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Again! One little nugget of information and the layers of lies and deceit that can enwrap a whole problem peel away as the problem opens up and bares itself.

      The snippet came on lines four and five of a quarter page advertisement for a 'Head of School' for Saltus Grammar School. The two snippets: "There are over 1,100 students from the Foundation Year (age 4)" ...and.... "approximately 130 faculty and staff."

It was those two numbers. 1,100 and 130.

 If Saltus had five times as many students, then one would reasonably expect that Saltus would have five times as many "faculty and staff". Of course, with size increase, there could be economies of scale, so instead of 650 faculty and staff, there might only be 625 or 600. On the other hand, the larger number might bring more problems so there could be additional faculty and staff. So the count could be 675 or 700.

But there would be a finite number.  And, since this private sector school is accountable to its fee-paying customer base, it would have to remain successful - at least as successful as it is now.

So, being overly-conservative, a greatly expanded Saltus with 5,500 students might require 700 faculty and staff.

Now the peel back.

In 2007, the whole of Bermuda's public education system had 5,916 students*. These 5,916 students were being 'looked after' by a 'faculty, staff, and administration' group of 894 teachers (faculty) and 282 'administrators' and 'staff'*. That's a grand total of 1,176 people looking after those 5,916 students. Now 5,916 is only 8 per cent bigger than 5,500.  But 1,176 is a 'gurt beeg' 68 per cent bigger than 700. That's a 'gurt' difference. [Alternatively, if Saltus was staffed in the same way as the public system, Saltus would have 218 faculty+staff.] How come an extra 476 persons are involved in the public educating system when, apparently, it should be possible to teach - and teach successfully - with something between 650 and 750 faculty and staff and administrators?

    How come those 894 teachers - by comparison far more than enough to successfully handle 5,916 students - are insufficient? How come?  

    If you just compare the two systems - and remember, the two systems are actually operating side-by-side on Bermuda's 13,000 acres - it's obvious that Saltus is achieving better results than the public system. Saltus is doing this with one teacher for every nine students. Across the road in the public system, they're getting a lesser result with one teacher for every seven students.  But if you toss in all the public system hangers-on, that public faculty+staff+administration ratio shoots up to one person for every five students, with this higher staffing level still achieving a lesser result.  

It's like having two car factories in the same town, across the road from each other, making the same kind of car, selling into the same kind of customer base.

One factory uses a labour force of 700 to produce 5,500 good quality cars - 'S' models - per year. The other factory, operating just across the road, uses a labour force of 1,176 to produce 5,916 lower quality cars - 'P' models - per year.

    You're probably not a university-trained economist, but commonsense - can you tell me which company looks more efficient? Is producing the better product? Looks like it is heading for bankruptcy?

    Given a choice, would you - the customer - plonk down $20,000 of your sweated-for money to buy a 'P' car or would you, instead, prefer to put down $15,000 dollars for an 'S' car?

But that's not all. It seems to me that there is a determination to keep this too-large labour force in place while still trying to produce a better 'P' model? What's more, four more administrators have been added!

     Bermuda may be special. Bermudians may still think that God changes the rules just to suit us lot. But I don't think God does that sort of thing nowadays. (He seems to have gone quiet after that Red Sea business.)

     Is public education fixable while hanging on to that 1,176 + 4 gaggle of faculty+staff+administrators?

     If you think it is, then your thoughts will be enormously interesting to the whole business world, because you will have found a magic answer.

     If you think that it can be done, do share with me; and recognize that as long as you put your name behind your thoughts, you will have the world of business storming to your door and you could get to be richer than Bill Gates and Warren Buffet -combined!  You might even save General Motors Corporation, Ford and Chrysler from bankruptcy.

*Government Budget Book for 2008/09 - Costs $30 - Info on pages B-138 & B-139.[[In-content Ad]]

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