Posted on 09/18/2014 12:53:49 PM PDT by MichCapCon
The Detroit Free Press recently reported that teacher salaries in Michigan have dropped 8 percent from 1999 to 2013 when factoring in inflation.
The average teachers’ salary in Michigan was $49,044 in 1999-2000 and increased to $61,560 in 2012-13.
But the gap in pay between teachers and the average worker has increased significantly over this time period. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, teachers now have 23 percent higher salaries than the median household income in Michigan, which was $50,115 in 2012. This is higher than in 1999-2000 when teacher salaries were 10 percent higher than the median household income of $44,667.
In 2013, the latest data available, the average private-sector worker’s annual pay in Michigan was $46,659 – about $15,000 a year less than the average teacher’s salary.
While some teachers may not be happy with the rate of which their salary is increasing, that discussion can’t be held in a vacuum, says one advocate for businesses in Michigan.
Charles Owens, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said the 14-year comparison of teacher salaries in Michigan done by the Free Press includes a time when the state was leading the nation in unemployment for 45 consecutive months from May 2006 to January 2010.
“You are going through the (former Gov. Jennifer) Granholm 'lost decade' when people were losing their jobs and leaving the state,” Owens said. “They can’t keep up with inflation when everyone else did worse. When you make these comparisons, you have to consider the private sector. They always want to compare in a vacuum. That’s not the real world.”
Teacher compensation is a complex discussion in Michigan, where school districts in the same county can have a difference of $23,000 in their average teachers’ salary. Also, salaries don’t include all compensation for teachers. In Troy Public Schools, a teacher with a $102,800 annual salary also has retirement costs of $22,000 a year and another $20,500 a year for health care costs.
In Michigan, public school teachers almost across the board are paid mostly based on years of service and level of education. Therefore, the teachers with the most experience make the most money. So if the percentage of older teachers drops, so would the overall average teachers’ salary even though it doesn’t necessarily mean individual teachers are making less.
There are fewer teachers 50 years and older than six years ago in Michigan. In 2007, 33.5 percent (37,358 teachers) of the teachers in Michigan were 50 years or older. In 2013, that number dropped to 27 percent (27,383 teachers). The loss of 10,000 of the highest paid teachers in the state (50 and older) would almost certainly reduce the average teachers’ salary over that six-year period.
But average salary doesn’t cover the wide range of salaries that are found in union contracts throughout the state.
In Berrien County, for example, the average teacher salary for New Buffalo Area Schools was $66,263 in 2012-13, the latest year salary data is available from the Michigan Department of Education. At Benton Harbor Area Schools, the average salary was $43,118. The cities are 32 miles apart from each other.
The starting salary at New Buffalo Area Schools is $36,961 and the top of the scale is $75,068, according to the union contract.
The starting salary at Benton Harbor Area Schools is $31,582 and the top of the scale is $59,375, according to the union contract.
The top salary for a teacher in Royal Oak is $85,964. In Livonia, the top of the scale for teachers is $82,984. In Eau Claire Public School, the most a teacher could make at the top of the pay scale was $55,772 in 2013.
And teachers can earn much more during the course of the year by taking on additional responsibilities. For example, the top paid Troy School District teacher made $120,321 in annual salary in 2013, even though the top-of-the-scale salary in the union contract is $97,746.
Unfortunately, teachers are banned for life from ever leaving their jobs and seeking employment in the “private sector.”
Oh c’mon, it’s not easy teaching Mexicans English during class and converting Christian kids into Godless Marxists!
To be fair, all teachers are college graduates, so comparing them to the median income is not really relevant.
Comparing their salaries to people with a comparable level of education would be more revealing than comparing them to a pool that includes gum scrapers and welfare moms.
Many Teachers in ny get over 100k
So?
“.... when factoring in inflation.”
There is no inflation.
Teachers drive nicer cars and live in bigger houses than I do.
Teachers work 9 months out of the year. Their salary is significantly higher than average, and they refuse to become professionals. Unions protect the worst teachers and refuse any talk of merit pay or formal review.
Unfortunate that the good teachers are hamstrung by their peers and the Democrats. Private schools pay significantly less and have better ROIs, but states are more interested in controlling the children than educating them.
So the make about 82K grossed up for summer. Not bad and just because they went to college doesn’t automatically equal XXX dollars
On the other hand, most teachers do not work the same schedules or number of hours in a year as do private sector employees, so perhaps comparing them to those working 40 hours a week, 50 weeks per year but just “scraping gum” is not out of line.
True, but they also work fewer days/hours than the average worker. I would like to see a comparison of the hourly rate.
The avg. American worker works around 230 days a year of 8 or more hours.
The avg. teacher works around 180 days of 7 or more hours.
I don't want to get into extra “unpaid” hours of lesson plans, grading,... That is not a constant as it varies widely based on the teachers commitment and how long they have been teaching a given subject. And many jobs outside teaching also require the employee to expend time and energy preparing for the workday.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate teachers. My parents were teachers and my wife was a teacher. I appreciated the long summers when my parents were off so we could travel all across the continent.
I just think an hourly comparison would be a better indicator.
...and to think “educators” only “work” about 8 months per year.
40 hours a week private sector jobs - LOL I’m dying - since when .... hahahahah. Note this works both ways.. Hourly aren’t not currently getting 40 hours and salary are not allowed to work less than a number greater than 40 hours to survive.
I don’t want to get into extra “unpaid” hours of lesson plans, grading,...
and
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate teachers.
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Yea, and I come to bury Caesar not to praise him.
Refusing to count the hours that teachers actually work puts a big ole question mark to the 2nd quoted statement above.
But teachers are among the lowest-scoring of college grads, taking many of the most worthless classes as well—so averaging their salaries out with the general population is probably pretty fair.
Teacher pensions and bennies put the average private sector job to shame, too.
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