Labor costs too high for product

Many homeowners in municipalities across the state have begun to complain about rapidly rising property taxes. In Radnor Township. it is not unusual to see annual tax bills in excess of $IO ,000 per year. How could local taxes be so high?

The majority of local municipalities spending goes to fund their public school system. Even though there is strong evidence that our children are receiving poor quality education, the cost continues to escalate. What is the cause?

Education costs can be divided into three categories: 1) labor, 2) books and supplies and 3) physical plant. Since recent conclusions expressed by President Clinton indicate our school buildings are crumbling and since only a small percentage is spent on supplies, labor costs must be the problem. And in a labor-intensive industry like education, this makes sense.

The real problem is not just the high cost, but also the poor quality. Maybe high taxes would not be so upsetting if our students were the best educated in the world. The reality is that the average U.S. student continues to lag behind many less resourceful countries. Both problems are, however, solvable.

Those who deliver education must be held accountable. While it is true that many social problems contribute greatly to poor results, teachers and administrators must be instructed by the public to provide more and spend much less. Why can't we do this?

In our system. an individual 1s financially rewarded when their contribution increases. That is, if someone produces better results, they are paid more. The problem arises when indi,·iduals receive huge increases in salary and produce the same or Jess. This is exactly the case with those employed as public school teachers and administrators.

The (Philadelphia) Inquirer often publishes the average salaries of teachers in public schools throughout the area. Recently, this information showed that average annual teachers' salaries in many local school districts was over $75,000 and the starting salary was approaching $35,000. Not bad for someone who works Jess than eight hours a day, nine months a year and who, for the most part, has no more than a four-year college degree.

It is somewhat more alarming

WE APOLOGIZE.

LOQUITL'R'S EDITORIAL BOARD WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE TO THE I:\TERNATIONAL CLL'B AND THE ENTIRE CAMPUS COM\1UNITY FOR PL'BLISH·

I'iG A CARTOON I:\ ISSUE 18 OF LOQL'ITUR THAT MANY FOUND TO BE OFFENSIVE.

THE CARTOON POKED FUN AT AN ASIAN PERSO'i ATTEMPTING TO ADJUST TO AMERICAN CL'LTLRE. \VE MISl'.'iTERPRETED ITS I:\TENT.

WE APOLOGIZE FOR OUR INSE'\SJTIVITY AND IGNORANCE AND WOL'LD LIKE TO TH.\NK THE INTERNATIO:\AL CLUB FOR POINTING OUT OUR ERROR.

by Michael Busler professor of finance

for admmistrators' salaries. Man) districts have three or four top administrators earning annual salaries well in excess of $100.000. with some approaching $200,000 per year. These figures arc three to six times higher than what many college professors ·earn, professors who have invested up to lO years beyond high school seeking the proper degrees to continue teaching at the collegiate level.

What is more alam1ing is that the teacher salary figures, which arc more than t\.\ice the earnings of the many college grads, have been rising at rates far in excess of the cost of living. The real reason is quite simple. Teachers have forced the public to pay far too much and receive far too little. A rip-off would be a mild term. It is time for the public to insist on improved performance before any discussions about wage increases and policy power sharing are initiated. Our position should be: we will not pay one penny more until the quality of education improves.

I bet, if the public adopted this position, the results would amaze us all, as we watched our students perform better and our taxes stabilize. Send