Friday, March 23, 2012

Friday thoughs: A Comment on the “I pay your salary” and “I pay twice for schools” arguments « School Finance 101

Friday thoughs: A Comment on the “I pay your salary” and “I pay twice for schools” arguments « School Finance 101:


Friday thoughs: A Comment on the “I pay your salary” and “I pay twice for schools” arguments

Taxpayer outrage arguments are in style these days (as if they ever really go out of style). Two particular taxpayer outrage arguments that have existed for some time seem to be making a bit of resurgence of late. Or, at least I think I’ve been seeing these arguments a bit more lately in the blogosphere and on twitter.  First, since now is the era of crapping on public school teachers and arguing for increased accountability specifically on teachers for improving student outcomes, there’s the “I pay your salary so you should cower to my every demand”argument (I’ve heard only a few warped individuals take this argument this far, but sadly I have!).  Second, there’s the persistent I pay for those schools and don’t even use them argument, or the variant on that argument that I pay twice for schools because I send my kids to private schools.
I (the taxpayer) pay your (the teacher) salary
This is a strange, obnoxious and easily diminished argument. Not that it’s not important to be sensitive to the