Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/214242
Take Note Know&Tell Quotes & Numbers W E C O M B T H E M E D I A D A I LY for the best quotes and statistics about public education. If you discover a quote or stat you think we should highlight, send it along with your name to editor@cta.org. $41,462 "It's wonderful. It certainly helps." Average beginning teacher salary in a California unified school district of 20,000 or more students. The average superintendent salary was $225,176 in these districts, according to California Department of Education data for 2011-12. "If we are to succeed, we will need to create tests worth teaching to and implement the Common Core standards along with Common Core supports." —October commentary in Education Week about ideas for federal ESEA reauthorization, authored by Stanford University's Linda Darling-Hammond; Marc Tucker, president of Washington-based National Center on Education and the Economy; and John Jackson, president of the Schott Foundation for Public Education in Cambridge, Mass. —Vallejo Unified School District parent Rashetta Higgins, picking up free school supplies provided by Vallejo educators for her injured son at home, as reported in the Vallejo Times-Herald. For the fifth year in a row, the Vallejo Education Association spent $10,000 for basic classroom supplies that teachers gave away to 2,000 needy students in October. MILLION Injuries sustained annually by U.S. high school athletes, according to investigative series on impact of specialization in youth sports at sfchronicle.com/ sports. "A lot of people feel the game is stacked against them, and losers in rigged games get angry. We are losing equal opportunity in America, our moral foundation stone." —Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich, in his new documentary film, Inequality for All. Watch the trailer and learn more about economic threats to the middle class at inequalityforall.com. BILLION DOLLARS Cost to U.S. taxpayers because of low wages paid to fast-food workers, who are forced to use public assistance for health care and food. The cost in California is about $717 million a year in state and federal assistance, according to a new study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center. Percentage of Californians surveyed who oppose "allowing public employers to unilaterally cut retirement benefits for current employees." And a majority favor solving pension issues at the local, not state, level, and through bargaining, not by ballot measures like the one San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and supporters are backing. The polling by David Metz was reported in the San Jose Mercury News. COMPILED BY MIKE MYSLINSKI Educator 11 Nov 2013 v2.1 int.indd 19 63% "This is the first time I am aware of a public school system being held accountable, in a legal manner and with real dollars attached, for the quality of its broadband infrastructure, software implementation, and training." —Douglas A. Levin, executive director of Maryland's State Educational Technology Directors Association, in response to an arbitrator awarding $41 million for back pay to New York City educators. The United Federation of Teachers successfully argued in a grievance that slow Internet connections, buggy software and a lack of computers forced their members to work beyond their contractually mandated workday, Education Week reported. NOVEMBER 201 3 www.cta.org 19 11/13/13 6:31 PM