Salary Competition
There’s a letter to the editor in the West Bend Daily News that is revealing of a mindset that’s worth exploring. Let’s take a little looksee.
Compare teachers’ pay to business salaries
As a spouse of someone who spent eight years in graduate school after four years of college while teaching in the 1970s and early 1980s, I wonder why the majority of the public doesn’t find the starting wages of teachers a little embarrassing, after four to five years of advanced education and then three years of probation.
Those with business degrees after only four years of advanced education start out at $50,000 while teachers in Hartford now start out at $33,000. Next year it’ll increase to $34,000. How shameful we pay our teachers one-third less than a beginning business person gets right out of college. When you add in time on weekends, plus correcting tests, reading essays, etc., these teachers work the same number of hours per year – easily an average of 10-plus hours per week extra. Yet they’re paid $17,000 less.
There are three really glaring issues with this. First is the notion that the level of one’s education should determine one’s level of compensation. While in the aggregate the level of education trends with compensation, it is not universal by any means. The level of a person’s compensation is determined by the demand for skills coupled with the supply of people who have those skills. If we were silly with neurosurgeons, they wouldn’t make very much. Conversely, if there were only three guys in Wisconsin who know how to drive a truck, they would make a fortune. Specifically in this case, we currently have plenty of people qualified to teach as indicated by the number of qualified applicants whenever positions open up. The taxpayers, as the employer, should only pay what is required to attract and retain a qualified teacher - and not a penny more.
The second thing is related to the first thing. To say that a starting teacher makes $33,000 is to reveal the effect of union contracts that relegate everyone to the same level. If the market were at work, then we may be talking about the “average starting pay” for teachers. Some teachers, whose skills are more commonplace may not deserve a starting pay of $33,000. Other teachers, whose skills are more rare, may deserve quite a bit more.
The final thing that irks me is the same as the second. The notion that all “business persons” are the same. What does that term mean? Business degrees range from management to finance to accounting to marketing and on and on. To say that a starting “business person” is paid $50,000 means nothing. When I got out of school (yes, I have one of those nasty business degrees), some of my peers started at $80k+ and others at much less. My first salary was $19,500. I earn considerably more now and yet I still have the one and only degree. We again return to the fact that one’s compensation is, and should be, derived by an equation of one’s skillset, the demand for that skillset, and its scarcity. If you don’t feel like you earn enough, then develop a skillset with more demand or more scarcity.
Starting out at two-thirds of what a business person does, but yet denying them fringe benefits bargained for over the last 50 years is unconscionable. Also, these teachers don’t have any businesses expenses that are tax-deductible as those in the business community do. That’s why those in middle class public education sectors are able to pay more taxes than those in a similar private business sector job.
Of course those business people with higher incomes and years working are able to deduct more business expenses, so even though teachers’ average income is eventually 50-75 percent more than starting pay, they never catch up in tax deductions allowed, while business average income doubles.
Clearly, this writer has no idea how business expenses work. Unless you own the business, business expenses don’t mean a hill of beans. When I incur business expenses on behalf of my employer, I do not get to deduct them against the salary that my employer pays me. The business deducts those expenses. This is because generally the government taxes profits - not revenue. Business expenses are costs that reduce profits. Regardless, the vast majoruty of “business persons” do not gain any personal benefit from business expenses. In fact, many owners don’t either sice they eat into their profits.
As you can see, the system is rigged. But yet there are two-thirds of Washington County residents who think teachers are overpaid while business people aren’t. Why is that? As an afterthought you don’t see teachers getting bonuses and golden parachutes either, do you?
Kenneth L. Smith Hartford
Something else we didn’t see is mass layoffs of teachers during this recession as many of those “business people” are still looking for work.
The part the pro teacher compensation crew always forget is that it is almost impossible to fire a teacher unless they do a horrific job or are involved in some illegal activity. I don’t know of any jobs that provide this level of security along with summers off (what does $34k prorated to nine months work come out to? Approx $46,000 ). Add in a defined benefit pension program which few private businesses offer anymore and you’ve got one lucrative position.
Wisconsin State workers have a hard time understanding how much money a private sector person has to save in a 401(k) plan to equate to a $80,000 dollar a year lifetime pension that kicks in at age 55. The average person in “business” probably has to get a nest egg of at least $1.5 million to cover that type of pension over a projected 25 year life span post retirement at 55.
That is why we get 1200 applicants for one open position in West Bend.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1422 hrs
it is almost impossible to fire a teacher unless they do a horrific job or are involved in some illegal activity.
