Jim Waters: Water carrier for the Koch brothers

EDITOR'S NOTE: Marshall Ward is president of the Calloway County Retired Teachers Association. He is responding to a recent column from Jim Waters of the conservative, anti-union and Republican-leaning Bluegrass Public Policy Institute. Waters' column, which appeared in several Kentucky papers, was headlined "Inconvenient truths about teachers' salaries."

By MARSHALL WARD

In Jim Waters piece, he begins with a quote from Daniel Defoe, a political pamphleteer and novelist, who was an infamous debtor who was jailed in 1692 with substantial debt and a reputation of dishonest dealings. He also made loud lamentations about debtors being unjustly accused with due process. He did marry to a woman with a substantial diary which placated his position for a short time. He died penniless with numerous lawsuits filed with the government. Wait a second, this sounds suspiciously familiar in tone. Obviously, Daniel had a hard time with money, numbers, and interpretations, and in the end, he went to jail.

I prefer to use "death and taxes" as used by Ben Franklin, a Founder and Framer, who exclaimed, " Our new Constitution is now established, and has the appearance that promises permanency; but would not be said to be certain, except death and taxes". And to be fair his philandering sounds suspiciously familiar, too!

Now let's look at Kentucky Revenues, Teacher salaries, Employee benefits, Cost of living, class sizes, Administrative costs, and State and Local policies.

This is a very complex issue. Mr. Walters, who sounds like he is carrying water for the Koch brothers agenda, does not realize that in many rural counties in Kentucky the largest employer is the public school. If those wages and salaries were transferred to the private sector or cut, many small businesses would close! Many of these small, poor counties would become ghost towns overnight. According to a recent analysis, Kentucky is already losing more people than it is gaining. That would only worsen, if schools could not find good, qualified teachers to educate their children.

Attacking teachers must be a "sport" by you, some in the private sector ironically who owe a great teacher, and the unenlightened folks who are delusioned in believing that the private sector can provide the common good better.

Let's look at some points that may enlighten or not.

School Districts that rely on State funding and NOT property taxes have less money to spend

Teacher salaries have wide variations intrastate and nationwide

Pensions and health insurance are normal benefits

Cost of Living will create additional expense in some districts

Class sizes could lower costs or raise costs

Administrative costs on average are about 7% of total spending

Funding formulas, Federal mandates and Special Education create variations

Maybe most importantly when looking at Teacher's Salaries, Kentucky requires a Master's Degree within 5 years of beginning. Secondly, there is no pay when school is not in session. (My father in law, a highly paid Ford Executive who had 6 weeks paid vacation, never could grasp that since I got my pay spread out all year)

Most people in the private sector who have MBA or professional degrees are paid much more.

Now for some statistical information:

Kentucky ranks 26th in per pupil expenditures, 26th in numbers of students from 5 years to 17 years of age, 27th in property tax revenue per family, 28th in number of teachers, 26th in numbers of students which translate into 17.0 students per teacher, 26th in Salary average, 29th in Personal income rank, BUT 46th per family income rank AND 11th in % income from Government and Government Enterprises(?), and 11th in % of population 65 years of age and up.

Why is there a gap between personal income and per family income? The private sector should get moving on paying better wages!!

Mr. Waters used the average teacher’s salary as if it is exorbitant. That could not be further from the truth.

This is where the real problem should be evident to any 4th grade math student:

Kentucky is ranked 47th in Per family revenue to the State from our own sources and 47th in property tax revenue per family to local districts!! In the above rankings there is a serious disconnect.

That can be explained by the regressive tax system in KY.

It is widely known that Kentucky loses $13 billion in tax loopholes much of which is to interests not even in KY which is equal to or more than we take in revenues.

There are 2 types of taxes: Ability to pay and Benefits received. It is a NO BRAINER to have all pay their fair share for that common good we all expect and benefit from!!

The discussion should be about INVESTING, BENEFITS, and making the best LIFE for our citizens! This cut, cut, cut attitude is so unenlightened and counterintuitive that will bury this great Commonwealth very much like KANSAS!

Mr. Waters, next time that you gloss over a very complex, serious, and important subject, please do some homework. Your puffery should be embarrassing to you, your organization, and the publisher of this amateurish piece.