Even though Lawrence is without a professional baseball team, the school district draws nice comparisons. With the end of the year coming fast and an ever shrinking budget, the district, and teachers alike must decide what is best for their future. A lot of times this seems to turn out bad for both sides involved.
Lawrence High is known for having excellent teachers that year after year meet and exceed all the standards set by the state. So anytime that one of these teachers is lost by terms not of their own it is very disappointing. It is no secret that the salaries for Lawrence teachers fall way short of salaries for surrounding districts within a 30 mile radius of the same class. This is causing some of Lawrence’s best teachers, some who have been teaching in Lawrence for a really long time, to pack up and go to schools in Olathe, Blue Valley and Shawnee Mission for higher salaries.
When talking with a few other people about this issue to try and draw a comparison of some sort we came up with the baseball farm system example. Since baseball is without a salary cap, every team has a different payroll. This throws off the competitive balance in baseball as it does in teaching. The best example I could come up with for Lawrence High was the Atlanta Braves. The Atlanta Braves have been consistent winners for the past two decades while having a payroll in the bottom half of the league. The Braves develop their players through the draft, scouting and developement to make a winner which is completely opposite from the teams with some of the top payrolls like the New York Yankees.
The Yankees compare to the Blue Valley’s of the world, they can occasionally draft and develop a player for the long run but ussually let the lower payroll teams do it for them and then sign them to huge contracts while they are on the back half of their careers.
I’m sure you can see the point here.
Lawrence is getting young teachers and developing them to win awards and do great things. While they may do just that for the beginning of their careers eventually their contracts run out and they become free agents. While it is disappointing, no blame should be placed on the teachers. They are only doing what is best for them and their careers. The other schools offer them better facilities, higher salaries and the resources to play for a championship (or whatever it is that teachers teach for).
Since I am into sports this was the most natural comparison that I could come up with. If anyone has any other comparisons that they would like to share, write them in the comments below.
