Web site to reveal salaries (teachers' salaries)

Times Leader ^ | 1/22/2005 | BONNIE ADAMS

[LiveBait]

No kidding. Sure, some teachers are just riding the system, but having known several, the amount of work they put in during the school year is just ridiculous. 71K is a lot, but 25K certainly isn't, not for how hard they work!

[groanup]

In Georgia, teachers retire when they are 55 years old with almost 90% of their salary. That blisters me. They should have to work until they are 65. Can you imagine the reduction in our teachers' costs?

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Damn, that sunlight smarts when crud is exposed.

[Born Conservative]

Name calling is one of the most common lib tactics.

[arjay]

I am not whining. I am simply attempting to put things in persepective.

There are people who seem to think all teachers do very little work and get paid a fortune. That is not true.

You have to buy books, etc., but nobody is asking for your salary to be made public or holding you responsible for idiotic decisions made by the administration or the ignorant teachers union.

It is an unlevel playing field where one side gets to criticize the other, but when the other side defends itself, we are called whiners.

You might be well served to learn to engage in civil discourse, rather than angry rhetoric.

[esoxmagnum]

Sounds good...

Too bad the most popular bumper sticker for teachers here in Illinois reads:

The 3 best things about teaching: June! July! August!

My perception of public school teachers here in Illinois is that they are unqualified or motivated to have a real job. They are usually English or arts majors, who cannot function in the real world.

This is their way to get on the public teat. Once there, they cannot be removed.

Pedophile teachers here are commonly given early retirement, and almost never fired because the unions will fight tooth and nail (the cost is too high to fire a union employee)

Teachers who do not perform job functions are just left alone because they cannot be fired.

Teachers here in Illinois do not work late. In fact, they even give off days of school to hold Parent Teacher conferences (heaven forbid the teacher would have to stay late a few nights a week like they used to).

Teachers don't even have to drive to school when it snows, they have snow days. The parents are 1,000 students are supposed to find alternatives to watch their children or take a day off of work, because a teacher doesn't have the education to get his/her car out of the driveway (in Chicago where we have plows....)

Teachers here complain they only get the cost of living increase each year.... Most companies don't get that... And on top of that, they get step increases in pay, based on useless classes they take.... diversity, arts, etc. And these raises are automatic.

Here in Illinois, it costs an average of $14,000 to give an education to each child per year. Yes it is an abhoration that teacher should finance classroom supplies. Why is that public schools cost that much, deliver a crap product, and then need more money? Pensions pensions pensions ... exactly where our own social security program is headed....

How do catholic schools get by on $4,000 a year per pupil? And turn out a better student?

Because those teachers that teach in catholic schools truly are there FOR THE KIDS not the WELFARE.

I don't want to hear again "Its for the KIDS" when I see you driving your Cadillac Escalade with the bumper sticker that reads: "The best things about teaching: JUNE JULY AUGUST"

[rolling_stone]

Public education without the option of vouchers is like Social Security without the option of opting out...no competition makes for a poor product output...more government bureaucracy and waste...

[secretagent]

Separate school and State.

No compulsory attendance, no taxation, and sell off all the assets.

[paulat]

I am very happy to have my salary posted publicly.

[paulat]

It sounds like you have a pretty bad job. Maybe you should look into getting a new one....and into using italics or bold instead of capital letters (it makes you look like a crazy person).

I have a wonderful job...working for wonderful people!!! I don't whine about my job like you folks do. I accept that there are expenses in my job and I don't complain about them.

...oh, so, sweetie...i should use ital or bold or a few throw pillows here or there...but not something so gauche or outre as CAPS....

[paulat]

If I need manuals, supplies, etc., I PAY FOR THEM MYSELF!!!

Seriously? When I worked in industry, the company supplied all that.

You are SO out-of-touch! If you want to keep yourself current, yeah, the company might spring...but if you want to advance yourself...for the most part...you're on your own. Find out how much YOUR company will pay for your MBA.

[henderson field]

I'm sure you know that "No Child Left Behind" is federal code for "All Children Left Behind" since it is geared to the lowest common denominator. We need to prepare our children to work at their highest levels in convenience stores and fast-food restaurants.

[Tribune7]

It's public record and it has been done before. Let the public know why the teachers are going on strike or "working to rule"

[Eva]

I haven't posted this for awhile, but you have read it before, I apologize.



The quality of public school education is inversely proportionate to the growth of the NEA/AFT.

