OPINION
Facts versus fiction on teacher salaries
The following is a Counterpoint:
By Ryan Monson
Regarding Charles Davenport’s May 31 column: I can’t recall ever reading an article with so many skewed “facts.” I would like to focus on four of them.
“Fact”: Teachers are whining because they are getting a .5 percent pay cut.
Truth: Teachers are not simply concerned with a 0.5 percent pay cut; they are concerned with the state taking $1 billion away from education next year, which will mean teacher layoffs, increased class sizes, a 4.5 percent pay cut, and many other cuts that will negatively affect teachers and students.
“Fact”: Teachers work 25 percent less that the average person and get compensated more per hour than engineers.
Truth: If you look at the minimum required hours for teachers you could make this claim; however, no effective teacher works these hours. After school I put in an average of two hours each night. I also spend about eight hours each weekend doing schoolwork. My average work week during the school year is more than 60 hours.
Over the course of a year I work 420 hours more than a person who works a normal, 40-hour work week and this doesn’t count time working when I am on “vacation.”
“Fact”: Teaching requires no special skills as shown by the success of home-schooling and private schools which require no teaching “credentials.”
Truth: In home schools and private schools, parents have a vested interest in their child’s education; the demographic of the children is different; and classes are typically small. In public school you often get little or no parental support; many students have no desire to be in school; and classes are much larger. Teaching a class of 30 unmotivated students with parents who are difficult to reach requires an extreme amount of specialized skills.
“Fact”: North Carolina’s teacher compensation ranks 14th in the country.
Truth: This statistic comes from a state political organization that skewed the numbers to get the results it wanted. A better statistic from teacherportal.com ranks North Carolina 23rd. North Carolina was once near the bottom of this pay scale and the students suffered because of it. Being in the top half attracts good teachers. Falling in rank will cause good teachers to leave, and hurt North Carolina’s children.
The writer lives in Randleman.
What do you think?
Comments
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Ryan Monson
July 1, 2009 - 2:08 pm EDTTruth is wrong. My annual salary can not be divided up to be paid over all twelve months because that was deeded illegal. So I am forced to be without pay for 2 months out of the year though I do budget for it so I am prepared.
rbennet
July 1, 2009 - 2:33 pm EDTTruth was wrong? It's illegal? You're "forced" to be without pay? Ryan, please cite your source and the statute. And you might want to talk to your boss about not telling you your options. I'm not a teacher but I found this in three searches. Google "summer cash"+nc+teacher if you want to find it on your own.
http://www.gcsnc.com/boe/2008/5_22/12_pay_opt_memo.html
Guilford County Board of Education, May 2008-
"North Carolina General Statute 115C-302.1(b), requires the Local Education Agency (LEA) to offer any individual teacher who is not employed in a year-round school, a payment plan in 12 monthly installments, if the teacher so requests. Guilford County Schools (GCS) has offered such a payment plan to eligible 10 or 11-month salaried employees (hourly paid employees and employees paid as substitutes have not been eligible for this payment option)...
The alternative 12-month installment plan that we intend to use is the State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU) Summer Cash Account. The SECU Summer Cash Account allows employees to have money deducted from their check and forwarded to the SECU. In the summer months..."
Link to SECU here.
http://www.ncsecu.org/DepositAccounts/SummerCashAcct.html
With 3.2% interest rates and no service charge. And no penalty for early withdrawal, either. That's much better than normal folks (read as "not teachers") can get with a money market.
truth
July 1, 2009 - 3:13 pm EDTThanks rbennet. Unfortunately, I do have to work during the summer and don't always have time to respond.
First I'd ever heard of it being illegal. Still waiting on the statute.
rahrah
July 1, 2009 - 5:35 pm EDTI don't know about statutes and legality, but my sister was a teacher in Iredell County for two years, 2006-2008. Her first year she had the option to be paid over 12 months. For whatever reason, that option was removed for her second year of teaching.
Ryan Monson
July 1, 2009 - 4:55 pm EDTPerhaps the statment that it is illegal was incorrect but it doesn't change anything. The IRS would take 20% of our income if we chose to get paid over 12 months. Guildford county does not allow employees or give an option to employees to defer compensation over 12 months. In other words, no teacher in Guilford County is allowed to get paid over 12 months.
rbennet, your link to SECU is a link to a bank. Our twelve month payment option is to put our money in the bank during the 10 months of the school year that we get paid for and make sure we don't spend it all. Sure it gets interest, thats what happens when you put money in a bank. If you get paid over 12 months and put some of that money in a savings account it will earn interest. Note your no penalty for early withdrawls statement. Of course there are no penalties, the money is in a money market. A bank is not a 12 month payment option, it is smart money management.
