KIPP Houston, We Have a Problem

Updated November 2015: My new book about teaching in "No Excuses" charter schools will be published February 2016.  Pre-publication orders may be placed at Rowman & Littlefield.

Jesse Alred has done a bit of number crunching in Houston, which is the mecca for the KIPP Cult and its spin-off denomination, YES Prep. In line with the CEO reward model upon which these total control camps are based, the administrators at KIPP Houston are much more likely to earn six figure salaries than admins in the public schools, HISD. What about the frontline brainwashers, er, instructors of these anti-cultural cults?

Well, Alred does not include salary info, but he does note that 4 of 10 KIPP teachers and 3.6 of 10 YES teachers say "no" after one year. Not even TFA and its national television advertising campaign bankrolled by the Oligarchs can hope to keep up with that kind of turnover rate. By the way, KIPP and YES are the "no exuses" charter apartheid models that the Obamaites promote as the urban education solution. From the Examiner.com:

. . . . Relative to size, KIPP has more administrators making salaries of $100,000 or more than the Houston Independent School District. KIPP has 262 students for each employee earning $100,000 or more in salaried compensation. YES Prep charter schools, about the same size as KIPP, has 681 students per employee earning $100,000 or over. HISD has 1,472 pupils per employee earning $100,000 or more.

Bonuses for most KIPP administrators are very low compared to HISD, but not for its founder and Superintendent, Mike Feinberg. His 2008-2009 bonus was $34,000, larger than every HISD administrator except for Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra. Ms. Kathleen Gil, KIPP's Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, received $26,100, more than all but two HISD administrators, Dr. Saavedra and Dr. Karen Garza. Dr. Garza's bonus was $29, 070.

KIPP-Houston serves 2,358 students whose parents apply for admission. It is the size of a large HISD high school. HISD has responsibility for 198,769 students zoned to its schools. HISD also serves a more diverse range of students in terms of learning abilities. HISD has twice the percentage of students who need special education services than KIPP-Houston. . . .

Also from the Examiner:

. . . .About one in nine teachers leave HISD each year. The annual turnover rate is 14.6%. The typical HISD teacher remains the district for an average of 9.4 years and has 11.7 years of teaching experience. Statewide, teachers stay with their districts an average of 7.4 years.

Two of five KIPP teachers leave their jobs each year. This is a turnover rate of 40%. KIPP teachers have an average of 1.7 years of service in the charter network and an average of five years total teaching experience.

Yes Prep teachers have slightly fewer teachers leaving each year than KIPP. Its turnover rate is 36.8%, still much higher than HISD and statewide turnover. The average YES Prep teacher stays with the charter network for 1.3 years and has 4.6 years of teaching experience.. . . .