Teacher Salaries: More Attention Needed to Specifics ( The Millionaire Next Door)

EducationNews.org ^ | June 16, 2006 | David W. Kirkpatrick

[wintertime]

One of the ongoing controversies in the public schools is the issue of teacher salaries. Teachers largely claim they are too low while taxpayers are equally vehement that they are more than adequate.

(snip)

Then there are the actual salary levels. Statistics in 2005 showed the average teacher salary in the nation was $46,762, ranging from a low of $33,236 in South Dakota to $57,337 in Connecticut. Even this ignores the additional compensation teachers receive as fringe benefits, which may add an additional 33% or more to the costs, primarily for very good retirement and health coverage plans. Further, averages include starting teacher salaries, which may begin at $30,000 or less, which teachers gladly mention, but ignore the high salaries of career teachers at or near the maximum on their salary schedule, important because retirement pensions are often based on the best three or so years.

(snip)

Last year, the New York State Department of Education issued a study that reported maximum teacher salaries in that state of $100,000 or more and median salaries as high as $98,000 per year. That is, there were districts, in Westchester County for example, where half of the teachers earned more than $98,000 a year.

A novel approach a few years ago by Michael Antonucci, director of the Education Intelligence Agency in California, compared teachers average salaries to average salaries all workers state by state. First prize went to Pennsylvania where the teachers received 62.5% more than the average employee. That difference is even greater when it is further considered that teachers average a 185 day work year while most workers put in 235.

(snip) Women who had been educators were 7.4% of the total deceased that year but 20.6% of them, nearly three times the statistical expectation were among the affluent few. Former male educators didn't do quite as well but even they were represented among the wealthy decedents by a ratio nearly 1.5 times the anticipated numerical ratio.

[maine-iac7]

However, to simply say because your a teacher you can't misspell words ...

Tee hee - "because your you're a teacher..."

There's that pesky grammar thing again.

Well, see, it's like this. This thread is about teaching, teachers, standards, etc., - so shouldn't errors in spelling, grammar and math be held to a higher level?

If the thread were about "global warming" (barf, excuse the example) wouldn't we object to junk science postulations?

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"Please explain to me how I can remain in the world without buying their product."

It's pretty simple. There are several oil companies and you are free to purchase products from any of them. With a little research you can even learn which oil company manufacturers of petroleum based products buy their petroleum from.

Most industries receive some degree of support and protection from government. Few of them are supported by property taxes and local taxes in the way that the state education establishment is. My grandson goes to a school that we pay for directly yet we still pay to support an administration heavy school district that we don't use and we are punished if we don't.

Are you part of the system?. I'm not flaming, just asking out of curiosity.

Michael Frazier

[bwteim]

I might agree with you if your talking about a writing an important assignment, etc. and there were gross mispellings. However, to simply say because your a teacher you can't misspell words on a Saturday morning on an informal board. Give me a break. Now your just nitpicking.

It's always to pick on the new guy....
Ahem, alvindsv, that really should be something like:

I might agree with you if your you were talking about a writing an important assignment, etc. and there were gross mispelling misspellings. However, to simply say [that] because your you are a teacher [that] you can't misspell words on a Saturday morning on an informal board [possibly missing a conclusion]. Give me a break. Now your you are just nitpicking.

Final point, FR is not an informal board. "Free Republic is the premier online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web. ". We do have threads that are formal, some are definitely informal, some defy classification. And, just like a new student in a classroom, as you begin to navigate the FR forums, you will encounter some rules that are written, and some are not written. You may not even know that you have broken a rule until someone brings it up. ;)

Welcome to FR, by the way!!

[freedumb2003]

If teaching is so plum why don't you try it? Both of my parents teach at a public school and have to put up with kids whose parents are elitist morons like you all day.

I see we have some ELSE with a gun to their head. Dang, I am going to look around avery time I see someone in the car with a gun to their head, I will know it is a teacher.

I chose not to teach because I chose a profession that works with my skills and interests AND provides a pretty good living.

If teaching is such a sacrifice, then suffer in silence.

[bwteim]

"It's always to pick on the new guy...."

And that of course should really be something like:

It's always *fun* to pick on the new guy....

Sheesh, it must be Saturday!!

[maine-iac7]

LOL

Good post!

[freedumb2003]

And I'm sick of listening to teachers whine about how little money they make when they only work 185 days a year and make more money than a lot of other people who work year round. In the school district where I live, the average teacher earns $52,000 a year plus benefits. If someone can't live off that, it isn't my problem.,

Substitute "Congressman" for "teacher" and make a few minor adjustments to the rest of it and I'll agree with you. ;-)

Name one Congressman who is complaining about thir salary (please provide a link) and whose stated work year is 185 days. The quality of what happens in a year may be up for debate but your parallel falls askew. Also, substitute "DMV Worker" or any other public servant -- but they don't complain the way teachers do.

[9999lakes]

Part of the system?
I don't even know what that means. Not education.

I work in the chemical industry, and certainly petro-chems ARE one of our main products. For info purposes only -- it IS one of the lines that has taken a big bad hit.

Acids and Alkalines up. Solvents down.