Not true if management is doing their job. In the seven years that I was on the board at West Bend we fired at least one teacher or administrator. In some years we fired multiple of each. With the passage of Act 10 it is easier now to fire a teacher than ever before.
We never got 1200 applicants for jobs. we did on occasion get 4-600 for elementary jobs. Most of the time we struggled to get a decent field of candidates for jobs. That is why we had to bid against other districts to attract Tech ed teachers for example. Also, why we went without a business manager for the better part of a year and a half. the notion that just anyone can walk into a classroom or school office and be successful is an ignorant statement. Or that all school employees are in the business for the money and summers off. Just a genuine lack of knowledge of the education system.
That is the implication that is offered here and on the TV and radio far too often.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1523 hrs
The average compensation of a West Bend teacher is 100,000 when standardized to a 12 month work year.
http://lbstat.dpi.wi.gov/lbstat_newasr
Let’s start with facts and work from there.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1544 hrs
My first salary was $19,500.
Year? Occupation? Tenure/Experience?
Meaningless as presented:(
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1605 hrs
Something else we didn’t see is mass layoffs of teachers during this recession as many of those “business people” are still looking for work.
And this correlates how?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1612 hrs
And this correlates how?
There is extreme value in the knowledge you will never lose your job under normal situations. I’d garner it could be valued as high as 30,000 a year. Keep in mind, they currently make 100,000 standardized already.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1619 hrs
fu,
As meaningless as the salary statistics presented by the writer of the letter… which was the point.
Posted by Owen on December 15, 2012 at 1621 hrs
There is extreme value in the knowledge you will never lose your job under normal situations. I’d garner it could be valued as high as 30,000 a year.
And I would garner that you are a risk averse pussy?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1630 hrs
As meaningless as the salary statistics presented by the writer of the letter… which was the point.
Which makes your post about what?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1631 hrs
fu,
As an anonymous commenter yourself, you hardly hold credibility in calling others a “risk averse pussy.”
Call me when you grow up.
Posted by Owen on December 15, 2012 at 1632 hrs
As an anonymous commenter yourself, you hardly hold credibility in calling others a “risk averse pussy.”
Call me when you grow up.
Ring….Ring…Ring….
Hi Owen, unless your name is Spock the “risk averse pussy.” comment was not directed at you.
My question for you was, if teaching is such a gravy train why aren’t all these comparably qualified displaced private
sector workers flocking to the profession?As far as credibility goes, I am asking you questions to clarify the position espoused in your post.
If you don’t wish to add credibility to that position by answering them, don’t.
Later:)
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1713 hrs
No, you never directed that question to me until you attempted to cover yourself. Verb tense matters. And you have no standing to demand credibility when you have none.
Posted by Owen on December 15, 2012 at 1723 hrs
Public school teacher salaries would be an issue if there was a shortage of teachers.
Each opening in Washington tends to generate HUNDREDS of applicants.
If it was such a bad paying job, why is there all this interest? It’s a great job, compensation wise, compared to the private sector.
The problem with public schools is technology and lack of innovation. Instead of utilizing the most technology possible and have the best and brightest teaching thousands of students across the nation, we still live in a 19th century model of education.
I have no problem with best teachers being compensated like rock stars if they are allowed to teach literally thousands of students across the nation using technology. That requires excellence, something the teacher unions fights against.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1739 hrs
Verb tense matters.
Absurd. Are you new around here?
Let’s try again.And this correlates how?
There is extreme value in the knowledge you will never lose your job under normal situations. I’d garner it could be valued as high as 30,000 a year. Keep in mind, they currently make 100,000 standardized already.
Posted by Spock on December 15, 2012 at 1619 hrs
fu,As meaningless as the salary statistics presented by the writer of the letter… which was the point.
Posted by Owen on December 15, 2012 at 1621 hrs
There is extreme value in the knowledge you will never lose your job under normal situations. I’d garner it could be valued as high as 30,000 a year.And I would garner that you are a risk averse pussy?
Posted by fu on December 15, 2012 at 1630 hrs
As meaningless as the salary statistics presented by the writer of the letter… which was the point.Which makes your post about what?
Posted by fu on December 15, 2012 at 1631 hrs
Spock & I are #‘s 6 &8.You & I are #‘s 7&9.
Try again.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1740 hrs
Am I new? no. I’ve been here much longer than you and I’m familiar with your kind. “Pussy,” to use your terminology, is generous for you.
