Awhile back, Education Sector released Frozen Assets, a bit of researchiness claiming there were billions of dollars for education that could be better spent if only it weren't for those !@#$%^ collective bargaining agreements.  The report claims to identify several pockets of hidden dollars: Teacher salary increases based on experience and education, professional development days, sick leave and personal leave, class-size limitations, salaries of teachers' aides, health and insurance benefits, and retirement benefits.

We were tempted at first to let it lie, since it didn't get much media pickup and the average shelf life of this type of report is about a day and a half.  But, because so many of the claims hit close to home -- and because there were so many problems with the details and premise of the report -- we've written about it several times.

Here's a recap:

• On sick leave.  Michele writes that the documentation of Frozen Assets' calculations is transparent as mud.  (By the way, did Frozen Assets consider the billions lost to presenteeism?)
  
• On health care.  Michele writes that Frozen Assets seems to imply "that teachers should pay their actual health insurance costs in July and August when schools are closed."
• On teacher pensions.  Ed writes, "A lot of Americans in unions bargain the details of their pension plan with their employer. Teachers don't -- pensions are covered by state law."
  
• On teacher pay and benefits.  Guest blogger Larry Mishel points out, among other things, that Frozen Assets uses teachers' salaries -- lower than other professionals -- to inflate the value of their benefits: "[B]because teachers earn less salary, a dollar in benefits will count as a larger share of teacher compensation than it will for other professionals."
• On teacher's aides.  Ed points out what Frozen Assets' underlying research support really says -- and doesn't say -- about the effectiveness of teacher's aides.
• Also, Edwize's Leo Casey did a great job of analyzing the report's take on experience-based salary increases and class-size reduction.
  

Even if you were to accept the calculations and assumptions in this report, you'd be left with what?  A series of recommendations -- larger class size, lower pensions, less "generous" health care benefits, etc. -- that would make the profession less attractive to good teachers, newbies and veterans alike.