From: Rustum Jacob [rujacob@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 5:14 PM
To: Kyle Hunsberger; Inna
Subject: LAUSD logic
I noticed a problem in my students' Assessment and made me think of the 4.5% + 1.5% logic from LAUSD.  thought you guys would enjoy
-rusty

Dear Mr. Brewer,


I appreciate the efforts LAUSD is making to find money for a salary increase.  What does concern me is the bad math you are employing.  Certainly you are aware of the 7th grade math standards
Number sense 1.6 and 1.7
1.6 Calculate the percentage of increases and decreases of a quantity.
1.7 Solve problems that involve discounts, markups, commissions, and profit and
compute simple and compound interest.

Or perhaps one of the 10 administrators/ coaches who were at a recent training with 10 teachers (ratio 1 admin/coach: 1 teacher) might have related this common CST/ CAHSEE question:
 
"Jason bought a jacket on sale for 50% off the original price and another 25% off the discounted price.  If the jacket originally cost $88, what was the final sale price that Jason paid for the jacket?" -7th grade CST, General Math CST, CAHSEE

Here is a sample question I give my students to illustrate the problem of adding percents.

"Dole is offering 4.5% more apples and 1.5% more bananas.  Is this the same as 6% more banapples?"

This is a question I would ask my students after studying percents.
Mr. Teacher makes $45,000 a year in salary and $5,000 a year in health benefits.  If the school district raises the salary by 4.5% and health benefits by 1.5%, is this the same thing as a 6% (4.5% + 1.5%) raise on $50,000 ($45,000 + $5,000)?  Why or why not?


It's not the paltry raise your offering, even the union raise would keep us behind other large school systems across the country and other school districts in Southern California.  It's the math, your math is commensurate with a 6th grade education.

Thanks, Math

Answer (Don't cheat)------------------------------

.045 x 45,000 = 2025
.015 x 5,000 = 75
Total = 2100

.06 X 50,000 = 3,000

The difference between LAUSD logic and Math is $900.