Posted by Owen on December 15, 2012 at 1745 hrs
I see both sides. Personally, I don’t think most of our current teachers are underpaid. I think the bigger problem is that the kinds of qualified and talented and head-of-the-class types that we should want teaching in our schools and who statistically would be most likely to improve educational attainment never consider teaching as a profession because the starting salaries are so low.
And so who do we end up putting in our schools teaching our kids? A bunch of people with 2.8 GPAs and 24s on the ACT who were only slightly above average students themselves. This especially becomes problematic at the high school level, where subject speciality becomes increasingly important.
My friends who teach introductory classes at universities would be happy to tell you all about just how badly underprepared high school teachers are leaving their students. Lots of variables in play there, but I think we’d be crazy not to consider whether the quality of our teachers is a big part of that problem.
Posted by Recess Supervisor on December 15, 2012 at 1747 hrs
I agree with you completely, RS. I want great teachers and I’m willing to pay for them. There are a ton of variables, including the larger labor market, but I hope that we can all agree that we will pay for value - and nothing less.
Posted by Owen on December 15, 2012 at 1751 hrs
I’ve been here much longer than you and I’m familiar with your kind. “Pussy,” to use your terminology, is generous for you.
Think of me as one of the heirs of an 18th/19th century pamphleteer:)
As meaningless as the salary statistics presented by the writer of the letter… which was the point.
Which makes your post about what?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1755 hrs
... anyone else catch the mention of teachers spending weekend time “correcting tests.” Again, “correcting.”
So teachers cheating to inflate their students’ grades is so widespread they want compensation for it?
Teachers make the most noise of any profession about actually measuring he quality of their work. I say if they don’t like that they don’t get paid for time spent correcting tests, they should stop doing it (cheating) altogether!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1810 hrs
Nice try, Howard. You know the writer meant correcting in the sense of grading. Don’t be dumb.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1839 hrs
In October, Washington County passed a “private pay equity” plan. Problem is they never considered that no where in private business do employees get a cushy pension and Rolls Royce health care coverage.
Anyone with a complaint is welcome to quite and take a private business job. Their are plenty of applicants for your old job.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1846 hrs
I think that the real story is that teachers are paid a fair wage, considering the poor job they do “educating” our young.
The other real story is that a degree in education is really not that valuable in the marketplace.
One could do a survey - how much to education majors make when they work in other fields - like fast-food management - that they are not trained for. I bet they do better outside of education than in it, where they work side-by-side with fine arts majors, and English majors, and all the other folks who are not expected to do any math more complicated than making change.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1910 hrs
I think that the real story is that teachers are paid a fair wage, considering the poor job they do “educating” our young.
Ding, ding, ding. That’s it. The value of our current teachers is much less than what we are paying them. This is generally the case when there is a monopoly in a marketplace.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 1955 hrs
Good post. I know few people hwo do what they do because of the pay and benefits.
They do what they do because they want to do it or because they can’t qualify (for many reasons) to do something else.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 2034 hrs
I agree that the letter to the editor didn’t have the facts right. I think it is definitely fair to look at the teaching profession as a 1500 hour a year job, so a $33,000 starting salary is really $44,000 when pro-rated over 12 months. $44,000 isn’t breaking the bank, but I know ALOT of people with Finance/Accounting Degrees that don’t start at more than that out of school. Most jobs (without experience) don’t pay well. When one gets 3-5 years of good experience, they either are paid more by their current employer or someone smart enough to value their skills will.
Important to note, I would guess the “top” of the salary schedule for teachers in Hartford is probably $60,000 + that translates to an $80,000 a year salary over 12 months.
Steve- You can make your point without making shit up. I have a sister that teaches. When she retires after 30 years at a final salary of around $60K, she will receive a pension of approximately $30,000 per year. 30 years x 1.6% x final three years = pension roughly equal to 48% of final salary.
If a private sector employer contributes 6 percent of salary to a 401k, and the employee contributes 6 percent of their salary, over 30 years, both the private sector employee and the public employee will have roughly the same retirement income. The difference is that the public employee has forced savings, and has the security of an extremely well managed system (WRS).