In addition, the interest rate is the regular interest rate for money markets at SECU.
rbennet
July 1, 2009 - 11:04 pm EDT"Perhaps the statment that it is illegal was incorrect but it doesn't change anything."
Here's the problem, though. It does.
I'm guessing you're rather young. Nothing at all wrong with the exuberance of youth, but you'll eventually realize how that one thing changed your credibility and, unfortunately, puts your entire LTE in a different light. For instance, I'm sure you meant the best when you wrote about your work hours, but we now know that you casually exaggerate. One is left to wonder about your "facts."
Ever heard of The Rule of Holes? Always know when to stop. Here's an example. You wrote:
"In addition, the interest rate is the regular interest rate for money markets at SECU."
But if one clicks www.ncsecu.org and looks to the middle-left box the rates are clearly listed. And the money market is 2.00/2.02 APY. An entire point less than the teacher-only "Summer Cash" offer. If you click on "More Rates" in the bottom of that box-
http://www.ncsecu.org/RatesAndFees/DepositRates.html
you'll see that your teacher-only "Summer Cash" rate tops everything. The money market, the IRAs, even the 60 month CD.
You're a teacher. Maintain the public assumption of smart lest others begin to wonder if being overpaid is an issue.
Ryan Monson
July 1, 2009 - 11:47 pm EDTIn my defense, the reason that I claimed it was illegal was because that was my understanding of it when it was explained to me that we could no longer choose 12 month pay. You pointed out that it was not and my information was incorrect. I didn't falsify anything, I simply misunderstood the reason why we were no longer allowed to choose 12 month pay. Now with your kind research I understand the actual reason that they don't allow it is because of the 20% tax penalty that would have been taken out of our paycheck because of deferred compensation.
I can get your next one too. Currently money markets are at 2.00/2.02 APY however we are in an economic downturn and money market rates fluctuate with the market. At the beginning of the school year the rate for money markets was the same as the rate for the teachers money market plan which teachers were allowed to enroll in.
I don't really appreciate the insults, but they seem smart and smug enough that you most have had some good teachers. I do appreciate you pointing out my mistake on the legality of 12 month pay, you taught me something I didn't know
rbennet
July 2, 2009 - 12:44 pm EDTThanks for the response. I meant the last line less as an insult and more as "make sure you've got your facts straight." We know you feel you're underpaid. I felt I was underpaid for most of my life. Ask around. You'll realize it's something you work into as you get older. Neat how that works.
And I liked how you turn it so that teachers get credit for my ability *to* insult. Well played. I'd thank dead authors, too. There's a problem, though. You can't pick and choose. If you go that route and you want your profession to take credit for my skill, you have to take credit for all the kids who can't read. Or can't find New York on a map (50%). Or who can't balance a checkbook. That's all because of teachers too, right? Or are the bad things the parents' fault?
Now, about using students for your personal financial gain...
Another question, too. Are teachers still receiving local supplements in addition to their normal state wage? What percentage? 11%? 12%
rbennet
July 1, 2009 - 11:26 pm EDT"In other words, no teacher in Guilford County is allowed to get paid over 12 months."
I'll ignore your "is a link to a bank" nonsense (unrelated, but it's a credit union and it's good to know the difference). You'll note I linked to the Guilford County memo specifically discussing their plan to make sure teachers, if they want, have a way to get paid over their long vacation. Quote from GC: "we intend to use." Plus the funds are deducted and forwarded directly to your account.
An aside- If you look at SECU's website you'll see non-teachers have no option for deductions directly to higher-rate CDs or money markets, but only (per SECU website) to lower-interest checking or shares.
You have an endorsed, planned, and approved educators' plan. Just like Prudential's 401k. Or do you dislike that similar deferral, too?
You wrote: "Our twelve month payment option is to put our money in the bank during the 10 months of the school year that we get paid for and make sure we don't spend it all"
How, exactly, is that different from Guilford County keeping the money to hand out? Other than you getting the interest instead of them... Wouldn't your paychecks be reduced to pay for your vacation either way? Are you suggesting that many teachers aren't capable of managing their money to last over the vacation? If your employer endorses and encourages it ("we intend to use") in order avoid tax obligations and to make sure you have continuing income over your summer break, then you have a plan (**earning interest**) and I don't see what you're complaint is unless you just enjoy picking nits.
