Nancy Boomhower’s speech to STRS Board, May 18, 2006
Good afternoon. My name is Nancy Boomhower and I am a retired first grade teacher from Medina County. I retired with 31¾ years of credit. I also am a part time rehire who teaches the GED program at our local county jail. Quite a change, but one that I am enjoying.
The reason that I chose to speak today is because of the childcare. I have been asking questions and gathering information about child care. The conclusion that I have come to is that our facility is overstaffed and overpaid.
The fees being charged are about in line with other local, profit-making facilities. So, the answer is not to raise fees but to reduce the number of employees and lower their salaries.
With the latest information that I have, the ratio of teachers to students is about one teacher to every 3.5 students. The state regulations call for a 5-to-1 ratio for infants, a 12-to-1 ratio for 3-year-olds, a 14-to-1 ratio for 4-year-olds and a 16-to-1 ratio for 5-year-olds. The state requires two types of employees, lead teachers and associate teachers. A lead teacher is required to have a 2 year associate degree and an associate is required to have a high school diploma with a couple of courses in child care. As I have said before, it does not take a college degree to change diapers.
The pay for a lead teacher starts at about $10.50 to $11.00 and the pay for an associate starts at less than $8.00 and goes up to about $11.50. Yet we have a person with the title of Director of Childcare Services whose salary in 2004 was $63,280. She has an Administrative Assistant whose salary is $35,760 and there is another person with a salary of $50,550 whose title is Child Care Coordinator. These are duties that are covered by lead teachers in other facilities.
I figured a salary for an individual who was earning $10.00 an hour and working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks. The reason that I did not figure in the other 2 weeks is that on the information that I was given, it appears that vacation time is in a separate category. That figure comes to $20,000. All of our employees exceed that figure by half again and much more. We have a part time employee who has a high school diploma and is earning $17.89 an hour. Something is wrong!
I spoke with an employee of a Columbus area day care facility and she said the STRS child care is known as a premiere facility. No wonder! Our employees are given service awards, educational assistance and all sorts of insurance benefits. These are not the norm for child care employees in the real world.
I have attached the charts, etc., from which I took my information. Please look them over and I am sure that you will come to the same conclusions that I have. Thank you.
The reason that I chose to speak today is because of the childcare. I have been asking questions and gathering information about child care. The conclusion that I have come to is that our facility is overstaffed and overpaid.
The fees being charged are about in line with other local, profit-making facilities. So, the answer is not to raise fees but to reduce the number of employees and lower their salaries.
With the latest information that I have, the ratio of teachers to students is about one teacher to every 3.5 students. The state regulations call for a 5-to-1 ratio for infants, a 12-to-1 ratio for 3-year-olds, a 14-to-1 ratio for 4-year-olds and a 16-to-1 ratio for 5-year-olds. The state requires two types of employees, lead teachers and associate teachers. A lead teacher is required to have a 2 year associate degree and an associate is required to have a high school diploma with a couple of courses in child care. As I have said before, it does not take a college degree to change diapers.
The pay for a lead teacher starts at about $10.50 to $11.00 and the pay for an associate starts at less than $8.00 and goes up to about $11.50. Yet we have a person with the title of Director of Childcare Services whose salary in 2004 was $63,280. She has an Administrative Assistant whose salary is $35,760 and there is another person with a salary of $50,550 whose title is Child Care Coordinator. These are duties that are covered by lead teachers in other facilities.
I figured a salary for an individual who was earning $10.00 an hour and working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks. The reason that I did not figure in the other 2 weeks is that on the information that I was given, it appears that vacation time is in a separate category. That figure comes to $20,000. All of our employees exceed that figure by half again and much more. We have a part time employee who has a high school diploma and is earning $17.89 an hour. Something is wrong!
I spoke with an employee of a Columbus area day care facility and she said the STRS child care is known as a premiere facility. No wonder! Our employees are given service awards, educational assistance and all sorts of insurance benefits. These are not the norm for child care employees in the real world.
I have attached the charts, etc., from which I took my information. Please look them over and I am sure that you will come to the same conclusions that I have. Thank you.
posted by Kathie Bracy at 5:43 PM
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