Teacher and School Employee Pay Updated on SeeThroughNY

A searchable online database of earnings for 366,640 employees of New York State school districts outside New York City was posted today at www.SeeThroughNY.net, the transparency website sponsored by the Empire Center for New York State Policy.

Long Island schools had the highest average pay by region at $73,949. The Mohawk Valley has the lowest average pay at $36,394. Seven regions average pay increased over the four-year period while only the Capital Region and Mohawk Valley have decreased average pay over that period, which includes the worst period of the recession.

For the full release online or to download the pdf with tables and charts, click here.
To access the database on SeeThroughNY, click here.

School district data profiles

Here are some school district data from Cornell.

See also the ACS profiles generated by the Missouri Census Data Center, which are nice as you can put profiles side by side.

School Districts Integrate Technology into Common Core-based Curriculum

As states emphasize the Common Core State Standards, school districts work on meeting learning goals with technology.

Forty-four states, including New York State, and the District of Columbia have adopted the standards, and two state consortiums are designing assessments for them.

More info HERE.

The New York State School Report Card

The New York State Report Cards consist of three parts:

The Accountability and Overview Report, which shows district/school profile data, accountability statuses, and data on accountability measures like English language arts, mathematics, science, and graduation rate;
The Comprehensive Information Report, which shows non-accountability data; and
The Fiscal Accountability Supplement, which shows expenditures per pupil and some information about students with disabilities.

Teacher and School Employee Salaries

A searchable online database including salaries of 402,896 public school employees, outside of New York City, was updated this month at www.SeeThroughNY.net, the transparency website sponsored by the Empire Center for New York State Policy. (New York City school salaries were updated on SeeThroughNY as part of the city payroll in July.)

The newly updated database includes data for professional employees, such as teachers and administrators, and for non-professional employees, such as custodians, bus driver, aides and secretaries.

The full text of this press release is available here.

The Census in Schools Educator Update

Read the November Issue of The Census in Schools Educator Update; the following topics are included in the issue:
* 2010 Apportionment Data
* American Community Survey Data
* Lessons Plans for World Statistics Day

The Census in Schools Educator Update keeps educators informed about current and upcoming census data and provides ideas about how to use data in the classroom.

Health-cost sharing could be step to balanced NY budget

Requiring local-government and school-district employees to pay part of the cost of their health insurance coverage could save New York taxpayers more than $1 billion a year without diminishing essential services, according to a new Rockefeller Institute report. The paper is one in a series prepared as part of Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch’s initiative to develop proposals that would lead New York State to structural budgetary balance.
“This idea would help localities manage through the inevitable cuts in state aid that can be expected in the coming years without compromising the quality of public services,” Ravitch said. “It is the kind of action that New York needs in order to avoid a destructive spiral of long-term economic decline.”
To read the report by Institute Senior Fellow Carol O’Cleireacain, visit the Institute Web site.

SeeThroughNY Posts 133 Updated School Labor Contracts

Updated school labor contracts for 71 teacher unions and 62 school superintendents were posted this week on www.SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center's government transparency web site.

The newest contacts are part of the most comprehensive public collection of school district labor contracts in New York.

The full text of this press release is available here.

Contact: Lise Bang-Jensen
518.434.3100
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School Payrolls Grew in 2008-09

Professional payrolls continued expanding in New York State school districts outside New York City last year, according to data posted today on www.SeeThroughNY.net, the government transparency website sponsored by the Empire Center for New York State Policy.

Total spending on teaching and administrative salaries by districts outside New York City increased 5 percent statewide to $14 billion--a $670 million annual increase--in the 2008-09 school year...

The full text of this press release is available here.

Contact: Lise Bang-Jensen -518.434.3100

School district data

Purloined from a listserv:

NCES has a database of school district data. Additional profiles/geographic info available here.

School District Data compiles data from the Council of Chief School Officers. Free, and much of the info is the same as the NCES.

Estimates used for funding allocations for school districts based on the ACS are available through the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE).

Proximity One has some free data on the site, and sells software for geographic applications by subscription. Has 2008 school district population estimates from the SAIPE in a ranked table.

Public School Graduates and Dropouts: School Year 2006-07

This First Look report presents the number of high school graduates, the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR), and dropout data for grades 9 through 12 for public schools during the 2006-07 school year. State education agencies (SEAs) provided the data to the Common Core of Data (CCD) nonfiscal survey.

From Farm to School

A Guide and Directory for Schools, Institutions, Organizations and Farmers for Buying and Selling Local Meat and Produce in the Hudson Mohawk Region (30 pp, PDF). This resource assists schools, institutions, organizations and farmers when buying and selling local meat and produce in this region. Revised August 2009.

Although this publication targets the greater Capital District of NYS, it might contain valuable information for rural clients in other parts of the state.

There are more useful items on the Cornell Cooperative Extension website. Click on "Resources" in the left column, and then click on "Publications."

Public Authority Payrolls, School Labor Contracts Posted Online

Payroll files for 384 Public Authorities have been posted on www.SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center's government transparency web site for taxpayers. The new data includes names, titles, base pay rates and total pay received for most of the 44,320 public authority employees added this month. For the full text of the press release, click here.

Also, earlier this month, updated school labor contracts for 77 teacher unions and 86 school superintendents were posted on the site. For the full text of the press release, click here.

Contact: Tim Hoefer 518.434.3100

Kids Count Data Center

Want to find out how kids are faring in your county or school district? The newly redesigned KIDS COUNT Data Center features local data in addition to hundreds of indicators of child well-being for cities, states, and the nation as a whole. Create your own maps, graphs, or charts, and use them in presentations or post them on your own website or blog.