(FWIW and depending on your presidential vote, the 12 months + additional tax responsibilities is your more patriotic option.)
Ryan Monson
July 2, 2009 - 12:01 am EDTI don't know exactly how the plan works because I don't use it but here is how I think it goes. Your money gets direct deposited into the credit union (I do know the different but in my youthful exuberance I thought that "is a link to a bank" was more poniant). Now that Guilford county has paid you your money, they are finished with the transaction. SECU takes your check and internally splits up your money into two accounts, your regular account and your teacher deferred account.
You may find this to be "picking nits" but the original statement was that we had the choice to get our pay over twelve months and we do not. If your employer says to you "We are going to pay you once a year and we think it would be a good idea for you to put it into Bank of America and spread it out over 12 months nobody would make the claim that your employer gave you a 12 month payment option. Teachers are perfectly capable of managing their own money and those that aren't are probably suffering right now or eating Ramen like they are in college, but the whole point is that the original statement was incorrect, not that I mind 10 month pay. I prefer 10 month pay but I still don't have the option for 12 month pay if I wanted it.
rbennet
July 2, 2009 - 1:06 pm EDT(Edited- I'd pasted an unrelated quote and removed it.)
We'll agree that you don't have the 12-month option older teachers *had in the past*. You probably don't use chalkboards, either. And you have air conditioning. Like 401ks, you have another option for your money now.
We also agree that if teachers are capable of managing their funds they'll be fine. So what's your point?
mighty1
July 23, 2009 - 3:13 pm EDTI didn't read anything here that said teachers were left without three months salary. The truth is that teachers still work when students are not in school. We go back to school before your student and are required to work after they have left. We have no magic wands that gets everything ready for your student, that takes required workshop/classes for us, or that packs it all up and makes sure you receive the grades for your child. They may be out of school, but we are still working. We plan during the summer, we catch up on the newest requirements and we do everything we possible can to make sure your child is getting the best they possibly can.
truth
July 1, 2009 - 12:56 pm EDTI know no fewer than 10 teachers and count them as good friends. I also think they are good teachers. Not a single one of them works an addditional 18 hours per week outside of the classroom. Each one of them has way more time on their hands than my other professional friends. Each one I know has time during the school day to complete work as the children are removed from their classes for media, pe, music, etc. That doesn't count the time when the kids are in the classroom working on their own or taking tests, etc.
Ryan may indeed work those hours. But it sure isn't what I'd consider the norm as my teacher friends range in age from 29 to 65 (and from teaching first grade all the way up to high school) and none of them work like that.
The teachers I know enjoy their summers immensely.
Teaching has its advantages and disadvantages like any other job. The profession seems to have more than its fair share of whiners.
If you don't like your job or feel underpaid or unappreciated, join the crowd. If you dislike it enough, seek another career. Otherwise, please stop whining. The rest of us are tired of hearing about it.
Ryan Monson
July 1, 2009 - 2:22 pm EDTIt all depends on what you teach. If you teach elementary school you have less necessary prep time, much less grading time, etc. however in return you run around frantically all day and your day is much more physically taxing. If you teach high school your prep time (including out of school time) increases immensly, your grading time is probably ten times greater, but your day is not as frantic and physically demanding.
I will ask again, when in the article did I whine? I was responding to an article in which the writer wrote many skewed or completely incorrect "facts" about my profession. I felt the need to correct those misrepresentation of my profession. If I wrote an article saying that engineering was easy and only stupid engineers who can't complete their tasks in a timely manner work more than 40 hours a week not to mention that engineers were overpaid and uniportant members of society who should go about their jobs with their mouths shut I would expect engineers to respond the the article with the truth about what engineers do. I wouldn't consider them to be whiners, I would consider them to be people who think their profession deserves its proper respect.
I would like to know what your ten teacher friends think of your claim that teachers who voice their concerns over a possible 10% pay cut, not to mention all of the other cuts to education are whiners.
Lastly, have we forgotten about the students. This isn't all about me and my teacher coworkers. Do none of you who disagree with me think that the drastic cuts to education will have immensly harmful effects on students?
rbennet
July 1, 2009 - 2:55 pm EDT"that teachers who voice their concerns over a possible 10% pay cut,"
Wait, you're up to 10% now? First it was 0.5%, then a looming 4.5%. Where did 10% come from?
