Ohio Education Association Quiz

If you saw the chart I posted yesterday comparing Ohio Education Association (OEA) employee salaries with the rest of us suckers, I’ve got bad news… there’s a quiz.

Silver lining: today’s examination will be open-book.

Add up all OEA disbursements to employees from the union’s 2010 report, and the result is $22,602,960.

Divide by 235 OEA employees, and you get the average of $96,183 represented in the chart . The average Ohio teacher, meanwhile, was paid $55,958 in the 2009-2010 school year. So, based on the most current data, the average OEA employee is paid $40,225 more than the average Ohio teacher.

Divide the $22,602,960 paid to union employees by the report’s count of 128,815 members, and OEA employee pay amounts to $175 per member.

For good measure, remember the OEA gave $20,000 to Progress Ohio and $20,000 to Policy Matters Ohio in fiscal 2010.

Even if you’re a shameless union apologist, these numbers raise some questions:

• Are teachers in Ohio underpaid?
• If Ohio teachers are underpaid, why doesn’t the Ohio Education Association take less from teachers for their own salaries?
• If Ohio teachers are underpaid, why does their union deserve compensation more than twice the state average?
• If Ohio teachers are overpaid, why does the Ohio Education Association demand higher taxes on Ohio residents and businesses?
• If the 116 OEA employees paid more than $100,000 in fiscal 2010 were compensated at market rate, what other employer would pay them anything near what they received from the OEA?
• If the OEA lives and breathes “solidarity,” why are its employees paid so much more than its dues-paying members?
• Is the OEA concerned about “income inequality,” a topic obsessed over by the OEA’s beneficiaries at Policy Matters Ohio and Progress Ohio?

Unfortunately there’s no score key, but feel free to answer in the comments. If you’re a Progressive, write directly onto your screen. New monitor purchases create jobs! While you’re at it, throw your computer from the roof. While you’re up there, rip off a few shingles. Jobs, jobs, everywhere!

Union figures are from the US Department of Labor. Average teacher pay is from the Ohio Department of Education. If you have a better explanation for the story these numbers tell, I’d love to hear it.

Cross-posted at that hero.