Act 10 has considerably leveled the playing field. It needed to happen and did happen, and public sector wages/benefits will be kept in line moving forward with the private sector. Ultimately, if Governor Walker and President Obama do their jobs, we’ll see significant job growth in the private sector and the public sector will ultimately lead to some good people leaving public service, but until that happens, public employees are now compensated fairly.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 2207 hrs
I hate seeing people comparing one non comparable number. I will even grant the 10 hour day for a teacher. So perhaps they work 1800 hours. An entry level person in my field (finance/accounting), would be happy to only work a 10 hour day. I’d guess 2400 hours a year, would be a decent estimate. Benefit rates on entry level people in most school districts are at least 50 percent, against 15-20 percent most other places. So even if I were to grant the numbers given, just based on hours, the wages, 34K and 50K are fairly equivalent, and if you add in the benefits, that entry level teacher is compensated on an hourly basis at quite a bit more than the other person. (based on those numbers, total comp of about $28hr vs $25/hr.) My son’s teachers in high school averaged about 80K a year, for part time work, with a fantastic pension(because of union rules, they had to lay off the cheaper entry level teachers, and just keep the long term vets, regardless of talent.) The hours part bugs me the most, like ther writer somehow thinks, the rest of us clock out at 5. With all the layoffs in the last decade, we are all doing the jobs of two people.
When there is not a backlog of 100s of qualified applicants for those “underpaid” teaching jobs, then and only then are we not paying enough.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 15, 2012 at 2334 hrs
The average work day for teachers in the US is 8.4 hours, including lunch and two breaks.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2012 at 0053 hrs
What’s your average work day Spock? After all the time you spend masturbating to Rush on the radio? You probably need 2 lunches a day, so I’d guess 3 hours?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2012 at 0723 hrs
There is so much crazy here it makes Wiggy look semi reasonable and that takes some doing. Capper knocked down the main points, he just missed a couple….
In pretty much every business in America, there isa starting salary for each job, regardless of your skills, union or non union, is that free market at work?
We have so many people who apply to open teaching positions thanks to all of the lay offs the last couple years and new people entering the profession who did not have time to opt out into a different major after seein how you and your ilk treat teachers.
Why is a business degree nasty? I also have a business degree and am thankful that mine did not come from that same place that yours did. At least we learned econ 101.
spock i would love to see the teacher who makes $100k plus has 2 breaks and lunch…is that on Fantasy Island?
You guys should all be begging Kris beaver to run for School Board again!Posted by Jeff Simpson on December 16, 2012 at 0730 hrs
What’s your average work day Spock?
I work 10 hour days with no scheduled lunch or breaks. I need no pity because I have plenty of time for both. What sucks is the every other weekend…
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2012 at 0904 hrs
Curt-
Where were teachers making $80K? You make good points in that teachers are not the only profession that work long hours, and that teachers work 9-10 months versus 12, however I think you hurt your argument when you throw facts around.
I think in many places, teachers can make up to $60-65K, but i don’t think you’d find many teachers who make $80K.
And again, from my post above, talk about pension contributions/health insurance coverage pre-Act 10. Act 10 has fixed the problem with pensions and health coverage. Health benefits have been dramatically reduced making them in line with the private sector, and the WRS is now equivalent to an employee who contributes 6% to their 401k and gets a 6% match.
The overall point of the original article was that teachers are UNDERPAID. I think we’ve proven that false. However, I’d submit that people saying teachers are OVERPAID are also wrong. We’ve beaten the unions. No need to kick them when they are down.
As a side note, i’m also personally sensitive to the college students complaining because a 1st year CPA might make $45k, but a 1st year teacher makes $33K. I guarantee that a first year CPA works 3,000+ hours and is worked like a dog. On a per hour basis, CPA pay is actually shit until they get into very senior management or become a partner.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2012 at 1023 hrs
I live in Mequon, and when I check the journal database, all of my sons teachers were at the top of the pay scale. 78K, plus 40% benefits (the bulk of teachers are at the max). (the “average teacher there makes 46K, but that includes part timers, and some young teachers.) I looked around at a few other communities. The falls pays a little less (low to mid 70s, but their benefits are in the 60% range) I do think young teachers pay is pretty low (as are many fields) perhaps even too low. But that is what the union negotiated, to enable them to pay tenured teachers really high wages.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2012 at 1309 hrs
BlueDog, I don’t think I’m making stuff up. I’ve got one friend whose parent was a longtime MPS teacher. He was pulling down what had worked up to an $80k a year pension. He passed away and now his wife is getting that same pension under survivorship rights and could possibly get that payout for many, many years.
During the ACT 10 protests there was a teaching couple in Sheboygan that were whining about Scott Walker and saying they would retire. One was 59 and the other 55. One taught high school and the other grade school. If I recall, his published salary was $84k and hers was $72k. If they retired the paper calculated they would receive approximately $125,000 a year in pension income not including the healthcare benefits. A number of MATC instructors have very rich pensions in excess of $100k a year.