I have been repeating this statement for seventeen years, every time the subject of the NEA/ AFT or failing public schools arises. Fortunately for Washington State, we have been saved from some of the worst abuses of the NEA by the super majority rule for raising school taxes. Unfortunately for Washington State, we have some of the lowest paid teachers in the country. I have a proposal to do a kind of end around play on the NEA. My plan stems from an article that I once read in the Los Angeles Times that described a professional as one who follows a career which necessitates a university degree and puts public service before financial remuneration. By this definition there can be no such thing as a professional union.

I propose that we have two levels of teachers, a professional level and a union level. The professional level would be paid at a higher rate, would work a year around schedule and would be expected to work a professional work day, from eight to five. The union level teacher would continue to work the union schedule at union wages. The schools would be operated on a year around basis with summer sessions being offered by the professional level teachers. Special class offerings in AP classes, the arts, athletics, FFA, as well as remedial classes could be offered by professional level teachers.

Students could be offered the option of completing their education in less than the usual twelve years, or offered the possibility of attending year around classes on a part time basis while taking classes at a technical school or working part time or staying in school and receiving college credit for high school work. Schools which opted for this program could open their summer courses to students from outside the district for a fee.

The benefits of this type of program would be that the local school district would regain control of curriculum; better teachers would be inspired by the more professional level of pay; the choices and opportunities that would be offered to students would be greatly multiplied and hopefully inspire them to excellence. At the same time the union wage positions would still be open to teachers who prefer the shorter hours and long vacations while raising a family of their own.

[paulat]

You can thank Teddy Kennedy for that. He wrote the bill.

[RavenATB]

"Teachers salary postings do not paint the whole picture.

My wife pays for many of her school supplies out of her own pocket."

I used to be a public school teacher. I spent lots of my own money to make my school room a better learning environment, and to make my teaching more effective. I knew I'd have to do that when I began teaching--before I applied for the job. I didn't get into teaching first, knowing the situation, then bitch for the rest of my life because I had to buy the stuff I knew I was going to have to buy when I took the job. Why? Because I was a professional. I left that profession 24 years ago, and posts like yours remind me why I did. Most teachers I knew were more effective whiners than they were effective teachers.

With the dismal academic performance of most American public schools, buying a few supplies is apparently the best of what's contributed by some of today's teachers.

I've got a hot scoop for you. Those young lieutenants in Iraq who are fighting to defend your freedom...many of them make less per day than a starting teacher in most Midwestern states. And, they've all got a college degree plus specialized education and training beyond their baccalaureate study...more than most starting teachers can say.

You can find the pay and benefits charts for officers in any branch of service. If you've got a second lieutenant living next to you, it takes about one minute to find their exact pay on the Internet - http://www.dfas.mil/money/milpay/

When is the last time you heard some young officer whining because the public had access to his pay information?

When is the last time you heard some young officer complaining that his wife has to pay to have the oil changed in the family car, because he's not home to do it?

When is the last time you heard some young soldier complaining that someone else needs to pay him to get his rank and military insignias sown on his uniforms?

Most military personnel would kill to get the kind of health coverage enjoyed by most public school teachers. Instead, they get "TRICARE"...alias, Hillary-Care."

Do you have any idea what type of financial impact a military family faces when one parent leaves the country for a year?

Nobody's offering to pay for the extra day care, or for the maintenance on the car and house that needs to be hired now that the husband/father is out of country. Nobody's offering to pay for the extra cost of staying in communication with a husband/father/mother/wife whose on the other side of the globe. Nobody's offering to pay for the second income jobs are lost when a soldier whose working an extra job to make ends meet is sent overseas.

These young officers are fighting for your freedom, and fighting for their lives. Most young teachers' biggest concern is surviving the first couple years to reach tenure so they've got near-100% job security until they retire.

If you're concerned about the monetary outlay your wife is faced with in her job, tell her to stop paying her freaking union dues and put that money back in your pocket. Better yet, if its the money you're concerned with, tell her to get in to a full-time career.

Spare us your whimpering about buying pencils and paper. Start bitching at us when your wife gets deployed to the world's hottest combat zone for six months to a year at a time.

[RavenATB]

"I strongly believe ALL public employees salary, expenses, retirement and other benefits should be prominently displayed to the Public."

I completely agree. I've been a teacher, and I've been a federal employee. You, the taxpayer, pay my salary and benefits, and you have every right to know how your money is spent.

Even the President's salary/benefit package is public knowledge.

[RavenATB]

"At our school, we have to sign in. One year the board decided to make us sign out as well.

That lasted maybe 3 days, until someone pointed out to them that by law, if they made us sign in and out, they had to pay us for any overtime worked."

I'm fascinated. I used to teach school, and I was a salaried professional. I didn't have "hours." I worked what time was required to get my work done...regardless if it cut into my evenings or weekends.

Since when does a "salaried professional" have hours and overtime? And, just what were your "hours"?