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In this fourth guest blog posting on the economy, schools and the stimulus, teacher-blogger Anthony Cody responds to Ken Bernstein's account of the economy's impact on two school districts in the Washington, DC area. (You can read the first and second postings in this series here and here.)

Ken Bernstein makes connections between education cuts and job losses and thus the broader economy. So let me try to drill down a bit into one aspect of school finance that people may need to understand better. The effects of teacher pay.

Recent educational reform has revolved around the idea that all students can learn at high levels, and that our schools should transform into places that set high expectations for everyone. We are building up dreams for our students. But these dreams come crashing down when their schools cannot retain teachers, and they are taught by poorly prepared substitutes, or revolving sets of novice interns.

In my district, the turnover rate for science teachers is more than 25% a year. More than a third of our science teachers are in their first three years, and many teach one or two years and leave. Beginning teachers are wonderful. They have a great deal of energy and often have fresh ideas. But a strong science teacher needs a good handle on class management. She needs a variety of instructional strategies, ways to get students to learn in cooperative groups, and to challenge them beyond their current abilities through individually tailored instruction. A good science teacher understands how misconceptions arise, and anticipates them when teaching challenging concepts. He knows how to use probing questions to draw out and develop student understanding. New teachers can gain these skills over the course of several years of inquisitive and reflective teaching, but they are crippled if they do not have the opportunity to collaborate with experienced colleagues.

In Oakland, we are losing most of our science teachers before they get to the stage where they are able to offer quality support to their incoming colleagues. I have organized a team of experienced teachers to serve as mentors for the more than 40 novices. But next fall it looks like we are going to lose several of our leading mentors, because they cannot afford to buy a home in this area. Once again we will have schools where the senior science teacher has two or three years of experience.

How can we pretend that we are building the capacity of our schools to help our children achieve at high levels when we cannot invest enough in teacher pay to retain people more than two years? Teacher pay is not the only thing that affects retention, of course. But I can see from my own daily work that compensation is a linchpin that holds the highest quality experienced teachers in place. And without them, many schools lack the foundation to build strong learning communities, where best practices are shared and reflected upon, and where lessons learned are passed from one generation of teachers to the next.

A decade ago, Oakland annually had about 300 teaching positions it was unable to fill. In response, former superintendent Dennis Chaconas focused resources on teacher pay. He gave teachers a 20% pay raise, and for a short time, Oakland offered better salaries than neighboring districts. Teacher retention increased significantly, and the schools had a welcome break from high turnover. Ironically, the increased retention increased the District's personnel costs, and revenue from the state was inadequate to cover the expenses. The District went bankrupt, a state-appointed administrator took over, teachers had to take a pay cut, and now the average teacher pay in Oakland is only $54,000, which is $17,000 less than the average in neighboring San Leandro. (see how well California districts pay their teachers)

Oakland is a tough urban district, and has many expenses that are higher than those in smaller, more affluent communities. But, long before the current economic crisis, the state was doing an inadequate job supporting Oakland and other inner-city school systems. Without more resources, we cannot retain the experienced teachers we need to build successful schools. If our districts get even less in the next several years, schools that are currently crippled are likely to reach a level of crisis – and a social and economic price tag – beyond anything we’ve yet imagined.