Brandywine Teacher Salaries Comparision

Last night there were some discussions about how the Brandywine teachers were the highest paid in the county. The following are two graphs of the Brandywine salaries compared to the other schools in Berks county Excluding the Reading District.

The last contract had the Bachelor Degrees teachers starting out on the high range but topping out and falling behind the other districts.



For Master Degree new hires Brandywine starts out about the average for the county

Brandywine budget OK'd despite protests

Article: "More than 230 Brandywine School District residents, nearly double the 125 who turned out three weeks ago, filled the middle school auditorium Monday night to urge the school board not to adopt the $23.27 million budget for 2004-05 that increases the property tax to 26.15 mills, from 24.3 mills.
Several angry residents stood up and loudly protested before and after the 8-0 vote to approve the budget.
Member Lori Yocco was absent.
Many residents left after the vote saying, as did Anne Coldren, Rockland Township, that the board had made up its mind and ignored what residents said.
During the two-hour discussion before the vote, residents applauded Dr. Mary P. Fabian of Alburtis, a family-medicine physician in Allentown.
Fabian said that out-of-control property taxes are forcing her older patients to choose between taking medicine that lowers cholesterol or their blood-pressure medicine, although they need both.
Willard and Faye S. Barto, Longswamp Township, said they each pay $66.50 every month for medicine.
?Let the teachers pay for some of their health coverage,? Willard Barto said.
Retiree Nevin O. Wetzel, 74, Longswamp Township, said he pays almost half his monthly $1,100 income on medication and health insurance for he and his wife.
Self-employed contractor Rich C. Harmony said, ?I've never seen so many ?for sale' signs in the district.?
The calmer voice of Marta K. Smith, Alburtis, pointed out that many residents don't want higher property taxes but also are against welcoming industry that would broaden the tax base.
?Where were all of you at the first budget meetings in February?? Smith asked.
About a half-dozen residents suggested new revenue ideas for the board. Kathleen M. Duffy, who said she'll be moving into the district next year, said the board could start adult-education classes or doing large-scale fund raising.

Board member Michael Sachs said the budget might still be cut if the district negotiates a lower package with the teachers' union than the board has allocated. Negotiations are continuing, Solicitor John M. Stott said.

In other business, James D. Mabry, board president, said a new superintendent to replace Robert L. Gilly will be announced by July 10.

Gilly retired in March for health reasons.

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Also video clip

Article

Article: "Brandywine tax likely to rise 7.6%
The proposed budget the school board is expected to adopt Monday would keep the district's property levy the highest in the county.

From our news staff
The Brandywine Heights School Board has finalized details of a $23.27 million budget for 2004-05, which is expected to be adopted Monday.
The budget carries a 1.85-mill real-estate tax increase. It differs little from the preliminary budget the board approved May 31, according to Steven E. Fischer, business manager.
The only change is a $55,000 savings in salaries. The administration learned that a teaching position can be covered by a teacher already on staff and that an aide position is not needed.
The increase would raise the property tax to 26.15 mills from 24.3 mills, a 7.6 percent increase, Fischer said at Wednesday night's budget and finance committee meeting.
The budget would give the district the highest tax rate in Berks County for the second consecutive year. Property owners would pay $26.15 for every $1,000 of assessed value, or $2,615 for a property assessed at $100,000, a $185 increase.
The final installment, 0.87-mill, of a 5-mill rate increase necessitated by the new $30.8 million high school is included in the proposed increase. The increase was phased in during the last four years, Fischer said.
The budget also includes a fund balance of $1.77 million, 8 percent of the total.
Committee chairwoman Lori A. Yocco said the board asked the administration to research cost-saving ideas in response to public criticism over the tax increase.
?"This board is definitely empathetic to their situations,"? she said. ?"We're not happy with the increase. ... We will keep working hard to minimize the impact, but we can't totally take it away."?
About $1.9 million of the proposed 2004-05 budget is earmarked for group insurance to pay for teachers' health, dental and vision benefits. The insurance total is up 16.5 percent, which represents about 0.53-mill of the proposed tax increase.

Residents have urged the board to negotiate a teachers contract that would require the district's 154 teachers to pay a percentage of their health coverage.

The current teachers contract expires Tuesday, but negotiations likely won't be completed until the fall and the budget must provide for all foreseen contingencies, Fischer said.

Brandywine is a largely rural district. Eighty-five percent of the tax base is residential property, 12 percent farming and 3 percent commercial and industrial.

The base returns $490,000 in revenue per mill of property tax.

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Emerich does it all for Bullets

Article: "
Brian Emerich throws a three-hit shutout and drives in two runs, leading Brandywine Heights into the PIAA Class AA quarterfinals.
By Darryl Grumling
Reading Eagle
Brian Emerich's bat has been the most consistent weapon in the arsenal of the Brandywine Heights baseball team this spring.
But in Monday's PIAA Class AA Tournament opener, Emerich's right arm provided plenty of ammunition for the Bullets in a 9-0 shredding of Wyalusing at George Field.
The standout senior struck out eight and walked none in a dominant three-hit shutout. He also drove in four runs as the District 3 champion Bullets (22-4) advanced to Thursday's state quarterfinal.
Brandywine Heights faces District 11 champ Salisbury (18-7) a 7-6 winner in eight innings over Nanticoke at a site and time to be determined.
Emerich (8-0) needed just 92 pitches and didn't go to a three-ball count against the District 4 runner-up Rams (16-8).
?I don't think he was behind a batter all day,? Wyalusing coach John Bradley said. ?He wasn't close to walking anybody. We took too many first pitches, got in a hole and couldn't hit.?
Brandywine had no such problems.
Emerich (2-for-2), Jon Gentile-Bales (2-for-2, three runs), Chris Najpauer (2-for-4, two runs) and Kyle Moser (2-for-3, two runs) all enjoyed multi-hit games as the Bullets matched their highest run total of the postseason.
Jason Betz got the Bullets on the board in the second inning by doubling in Cody Young; then Emerich laced a two-run single to deep right later in the inning to make it 3-0.
?Once we got our first hard hit, I knew we were going to win,? Emerich said. ?That's how it always seems to work for us. When we get one, two or three others follow and it just goes from there.?
Emerich took "