"Lastly, have we forgotten about the students. This isn't all about me and my teacher coworkers. Do none of you who disagree with me think that the drastic cuts to education will have immensly harmful effects on students?"
Please stop using your students for your own financial gain. There's not a correlation between money spent and student performance. If there were, D.C. would have exceptional students. Want a study?
http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/education/2008_report_card/ReportCard_Correla...
"Specifically, the level of per pupil expenditures, pupil-teacher ratios, and teacher salaries has no impact on student achievement."
p133
Want some charts?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/05/23/school-spending.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-06-20-dropout-rates_x.htm#gr...
truth
July 1, 2009 - 3:20 pm EDTSorry, Ryan. Did not mean to imply that you yourself were a whiner. When I said "you", it was meant in a general manner towards previous whines we've all heard before.
I've seen a lot of things that were beneficial to students pulled over the years. Teacher assistants and tutors have been whittled away to near non-existence. There is a real problem with all the focus on special programs, "administration", ESOL, testing, etc that is creating a lot of the problems in public schools.
As for the benefit of the students, it is conceivable that the Easley administration actually hurt the students by increasing the cost of education by continuously giving teachers more and more raises. Now, there's less money to go around and teachers will lose their jobs and class-sizes will grow because the budget has to maintain these higher-paid teachers. Maybe an across the board paycut for teachers would help improve class-sizes?
mamaboilermaker
July 1, 2009 - 9:27 pm EDTRyan, I didn't think you were whining. My comments were merely to point out that all of us make choices and lots of us work hard. I think you are getting the accumulated, pent-up frustration of many of us who have to listen year in and year out about how uniquely hard it is to be a teacher. We don't read a lot of letters from convenience store workers, bricklayers, engineers.....
J D R
July 1, 2009 - 3:09 pm EDTNoe correctly states "other industrial nations are running circles around the US in academics, while spending less per student."
The kids also go to school for many more days, the parents impress upon their kids that school is important and the kids see the work required of others that didn't have the opportunity to go to school - they believe it.
On this matter, Neo and I are in total agreement, although I think the blame for America's trobles in this area can be spread M U C H further than his simple NEA and Liebural's scapegoats (with honorable mention to FDR and LBJ).
neocon
July 1, 2009 - 4:58 pm EDTIt's not JUST the NEA. Over the last 40 years or so, government rules and regulations put in place by physcobabble spouting 'child experts' have tied the hands of teachers to the point where discipline is a thing of the past.
I've done no research on this, but I'd be willing to wager that the countries that are running circles around the US still have strict rules when it comes to the classroom and the teachers there have the authority to enforce them.
neocon
July 1, 2009 - 5:01 pm EDTBTW, the 'board of education' when I was in school was about 3 feet long and had holes drilled in. .
J D R
July 1, 2009 - 5:28 pm EDTI'm sure that's true. No argument.
.. but that shows the problem isn't Public Education, it's the new-wave rules within America's Public Education.
Ryan Monson
July 2, 2009 - 11:40 am EDTLet me get back to the issue at hand. I have two points to make about the entire purpose of me writing the editorial in the first place.
1. In response to mamaboilermaker “I think you are getting the accumulated, pent-up frustration of many of us who have to listen year in and year out about how uniquely hard it is to be a teacher.” I do not think, nor do I believe that many other teachers feel that their job is uniquely hard. Like all jobs there are unique difficulties that teachers face but that doesn’t make their jobs harder than any other job just different. Teachers are in the unique position that they are the largest group of state funded workers (I didn’t look up this stat but I am assuming that it is true). Because of this unique position you and everyone else who has a vote have some bearing on what happens with teachers. You hear about teachers all the time because your voice in the matter is important. If you were an engineer and my opinion had some bearing on your boss’s determination of your salary and working conditions would you not come to me and state your case?
2. One of my teacher friends commented to me about the article and the online discussion afterward. She said “I find the comments interesting and the fact that yet again most of the people reading the article seemed to have missed the point that teachers and other state workers are taking the hit for everyone.” The point my coworker is trying to make is this: In this discussion we often get caught up in conversations about what is right and wrong about the education system, whether or not teachers are whining, whether teachers get paid over 10 months or 12 months, and whether teachers really work all that hard since they get so many vacations.
