From: LLOYD BURKE LARSEN
To: Sen. Weiler, T.,
Subject: Managing Schools
Date: 2014-01-02T00:23:51Z
Body:

I have served on the Davis School Board for 4 years and offer you the opinion that the system is revenue starved and losing hundreds of millions in Utah income.

1. Teachers in Davis county average $3,132 in monthly disposable income. All employees, including the Superintendence, average $2,163 in disposable income per month. We manage employee costs with the use of part-time employees.

2. This year (seemingly a good year)  is typical of our plight in employee reimbursement: 2.5% increase in the WPU;  2% of that is required for retirement and health care (which are funded separately for state employees.) We have .5% to spread.

3.Teachers earn equal to the national average of HS graduates: $3217.00/month. (Seriously, why would anyone of us choose 4 years of college for $3,132 in disposable income after many years of teaching.)

4. The Board continually raises the class room size to accommodate scarce revenue.

5. Our HS graduation rate of 88% is highest in the state: meaning in this district 600 students do not graduate. Each students loses $.5M  in lifetime earnings for a total cost of $300M per graduating class. If the 3600 non-college students got college degrees, the lifetime earnings is a staggering $3.5B increase per class. We will never get 100% but the stakes are prodigious.

6. No matter what we legislate or managerially administrate from the top, a good teacher makes a difference independently;  programs of school grading and teacher evaluation are oversold in real impact.

7. Our sources of highly qualified applicants deteriorates.

8. Someone must do something for revenue for our schools.

Sincerely, Burke Larsen