Just as Obama has done a wonderful job pitting the haves versus the have nots, the public workers with these defined pensions are going to face the same class warfare. The stock market returns the last twelve years have stunk and could very well be horrible the next decade in this no growth economy. There are going to be millions retiring with 401(k)s that haven’t gone anywhere and are dwindling down.
People ask why Scott Walker won in a State where Obama won. Simple, he was able to successfully and correctly cast the public employee crew as the one percent. People who were losing their own jobs and affluence got tired of paying higher taxes year after year to support it.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2012 at 1353 hrs
The average compensation of a West Bend teacher is 100,000 when standardized to a 12 month work year.
http://lbstat.dpi.wi.gov/lbstat_newasr
Let’s start with facts and work from there.
Again, let’s start with facts on West Bend. Starting wages for graduate teachers are extremely low. This is a built in diversion because no teacher actually gets paid that salary.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2012 at 1441 hrs
And again, from my post above, talk about pension contributions/health insurance coverage pre-Act 10. Act 10 has fixed the problem with pensions and health coverage. Health benefits have been dramatically reduced making them in line with the private sector, and the WRS is now equivalent to an employee who contributes 6% to their 401k and gets a 6% match
1st. Act 10 for the most part has not changed what teachers pay for health care coverage or the overall quality of that coverage. What it did was bust the monopoly. School dist. were being grossly overcharged so the unions could funnel money back to pols and skim off the top at the same time.
2nd. Very few in the private sector are seeing a 6% match. I’d say the average these days is south of 3% for those who are getting a match.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2012 at 1501 hrs
“My friends who teach introductory classes at universities would be happy to tell you all about just how badly under-prepared high school teachers are leaving their students. Lots of variables in play there, but I think we’d be crazy not to consider whether the quality of our teachers is a big part of that problem.”
One of the variables is the number of quality students who do not have access to low interest student loans as was in the past. Tuition assistance from the taxpayers has gone down. Health care costs have driven up worker costs for k12, University and tech teachers/instructors/professors. Good luck finding the assistance students received when Grothman went to college at UW Madison in so far as loans and tuition subsidies.
Another variable if the molding of curriculum to suit legislators and the public’s infatuation with state test scores. Meaningful college preparing curriculum that cannot be efficiently tested is being pushed out. Extensive writing practices and research based writing are are being pushed out.
Another variable is when the courts determined special needs students should receive the same education as regular students, the courts never determined a way to pay for the often extensive/expensive specials needs students’ needs. The money then came from the other programs.
Some special needs students receive a pass because the parents are some of the squeakiest wheels in their districts, and there are plenty of attorneys to back them up. Private schools have their battles, but this is not one of them.Another variable is the parents who refuse to leverage their children into technical school because they think tech college is beneath college. Hundreds of students who would have benefited greatly from tech schools are left burned and in debt from a college.
Another variable is the number of employers demanding college education for jobs that did not require college ed before.
Another awesome variable coming up is THE MANUFACTURERS TAX CREDIT. It will “virtually eliminate
the tax on income derived from manufacturing activity in Wisconsin.” A percentage of the state revenue these taxes created went towards public education, college and tech schools. I foresee our governor watching the public education systems trip up with higher state standards demands, less state assistance, a state performance score card, and voucher and for profit schools proponents salivating for a piece of the dwindling pie....and then there those goddam teacher unions.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2012 at 1503 hrs
Education and professionalism are the two key elements that lead to default performance for a high salary. It is natural that with a high salary, your demands will grow. For example, a property in Punta del Este Real Estate increase self-esteem and image in the society.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2012 at 1535 hrs
I’ve taught at two major midwestern state universities on and off for more than 20 years. The general level of students coming in has degraded significantly. The “professional” performance of teachers over the last 20 years has been horrid.
Not that you could tell it from what the colleges are putting out. Not that you can tell that from the grades Colleges of Education give their students, it’s the easiest major out there. And all those teachers who complain about low pay for graduate degrees? I laugh at their lack of rigor! Where I last taught, the graduate students in Education averaged 3.99 for a GPA.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 16, 2012 at 2318 hrs
It is probably not because of a union contract that all teachers in West Bend make the same starting salary. That’s simply how the civil service system works.
Are West Bend teachers even operating under a union contract anymore?