The real issue is this. The state is in an “economic crisis” and in an attempt to fix this crisis that state is looking mainly toward education and to some extent other state employees. This past school year the state took away .5% of teachers salaries and other state workers salaries. In addition to this the state took between 4 and 6 million dollars from the GCS budget half way into the school year after all of the money had already been allocated. The original talk was that they were going to decrease teacher salaries by 4.5% next year and 8.5% the year after. Newer talk has been to decrease teacher’s salaries by 10% next year. GCS budget has been drastically cut, so much so that we are concerned that we might have to ask parents to buy toilet paper (I hope this is a slight exaggeration but it is one of the concerns that has been voiced) before the end of the year. The states “education lottery” is probably going to be used to balance the budget rather than go to where it is supposed to go (not that it matters because the education lottery has always been a sham but that is another topic).
Here is the question that needs to be answered in all of this. Is it right for the state to choose one group of people and force them to be the fix in the budget while the rest of the citizens of the state get away without being affected (I am not talking about the effects of the economic situation which are being felt by all including teachers, I am talking about the effects of fixing the budget). Let’s say that instead of taking teacher’s pay and cutting it from between 4.5% and 10% next year they decided to raise taxes by 7% for every worker in the state. Would that be ok with you? Is it fair for one group of people to be “taxed” by receiving a pay cut while others in the state carry no burden? Of course if the state were to do this there would be a public outcry and many politicians would be out of jobs in 2-4 years. Instead they choose to fix the budget through education because, though we have the NCAE, we do not have a union and we have no real power. Most non teachers are ok with this because it doesn’t affect them financially. So I ask you this in closing. If the state were to decide to take up to 10% of your earnings, would you be ok with that? What if the state decided to take 10% only from people in your profession? That is exactly what the state is thinking about doing to teachers. If you would not be ok with the state putting the financial burden solely on you then I hope you could see the problem teachers (and certain other state employees) have with the burden being put solely on us.
rbennet
July 2, 2009 - 12:38 pm EDT"Here is the question that needs to be answered in all of this. Is it right for the state to choose one group of people and force them to be the fix in the budget while the rest of the citizens of the state get away without being affected"
No, and thanks for agreeing with your non-teacher co-workers throughout the state.
This is the first time in years the teachers have been treated the same as other state employees. Back then, when you were getting raises while they weren't, were you keeping the money or giving it to your school's janitors since they weren't getting a raise like you? How about the park rangers where you took your field trips who didn't get the same raises you got? Were you writing LTEs lamenting your better treatment?
You have an unanswered question from your "hours" post, too. Are you paid for the tutoring you do?
Ryan Monson
July 2, 2009 - 3:55 pm EDTI wasn't in the state for the entirety of the last 20 years when teacher salaries have increase but teachers were getting raises because NC was near the bottom of the country in teacher pay and people wouldn't teach in NC. The government had no choice but to increase the pay of teachers to a level where it was about equal to the level in other states. I have no idea if other state workers are equal in pay scale to similar jobs in other states so I can't speak on this issue. If you were an engineer and you were making money on the low end of the pay scale you could leave an find a job with a company that paid on the high end of the pay scale. The company that lowballed their employees would find it difficult to get workers. This is a problem that NC worked to fix over the last 20 years in education.
Answers to questions.
Yes we give money back to non teacher staff, several thousands of dollars a year as a staff.
No I do not get paid for tutoring nor does any other teacher. There is one exception to this. When EOCs come around we have a couple of teachers who stay after till 5:30 for 2-4 days and they get compensated, but the rest of the year we don't get paid. We also don't get paid extra for our manditory staff meetings, our work lunches when we meet with our like subject teachers.
All of those extra work days are often given up for workshops and meetings (save for the protected workdays that you can find on the calendar)
All teacher stay until 4:00 because we are required to. Our workday ends at 3:55 so no, I am not one of the few who stays this late.
I don't understand why the same people who say "if you don't like it do something else for a job" are the first ones who complain about all of the benefits that us teachers get. If you think our benefits are so much better than yours, stop what you are doing, go back to school, and become a teacher. Our benefits have no bearing on wether the state is trying to cut our salaries by anywhere from 4.5% to 10%. Unless that is that you are talking about our health insurance benefits since we enrolled in a one year health insurance plan in January and then in June they told us we were going to enroll in a new plan with higher deductables because the state couldn't afford the old plan. Yeah they did that to us too (and to other state employees as well).
rbennet
July 2, 2009 - 9:29 pm EDTYou "have no idea"? Rule of Holes.
If you want to be part of the blanket "teachers" ("as a staff") then it doesn't matter how long you've been in the state. If you were paid disproportionate raises as a teacher before this year's cuts then my statement applies. And I'm guessing you don't mind the blanket "teachers" bit because of your response about the janitor. Twenty years or three, I'm going to guess your answer is "no" to the question on writing LTE's demanding raises for non-teachers.
