell us what we should pay them.”
A: There is no explanation we can think of for this rumor. The stipends offered teacher leaders are to coordinate efforts with the principals at the building level in curriculum, grade level coordination, and staff development. This stipend amount is scheduled to be reduced by half in the new contract; thus, teacher leaders will be asked to do similar work for significantly less money in order to balance the budget. They have no role in determining their stipends.
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Q: Someone also said that teachers receive extra pay during the workday to tutor students.
A: That simply does not happen and, again, we have no explanation for this rumor.
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Q: Is it true that Falmouth’s student to teacher ratios are really low?
A: Falmouth’s ratios include ALL professional staff, not just classroom teachers. Staff included in the figures include nurses, librarians, special education teachers, art teachers, technology teachers, guidance counselors, etc. etc. Falmouth’s numbers are very much the same as those in our comparison districts of Cape Elizabeth, MSAD 51 Cumberland North Yarmouth, and Yarmouth.
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Q: Why does the Rosetta Stone get mentioned as a big money saver? I have no idea what this is.
A: Rosetta Stone is an on line language learning program that can appropriately be used in some very specific instances to improve oral language acquisition. Our world languages teacher leader, Catherine Gram, said that she would love to add this option to language classes as a language lab asset. As a stand-alone it isn’t nearly as robust as an actual classroom experience nor as effective in supporting cultural understanding, discourse, and current events discussions in the target language. As long as the district values long sequence language instruction, teachers will continue to play a very important role in pursuing that goal.
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Q: Is it true that teachers only work five out of eight periods in their teaching schedules?
A: High school teachers work within an eight period schedule. They teach their 80-90 students during five periods, cover a study hall or teach a learning lab during their sixth period, and have two periods available for content team meetings, special education consultations, correcting, and planning. Elementary teachers have less planning time available to them given their self-contained classrooms.
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Q: Was there really a secretary who worked 30 years at the Middle School but wasn’t really needed? I heard she wasn’t replaced when she left!
A: There was no 30-year secretary at the Middle School. One more secretary was added two years ago to help when more tasks were moved to the school offices, and to help with the very large student population at that school. When there was a resignation during this school year by one secretary, she wasn’t replaced because others offered to step up and try to do the job themselves to help meet the curtailment of resources this year. Also, when the 5th grade leaves the Middle School, less secretary hours will be needed. It seemed prudent to try and hire part time staff for really busy times of the year and not fill the position.
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After reading this explanation and reviewing on line documentation provided under the BUDGET and BUDGET WORKSHOP tabs in the please decide for yourself if the schools continue to deserve your support on June 8 in the Budget Validation Referendum. We are proud of the accomplishments of our students and THANK our teachers for their continued dedication and professionalism.
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