Posted by Jack Craver on December 17, 2012 at 1033 hrs
‘Steve Austin wrote, “Wisconsin State workers have a hard time understanding how much money a private sector person has to save in a 401(k) plan to equate to a $80,000 dollar a year lifetime pension that kicks in at age 55. The average person in “business” probably has to get a nest egg of at least $1.5 million to cover that type of pension over a projected 25 year life span post retirement at 55.”
The problem is, it’s all but impossible to calculate the value of such
a retirement plan because no financial institution will sell you one.For what it’s worth, for about $1.75 million you can buy a single life annuity that will pay about $80,000. per year (for the rest of your life).
BUT your government pension will have a COLA every year, year after year- a feature which is simply unavailable in the private annuity market.
AND your government pension will provide a rich medical plan until you reach Medicare age- and, again, you just can’t buy a ten-year medical insurance plan.
In short, a government pension is so rich that no financial institution is willing to sell anything equivalent to it.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 17, 2012 at 1417 hrs
albi:
You are playing pretty loose with your “facts”.. State retirement doesn’t have an automatic COLA. For you to say that shows your ignorance. Per 2008 retirees have been taking a cut every year.
And few if any teacher or retirement plans have any guarenteed health care until Medicare. Mine doesn’t.
SteveAustin:
Can you prove that a teacher with a $84K salary gets a $125K pension? I would like to see your calculations.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 18, 2012 at 1012 hrs
I think the biggest issue that this article brings forth is that fact that so many people, including this blogger, don’t value education.
Let me tell you about an average day in my life as a teacher in a non-union school district. I wake up at 5:30 am, leave for work at 6:30 am, stay at my school from 7 am until 7:30 p.m. at night. I have kids in my classroom from 8:45-4:30 and have a 30 minute duty free lunch break. After I leave work I go to the gym and get back to my apartment at 9 pm. I do 2 more hours of grading or planning, and go to bed. On the weekends, I sleep in, and spend about 12 hours over the 2 days combined back at my school preparing materials and lessons for my students so that they will do well on standardized tests that do not measure their intelligence or effort in school. Regardless of the fact that I am an exceptionally hard worker and that every other teacher at my school works just as hard, the general public does not value the work that I do. To them I am lazy and the fact that my students can’t pass a standardized test that was created by individuals who have no business being involved in education is the measure of how successful I am at my job. I have a week long break for winter holidays right now, and have spent about 35 hours so far working on materials. My summers off are spent working an hourly job so that I can make ends meet after the 30K I take home during the school year, or the roughly $12 an hour that I get paid for “babysitting” 27 students in a classroom. I am not part of a union. The reason I am paid so low is because my school receives insulting amounts of money from the state to function, and we have to pay the bills to keep our school heated and to keep computers functioning before we can talk about compensating teachers for the amount of work that we do. The reason that the state gives us such little money is because YOU the taxpayers demand that we somehow educate our students to today’s standards without actually making an investment in those schools. Schools only function now because of the incredible dedication of teachers. I am positive that after this post there will be posts from people telling me that they personally know lazy teachers and that my case is exceptional, but from lived experience it is not. I challenge those of you out there in the boots and sabers community to put aside your prejudice of teachers the next time you see one, and don’t make the conversation about money. Commend them for the hard work that they do, and make a pledge to them that you will work harder to make education a priority in our community.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 29, 2012 at 0929 hrs
I have a good friend, Bob. Bob owns a local retail/contract home building business. Bob is probably one of the nicest guys I know. He’s owned his business for probably twenty years. He’s also widely known as the hardest working guy in town. He’s active in the local Lions Club (as am I) and he and his wife are also extremely active in their church. He’s been the parade organizer in town on and off for many years.
Bob is the entrepreneur, the risk taker; something completely and totally unfathomable to so many. And his biz, after twenty years, isn’t sustainable any longer with this wicked housing market. A month ago, his wife went to the hospital with chest pains ultimately related to stress. The building he owns where he houses his business now has ‘space to rent’. His home that he has owned for twenty years is now for sale, only because he needs the money desperately. And now he was hired on a crew by a competitor to make ends meet.
JSM, when you are done patting yourself on the back, and drowning in your own tears…. note that people in the private sector… well, let’s just say that your dribble isn’t doing your cause any favors. The private sector has provided very little job security over the last few years (a concept almost completely foreign to public employees).
So go thank a business owner, or hell - thank a private sector worker, for taking on risk and providing the tax base so that you can do the job you love, which is teach kids.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 29, 2012 at 1902 hrs
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