Pay Differentials in Baltimore

For a struggling school system like Baltimore City schools, I am not sure that a simple pay differential for teaching at the toughest schools is going to help much, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. unveiled yesterday the first part of his plan to improve the Baltimore school system, proposing to pay teachers who work in the toughest schools up to 15 percent more and demanding efficiency audits as he promised that education would be the issue to differentiate him from his main competitor in the mayoral race.

Baltimore will select a new mayor this year and incumbent Sheila Dixon succeeded to the post after former Mayor Martin O'Malley was sworn in as governor. To be sure, Dixon inhereited many of the problems the Baltimore schools are experiencing from the now governor, but her administration has not been responding well to the budget crisis. Mitchell is noting some specifics, but nothing particularly new.

With regard to the budget process, Mitchell said if he were mayor and in control of the school system, he would "personally go over the budget line by line to be sure it's accurate," referring to this year's budget, which an examination by The Sun found to be riddled with errors.

He proposed instituting efficiency audits in every school to see how money is being spent, a practice he said was done in Virginia under former Gov. Mark Warner.

Outside auditors and management specialists would cut excess administrative spending and use those funds in the classroom, Mitchell said. "This will eliminate waste, find savings and restore confidence that taxpayer dollars are being wisely spent, not foolishly wasted," he said.

While some transparency in the budget process is needed, the fact is that as mayor, Mitchell would not control the schools nor does he hold the purse strings, his biggest bat is the visibility of the mayor's office.

Like most "reformer" thought, Mitchell is talking about "wastes and finding savings" but not really talking about any significant changes. In reality though, I am not expecting a great deal.