Baseball Team Continues To Dominate

Brandywine Baseball is now one of the top 8 schools in the state. They won today, beating Wyalusing 9-0. They play again on Thursday against Salisbury.

Views On Teachers Salaries

Marginal Revolution: "Dave Eggers, accalimed author of works of genius, has written an article in Mother Jones bemoaning the relatively low pay of teachers (click here). Here's a representative excerpt:
The first step to creating an education system full of the best teachers we can find is to pay them in line with their importance to their communities. We pay orthodontists an average of $350,000, and no one would say that their impact on the lives of kids is greater than a teacher's. But it seems difficult for everyone, from parents to politicians, to shake free of a tradition in which teaching was seen as something of a volunteer project for women whose husbands brought home the real money. Today's teachers need to, but very often can't, support a family on their salaries. They find it difficult or impossible to buy homes, to save money, to live comfortably, and, in wealthier areas, to live in or near the towns where they teach.
Eggers misses a basic point about work: The salary one makes is determined by supply and demand. A price doesn't indicate how important the job is, or even if people think it is important. Take a simple example: water - it's cheap because there is plenty of it, not because we don't think it is important!
Same goes for work - the price of someone's labor - their salary - is the result of how badly people want the labor and how many other people do the job. People want education for their kids - they pay thousands of dollars in locals taxes, have significant college savings accounts and the most prestigious colleges can harge over $30,000/year. Seems like the demand is there.
So why the low pay? Teacher's low pay is due mainly to the fact that there are tons and tons of teachers! There is a huge supply of teachers. Education schools have huge enrollments - and surveys routinely report that education is one of most popular majors in the country. Click here for a short Yahoo article reporting the most popular intended majors among incoming freshmen in 2002.

Some solutions for low teacher pay are non-starters. For example, simply demanding higher pay for public school teachers isn't going to cut it because that means shifting money from other public services. There is a political solution - limit by fiat the number of teaching certificates awarded each year. That's why the orthodontist makes a lot of money - there are few orthodontists relative to the demand for nice teeth. This might have undesirable consequences. Wealthier school districts might employ all the teachers. Perhaps the best response to low teacher pay is to realize that it's a signal that fewer people should go into teaching. Next time you see someone express a desire to be a teacher, just tell them that we have too many! "

Health Police

Duxbury schools banish birthday cupcakes: "Birthday kids at Duxbury's Chandler School next fall will get dragon stickers, special seat covers and starred birthday sashes they can wear all day.

But no cupcakes - they're bad for you.

The tradition of cupcakes at school birthday parties died last month when the School Committee unanimously ratified a new handbook that redefines the way students celebrate in class.

``I'm a little saddened,'' said Chandler parent Nancy Krahmer, who favors healthy eating but mourns the loss of the childhood ritual.

School officials made the change, part of a district-wide move to improve student health, after a poll of parents found nutrition to be one of their top concerns, Chandler School Council member Ann Kalous said.

Frequent classmate parties once had students consuming numerous unplanned cupcakes each school year.

``It would be 23 times during the year that other families would not be anticipating that their kids are going to be eating something sweet,'' Chandler Principal Deborah Zetterberg said.

The new system will substitute copious special attention for frosted goodies, Zetterberg said. In addition to the sash, seat cover and dragon sticker, each birthday kid will get a birthday pencil. "

Back Off

Message to Parents of Struggling Kids: Let Go : "May 14, 2004 -- Want to help your struggling child perform better in school? New research shows that the best thing you can do is to back off.
The study shows that parents who scolded or punished their poor performing kids, or who intervened in a controlling way -- by, for example, demanding better grades or doing the work themselves -- only made matters worse. The children performed best when parents offered positive support, but did not intervene.
Researchers concluded that encouraging independent problem solving is one of the best ways to help a struggling child perform better. "

Last Confederate Widow Dies at 97 on Memorial Day

A little History moment. Hard to believe benefits were still being paid out after nearly 150 years.

"She was the country's last Confederate widow. Now, Alberta Martin is gone. She passed away at a nursing home in Enterprise on Memorial Day. Doctors say Martin died of complications from a heart attack. She was 97 years old."
Martin doesn't have any personal memories of the Civil War. She hadn't been born then. She married well after the fighting ended in 1927. At the time, her husband was 81 years old and she was only 21."

....

" 'She didn't have a livelihood at the time so they just got married,' explained Gayle. The couple was married for four years and had one child before Private Martin died. Alberta then married her husband's grandson, Charlie Martin, who died in 1983. " More

A 21 year old marrying an 81 year old then marrying his grandson seems a little shaky even by Alabama standards.