[RobbyS]

The "cushy" jobs are all taken. The jobs readily available are in places where you don't want to visit. Even in the good schools, the lack of respect that teachers receive is amazing. Even in the top 16 private schools, where teachers have degrees from the Ivies, they are treated like servants by the upper class parents. In the public schools they have the ignominy of being treated like servants by persons of no class whatso ever.

[WHESS]

I have been in public education for 29 years in a conservative county of a conservative state. Next year I will earn a little more than $58,000. I don't think that's unreasonable for someone with 29 years experience. It makes my eyes bug out when I hear about some teachers' salaries-are some overpaid?-I'll say! I think teachers' unions are full of whiners and bullies. I do not belong to the local, state, or national education association. I make a fair living and have good benefits for a 190 day/year contract with the state. I expect to retire next year after 30 years with a pension which won't allow me to totally retire, but it's more than a lot of folks get. Believe me, I am grateful for state benefits! I am gladly retiring, not because of the children but because nowadays, teachers teach when they get a minute from endless paperwork, stupid meetings, more paperwork, more stupid meetings etc. Our focus of actually teaching has shifted-it's no longer about the kids, it's bureaucratic you-know-what.
I have read this forum for years but have never posted. A very good friend of mine is a regular poster and introduced me to FR.
I know for a fact that there are teachers in this profession who are 'dead wood'-believe me, I've met my share-but that's the case in every profession.
What I resent, is that some of you make these SWEEPING generalizations about teachers (me) as stupid, lazy, money-grubbing, greedy liberal losers. You don't know anything about me, my politics, how I teach, what my successes are, how much time I spend on my job, what degrees I have earned, or anything about my work environment or my student population. There are big problems in public education today-believe me, I know that-I am in the trenches everyday. Teachers (at least where I work) don't make policy-they follow policy.
I would ask that you folks who insist on lumping all teachers into one big bag of worthless debris, reconsider what you're saying. Some of us (and more than you'd think)are really just doing the best we can under the circumstances we are dealt. And if you are so dissatisfied with things, get up from your computer, quit complaining and get out there and try to do something positive to change things.

[chalkfarmer]

What makes private schools so great, is that they control the clientele...public schools have to teach everyone, and you can't get rid of the sh*tbirds!

[bwteim]

Thanks. New signups such as alvindsv are always welcome - given all the intruders and disrupters who have been zotted so quickly in the past few weeks.

[RobbyS]

Call me a cynic, but I think that we should encourage drop outs from high school. Many of the brighter juniors and senior should be taking college classes, maybe even enrolled in college full-time. Many of the dimmer ones should be doing something else besides school.

[RobbyS]

He doesn't know how indifferent public high school students are. Many years ago I was doing student teaching. In the same day I observed senior classes in Highland Park(TX) High school (where about 0% were economically deprived) and in Jesuit High Schoool, a private school--same economic class. I was amazed at the difference. I doubt that things have changed, except for the worst.

[Amelia]

True -- private schools NOW generally pay less -- because less money is available. Take away the protected monopoly of the current gvmt schools? Money will flow to quality. That IS the benefit of the free-market.

I'm not sure that's true. In this area, the best private schools charge more than college tuition, and more than the average per-pupil expenditure of the public schools, but their teachers are paid less and have fewer benefits than public school teachers.

You're assuming that all the money that goes to public schools now would be put into vouchers, I think, which doesn't seem to be the way it works in areas where vouchers are currently available.

I'm guessing that people who are now willing and able to pay private school tuition would still be willing to supplement the voucher cost (which might keep their private schools more exclusive), but people who can't afford private schools now might still be relegated to sub-par schools.

That's all speculation, of course.

[RobbyS]

The vouchers would really help all those lower-class parents who are determined that their kids get ahead. They are a minority, but a significant one.

[ladyjane]

Welcome to Free Republic.

Not sure if you're male or female but if you're female it's worse here than you think. Not only are you a lazy good-for-nothing teacher but you're a money grubbing lazy whiner who can't hold a candle to Russian or Asian women.

If you're a guy, and especially if you like to hunt and fish, you'll be fully accepted as one of the guys within a few years!

There is no hope for you if you're a liberal! LOL

BTW we need some teachers 'from the trenches' on these threads! Stick around.

[luckystarmom]

Where is it a 9 month work year??? The teachers in California start in mid August, and end the school year in mid-June.

Lots of school districts also require the teachers to take courses during the summer, so that means they are working all year long.

[alvindsv]

Well, see, it's like this. This thread is about teaching, teachers, standards, etc., - so shouldn't errors in spelling, grammar and math be held to a higher level?

Perhaps if I were an English teacher or Math teacher I would perhaps see the point, but alas I am not, I am just a simple history teacher. Accordingly, if I get a historical fact wrong, by all means feel free to jump all over me, which I am sure you will.

I guess I just look at this way, I really don't give a rat's behind if I mispell words on this forum or not. I am not at work at the moment, thank you very much.

[WHESS]

Thanks ladyjane. From what I have read, this forum can be brutal-especially if you're in the education field. I'll tread softly...