You seem to have known the janitors weren't getting raises. You said you gave them money. "No idea"?
I'm curious- Did you move here as a degreed adult?
So you preferred being treated differently from other employees before and you dislike being treated the same as them now? Interesting.
I'm not sure what your last paragraph pertains to. It doesn't seem to correspond with any of my posts.
Thanks for answering the question about tutoring. So all teachers are required to stay to 4:00. Are all teachers required to tutor?
And one more unanswered question from my 12:44 post:
Are teachers still receiving local supplements in addition to their normal state wage? What percentage of their annual wage? 11%? 12%
Ryan Monson
July 2, 2009 - 11:40 pm EDTAt first I put down information that was incorrect and later admitted my mistake and I failed the Rule of Holes. Then I don't know the information about something and I tell you that I don't know it and I again fail the Rule of Holes. Alas, I can't seem to follow the rules. I thought I stopped digging rather nicely.
An engineering company pays secretaries well but pays engineers poorly and as a result can't hire engineers. They fix this problem by raising the salary for their engineers. I don't know what is wrong with that. If the boss of the company was later to tell everyone they were getting a 10% pay cut, the wholse staff would be angry.
I will not comment any more on giving to none teacher staff members because I think I have over stepped my bounds by doing so in the first place, The only thing I will say is that it has nothing to do with the reasons you gave.
I did move here as a degreed adult. Unfortunately it was not under the best of circumstances. I was working for a charter school that closed in August leaving me without a job. NC was the first place where both my wife and I found a job (she also works for the state).
I don't feel I am underpaid. I think I am paid a fair wage and I knew what that wage was when I started. I have a problem with the state solving its budget problems by choosing one group of people and slashing their pay. If the state chooses to cut my pay to a point that I don't think is fair I will look for an opportunity to leave the state.
Schools differ in their start and stop time but all teachers at my school are required to stay until 3:55. All high school teachers are required to tutor.
As of right now there is still a supplement for teachers in GCS. It is around 10-11% depending on your length of service though this money comes from county taxes not from state funds. I don't think this is really relevant to the discussion because as I have already said, I think that I get paid a fair wage and the additional money is why I and others are teaching in GCS and not a neighboring county. If this was taken away as well, then we could be talking about a 20% drop in salary in one year which could have devastating consequences.
rbennet
July 3, 2009 - 2:18 pm EDTSplendid post. I'm a sucker for stating what is and nothing more.
The Rule of Holes is tricky. It's not so much about stating why you gave wrong information as it is about not continuing to talk about it. For example, Mark Sanford hasn't figured out the Rule of Holes.
"I have a problem with the state solving its budget problems by choosing one group of people and slashing their pay."
You have the problem with it now, and I'm glad. Please maintain that outlook when teachers are once again the only ones smiled upon by politicians seeking an always-reliable voting bloc. (Perdue, right?) Have the problem when you're being treated better than your co-workers, too.
I asked about the supplement because wages were voiced as a concern. The LTE only addressed the state's wage cut, but nothing about the additional $3-5k (or more?) that teachers get from local governments. That supplement matters in the discussion because your net amount is greatly increased by it.
All information needs to be known so that people can make a knowledgeable decision on the matter of your 0.005 pay cut. I'm guessing that 1/2 of 1% only comes from the state and nothing in the local supplement is affected, so you losing $15 per month might be viewed much differently when interested but uninformed LTE readers realize you're taking home an additional but unlisted $300 per month.
Note again that the janitors and park rangers don't get these supplements but still take the state's 0.5% cut, too.
Good discussion. Seriously. I hope you'll stick around.
mamaboilermaker
July 2, 2009 - 1:17 pm EDTRyan, it is not by my choice that you work in a government near-monopoly. I would prefer competition in education--not the current competition, where the government gets to spend way more per student than any responsible private school, but real competition where parents get to spend their child's education allotment on the schools they choose. My voice would say--privatize all the schools, fire nearly 100% of the Ed.D.'s in all the administrative offices, and set teachers free to teach. I don't WANT any control over your job, unless you teach at a school I have personally chosen for my own children.
I am a former homeschool mom, former magnet school mom, current Christian school mom, mother of 2 college students, spouse of a professor, and am a soon-to-be graduate student. I highly value education, which is why I despise what government has done to it!
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