Posted on 02/02/2007 5:20:28 AM PST by Zakeet
Who, on average, is better paid--public school teachers or architects? How about teachers or economists? You might be surprised to learn that public school teachers are better paid than these and many other professionals. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, public school teachers earned $34.06 per hour in 2005, 36% more than the hourly wage of the average white-collar worker and 11% more than the average professional specialty or technical worker.
In the popular imagination, however, public school teachers are underpaid. "Salaries are too low. We all know that," noted First Lady Laura Bush, expressing the consensus view. "We need to figure out a way to pay teachers more." Indeed, our efforts to hire more teachers and raise their salaries account for the bulk of public school spending increases over the last four decades. During that time per-pupil spending, adjusted for inflation, has more than doubled; overall we now annually spend more than $500 billion on public education.
The perception that we underpay teachers is likely to play a significant role in the debate to reauthorize No Child Left Behind. The new Democratic majority intends to push for greater education funding, much of which would likely to go toward increasing teacher compensation. It would be beneficial if the debate focused on the actual salaries teachers are already paid.
It would also be beneficial if the debate touched on the correlation between teacher pay and actual results. To wit, higher teacher pay seems to have no effect on raising student achievement. Metropolitan areas with higher teacher pay do not graduate a higher percentage of their students than areas with lower teacher pay.
In fact, the urban areas with the highest teacher pay are famous for their abysmal outcomes.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Plus a fat pension. :-\
My wife's school district is starting a Sick Bank this year. The bank is for all teachers to use if they need extra sick days. Primarily, it is for use by female teachers who give birth, and want a few extra days off with pay to spend with their newborns besides the standard two or three weeks maternity pay they get.
"Most interesting, I thought, was the brief paragraph discussing gains in students scores when teachers' pay was tied to student performance. Perhaps this should be the model of the future."
I don't think they allow them to separate them out any more do they? They used to have a "slow" class when I was a student but that was at the dawn of time. The teacher wouldn't have a chance if the class contained a bunch of borderline retards that held them all back.
I'll go you one better....last year my mom had a subarachnoid hemmhorage. She lived in Cincinnati but it happened in Indianapolis. At the time I handled payroll, billing and taxes for 2 companies (both owned by my boss) and had to fly back to MS from Indianapolis every monday, do the bills, do the invoicing and do the payroll and fly back to Indy on tuesday noght or wed morning. When mom did die (4 months later) I spent the entire morning of her funeral on the phone with a girl here, walking her through payroll.
THE BEST BENNIES AVAIL!!!
"Teachers work about 9 months out of the year."
They work less than that. I've got three living on my little cul-de-sac and they "seem" to be off on every Fed holiday, Christmas week, spring break and all summer. I'm amazed when they are in school.
But that is how long their contract is for. If the teacher wishes to go to school for self improvement, that is also paid for them.
Personally, I think $100/hour isn't enough. But that's just me. I'd like the teaching profession to pay enough to that we get more than the people who fit the classic cliche, "those who can't do, teach".
In Ohio at least, their salaries are paid over the entire year.
I can agree with every point except the last point. I've been an RN for 18 years, and am still several dollars/hour away from $34/hour.
I would like to see teachers be able to bill each student like other professionals. Billable hours would be great if you look at the time my wife puts in. She works at least 1-2 hours each night of the week and is at school at least 1 hour early and late each day. She would like to teach in a district that has not evening activities and has one of these mythical 3 month vacations. She would also like a summer with no continuing education or meetings. O and eliminate having to call parents at night because they can't be bothered during the working day. Their job is too important to be bothered by the teacher of their child.
In most areas, teachers are paid similar to, or better than, other non-business/non-medical degreed professionals.
Are they underpaid? Not in most areas.
I will admit that in places like Massachusetts and California, they're underpaid, RELATIVE TO THE COST OF HOUSING AND COST OF LIVING.
I've heard multiple stories about San Francisco teachers who have to live all the way out in Modesto because you can't afford even a cheap ghetto apartment in San Francisco on a teacher's salary.
$34/hr wouldn't be subject to questions and complaints if most turned out a good product. Fact is, most do not teach the children adequately for any suitable purpose.
(Teaching the kids to be good global citizens doesn't qualify as suitable.)
With all due apologies to those dedicated teachers that do their jobs because they love it.
All these arguments from teachers and teacher's spouses, brothers, sisters, etc. stating you can't really calculate and use an hourly rate to compare pay demonstrate just how badly the American system of education has declined. Calculating rate of pay - do not include emotional feelings. They are mathematical calculations. Trying to justify special pay consideration with heart tugging stories of mental, emotional burderns is PC run amok. If you don't want to do the work, don't take the job.
These bogus arguments about how just because there is no school for 2-1/2 to 3 months, they are actually 'working' are indefensible in any logical or rational sense. No professional puts in an 8-hour, 5 day workweek. Every professional is expected to put in their OWN time to keep educated in their field. No other 'profession' has 2 to 3 months free from actually working at their job to maintain their expertise. In IT, you're lucky if you can get by with 10-12 hours per day and 6 days per week in a salaried position.
Teachers and government hacks get paid what they get paid. If they don't like it, get a job in the DPS ('dreaded private sector') as Howie says and deal with it. There is a reason why teacher unions are so big, strong, vocal, and protective of a competition-free, no performance evaluation environment. It certainly isn't because of the fantastic product their members deliver.
"Three months off is a benefit, not a penalty.
$34 an hour isn't the equivalent of anything. $34 an hour is $34 an hour. Period."
Indeed.
There are some good points to what you say.
However, in MY name-droping 2nd-hand experience, my mother was a teacher all her life except for a few years trying to make it in real estate. She taught all levels in her career, but the dominant theme was emotionally disturbed - and she became "teacher-in-charge" at the special (albeit small) attached school for ED teenagers for 15 years.
The worst part (as far as "hours") for my mom was the extra time at night actually taken for checking papers, etc. Otherwise, it was basically strictly her specified duties DURING school hours. This was certainly true of all the other "plain" teachers. I also knew her underling teachers pretty well as well as my own HS teachers, because my mom's ED school was attached to my HS administratively.
And let's not forget not every teacher is in HS. There are ES and MS that hardly do anything truly extracurricular.
And MANY did NOT "work all Summer". My mom didn't, and neither did any teacher she worked with.
At the rate schools are performing, I wouldn't say teachers are underpaid. My mother was a great teacher (she even has a boy from her last ED MS who visits her still 5 years after she retired), but far too many aren't. Of course, it's not all teachers' faults, but they're part of the cycle.
When that changes, maybe we'll talk about higher pay. My mother, incidentally, would agree.
Per hour is THE proper way to look at it, not "annual".
If you look at overpaid baseball players, you'll see how FAR overpaid they are when you consider they only "work" 6 mos. of the year.
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