Posted on 05/30/2012 8:23:33 AM PDT by MichCapCon
Rockford Public School high school teacher Craig Beach wrote a column for MLive in which he alleged that Republican lawmakers are ruining the teaching profession and talked about a colleagues daughters views on teacher pay.
Beach quoted the young woman criticizing the teaching professions extremely low pay with I want to eat and have a life.
The article quotes the young woman as saying: Mom, I know what goes into the profession. You demonstrate the many hours put in after leaving school, the stress, the lack of respect and now extremely low pay. I want to eat and have a life. I am not ready to invest another $20,000 to make what you do."
A first-year teacher at Rockford with a bachelors degree would have a starting salary of $37,184 and that would bump up to $40,537 with a masters degree.
According to PayScale.coms 2011-12 annual survey of undergrad college degrees starting median salaries, that first-year Rockford teaching salary is on par with degrees in advertising ($37,700), biology ($37,900) and human resources ($37,900). The Rockford first-year salary is better than the median starting salaries for degrees in fashion design ($36,300), health care administration ($36,700), hotel management ($36,100) and public relations ($35,500).
And that first-year teacher wouldnt stay at that starting salary for long. The average teachers salary in the Rockford School District was $62,351 in 2010-11, according to the Michigan Department of Education.
Leon Drolet, president of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance, said he agreed that the young woman Beach highlighted would not be right for the teaching profession.
She should not be hired (to be a teacher), Drolet said. She should take a job where she can eat and live and let someone else who can eat and live on $50,000 and $60,000 a year who is eager to do that job at that salary. I would be interested to find where those places are. If they know of a secret place that gives them more pay, gives them better benefits and gives them more time off, they should go there and let people who are interested and passionate about teaching have those jobs. Let them go to their secret, mythical place.
Beach didnt respond to a request sent to his school email address seeking comment.
Gosh I checked my property tax bill and schools get 75% of my property taxes. And they are spending 1 million on a stupid walking trail here in town. Seems like they get enough. If they could be fired for failing that would be great, but they can not. I have no pity on the teachers they make way to much for the hack job they do. I had to pull my kids out of public school because it was FAILING TO EDUCATE them. I still have to rent my house form the state even though I don’t use public education and never will. If I didn’t have to pay for the public public schools I would own my house and not have to make a monthly payment to the state.
I am tired of hearing how bad it is for public school teachers. The fact is they are protected from losing their job no matter how badly they do their job.
It’s the parents’ fault.
$37,184.
$100/day.
Food: $3 (see tagline)
Entertainment: $1 (RedBox DVD rental, plus book from library)
Housing: $25 (http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/)
Taxes: $25 (assuming 25% net tax bracket)
$46/day left over. Plenty to work with.
Both my parents were teachers and my wife was a teacher. I have the utmost respect for teachers that really want to teach. But as my dad, who later got his Doctorate and taught elementary education, would say “There are two types of people that want to become teachers, those that love to teach children and those that want summers off. I would add a third category....those that want to coach, but you get the drift.
Teachers receive their salary for a 9 month season. The remaining 3 months is available for other pursuits...toward masters degree, certification in any number of specialties that carry pay differentials, or just a joe-job to get away from the little monsters for a bit.
It is more likely that the huge number of administrators at all levels, with considerably higher salaries, is the main reason teachers are paid what they perceive as so little. Those high administrator salaries (too many and most are redundant/superfluous) keep the school districts from applying monies to programs.
Finally, going into teaching is a great deal like going into the military. One should know it as a more honorable than remunerative profession.
If ya ain’t doin it cause ya love it, the money ain’t gonna matter.
All anyone has to do is be the daughter of a former president, and they will draw a six figure income right out of college (gotta be sure to pick the right ex pres.)
Oh, I hate that line. (Nothing personal, just ranting at the recurring meme.) Have you SEEN the price of cat food? in human-sustaining quantities? Frozen mixed veggies are cheaper. A big sack of rice or flour is a LOT cheaper per pound. Follow my tagline and you'll eat way better for much less than the old "forced to eat cat food" line.
Good heavens - considering the fact that they only work barely nine months a year whatever they make is excellent. Plus taxpayers pay for most of their insurance and retirement. With the addition of all the food service at schools now a lot of them get their breakfast and lunch for free too. Lots of folks would be more than happy to trade places with them. Somebody needs to give them a reality check.
Don’t forget the $9000/yr. for birth control. :)
Charlie LeDuff eats cat food.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDqu8tXrQWU&feature=related
I’d give Charlie a national show for the way he hammers Detroit city officials.
MI spends about 12K per year on each student.
For a class of 20 that’s 240K.
They pay the teacher 40-60K......
Where did the rest of the money go?
of course, that job doesn't exist except in the teaching jobs....
what a laugh...
I’m sorry, but there is a LOT of ignorance on this thread - including yours.
Have you ever known what teachers have to do OUTSIDE of the classroom (lesson plans, PTA meetings, supplementing school supplies supposedly provided by the State) or OUTSIDE the “barely nine months a year” timeframe you talked about?
A good chunck of the month before school “starts” is usually spent by teachers/school staff preparing for the year.
All of what I referred to above is unpaid.
I’d also like you to provide proof that teachers get “their breakfast and lunch for free too.” I’ve never heard of that.
To say nothing of fatal fries and mystery meat masquerading as “lunch.”
The real purpose of this is to argue for raising the starting salary, SO THAT the unions can raise ALL salaries in the pay scale by the same percentage.
Hardly anybody gets a starting salary that will support a family. Teaching is no exception. She should live frugally until she gets her first two years of experience.
In NYC, teachers advance two salary steps per year, according to a salary schedule that has a new teacher with her Bachelors degree making $45K. After four years and getting her masters, that jumps to $56, finally topping out at 100K
I went to my daughters teacher parent conference because my wife had something going on that day. The moment I walked in the room, I swore she *gasped*. She was so surprised to see a father show up to one of these conferences she didnt know how to act. She automatically became defensive. You cant stereotype all teachers because I have communicated with some before who were not like this, but I think many of them are so sheltered from the real world, having a conversation with a man they automatically think the man is trying to boss them around and tell them what to do. I dont think they know how to communicate with men.
From that moment on, my wife has been doing all the communicating with our childrens teachers. If I have something to say, I have her e-mail them.
To administrators who get paid 2-3 times as much as the teachers do and their pensions.
I think the big problem is that it’s publically funded and that is what people have a problem with. They might make wrongful assumptions and accusations, but that is b/c they are frustrated. Teachers are complaining about pay as if it’s their right, but yet we are the ones funding them. As previously mentioned, our taxes for school are insane, and apparently not working b/c the school system is failing (low test scores, etc).
If any private company decides to use the same setup for pay, benefits, hours, etc as teachers get, no one hear would have a problem what-so-ever. None. But the fact that it’s funded by us, that bothers us. That bothers me. You don’t run a business with the model teachers, unions, schools use. Why should we let them run their business like that when we are funding it? It’s a cancer that is draining.
I can relate to that.
When I have gone to “parent-teacher conferences” with the ex-wife for our kids, my ex-wife (special ed teacher) was expected to “manage” me.
I understand the frustration. I share it.
I also understand the other side, because I was married to it.
After how many years?
Do you understand how much $$ it takes to live in NYC or across the river in NJ?
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