Unsustainable: Public School Teachers Make Twice the Private Sector Average

Rush Limbaugh.com ^ | December 15, 2011 | Rush Limbaugh

[Kaslin]

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: According to a new study from the Bureau of Labor statics, public school teachers are now the highest paid state workers. Public school teachers. In fact, public school teachers receive more than twice as much in average hourly wages and benefits as workers in private industry, on average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Public school teachers "are paid an average of $56.59 per hour in combined wages and benefits," which is twice the $28.24 an hour in wages and benefits paid to workers in the private sector.

Now, some of you are probably saying, "I don't understand, Rush. Why are you upset about that? I mean, I've heard you say that you're all for everybody doing well. I've heard you say you're all for everybody being as wealthy as they can get. Have you changed your mind, Rush?" No, I haven't. The problem with this is -- and I will say it again -- is that the people who earn $28 an hour on average are the ones paying the people making twice that. And we're not talking about evil CEOs. We're talking about these teachers' neighbors. With public school teachers we're also talking about a protected class of people. Whether you want to believe me or not, a sizeable portion of Obama's stimulus was earmarked for states to keep public employees on the job.

A sizeable portion of the stimulus was to make sure that teachers and other public sector employees did not lose their jobs. It wasn't out of compassion. It was pure politics. Every one of those teachers and every one of those public sector employees is a union member, and as such they have dues deducted from what they're paid, and those dues, as we know, all end up back in the coffers of the Democrat Party. And that is why the stimulus was structured so that public sector employees state to state would not be laid off. So the people who are earning on average $28 an hour are paying public sector workers $56 an hour on average, with the largest pay being for teachers. That can't go on. In any formal structure, that is not sustainable. I give you Wisconsin. And there will be other states. I give you the city of Detroit.

This kind of thing just can't go on. And that $56.59, don't forget, this includes pensions, lifetime health care that the people whose taxes pay these salaries are not given. They don't have lifetime pensions. They don't have lifetime health care benefits. They have to find that on their own. Now, while they have to pay for their own, they're also paying for the public sector union employees. So that's why it's just a little unfair, I guess -- let me throw that word in -- I like using that word. It's unfair. Well, the left likes to always tell us how unfair things are. This is the epitome of unfairness.

Now, let me add one more thing to this. In addition to public school teachers now being the highest-paid state workers at an average of 56 bucks an hour, according to the study by the Center on Education Policy -- which a nonpartisan think tank -- this year, "a record number of public schools failed to meet the adequate yearly progress benchmarks established by the No Child Left Behind Act." Forty-eight percent. For those of you in Rio Linda, it's almost half: 48% of all public schools in the country failed to meet the No Child Left Behind standards for reading and math proficiency.

So while teachers are making more than they have ever made with lifetime pensions and health care paid for by people who earn half what they earn, their job performance across the board on average -- on balance -- does not warrant this, in a merit sense. Amazingly (ahem), amazingly, Washington's public schools are ranked near the bottom. Eighty-seven percent -- 87% -- failed to meet the No Child Left Behind standards. In reading and writing and math, 87% of the students failed -- and we're not talking about standards that require you to be Mensa, here. Basically all you have to do is know how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich by being able to read "peanut butter" and "jelly" on the various labels.

Only Missouri, my home state can be did worse than Washington. That's right. Eighty-eight percent of Missouri schools are failing. You got me. Eighty-eight percent of public schools in Missouri are failing the No Child Left Behind standards, "even though, according to the Census Bureau figures in 2009, Washington is second only to New York in the amount they spend per student. New York spends $18,000 per pupil. Washington spends $16,000." I don't know what Missouri spends. New York: $18,000 per student; Washington: 16,000, and they're near the bottom in student performance. So we know it's not a problem of money. But yet remember now, item number one: Teachers earn twice on average what the people paying them via their taxes in the private sector are earning.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: By the way, by the way, that story I just had on the schools and how the students there are faring according to the No Child Left Behind stashing, that doesn't account for all the cheating that went on, for example, in Atlanta. For ten years, remember all the phony grades that were awarded by the teachers, or the waivers from the No Child Left Behind standards. It's pathetic! The state of public education is pathetic. I don't mean this as an attack on the individuals in it from the standpoint of teachers. I'm just telling you: The whole education system has been corrupted by liberalism. It's not even an education system anymore. It is an indoctrination, a series of indoctrination camps. It's not education. It's been totally taken care of and corrupted. I know so many teachers are activists, maybe more than I'd like to believe. They are legitimate liberal activists, disguised as teachers. But it is why so much insanity exists. It's why there's so little knowledge of the point of and the beauty of free markets.

It's a concept not even taught.

END TRANSCRIPT

[kearnyirish2]

Compare public school teachers to private school teachers; in my area we have a kindergarten teacher not even 45 years old making over $80K. Do you know what this person will cost the taxpayer by the time she dies? Millions!

Private school principals don’t earn that much; this parasite milks the system, getting an un-needed advanced degree to push the salary higher (kindergarten isn’t even required in NJ - school officially starts in first grade). That is why NJ will be left with illegal aliens and the permanent underclass (neither of which pay taxes - read: teachers); this is also why Governor Christie is so popular in NJ - he exposed this nonsense on national TV.

[SkyDancer]

You might want to argue that with how much administrators make, how much school principals make. How much those NJ toll booth operators make with no advanced degree’s BTW. Then of course the school janitors that make more. How much would those two government jobs cost over the years? Millions??

[af_vet_rr]

I once dated a guy who was a school teacher. He slowly became very disillusioned with it. Through him I found out all about what it means to be a teacher esp. in NYC where gangs rule the schools.

My daughter became disillusioned rather quickly. On her second day of classroom observation, she saw a parent scream at a teacher about how her third grader was an A+ student and that the teacher was an idiot for giving her an A- on a math test. This was in front of several kids. You'd think that A- was keeping the kid from going to college or something.

I could not put up with parents like that, and apparently that is pretty common. Lot of parents think that the rules and things like tests don't apply to their kids. And don't get me started about religious holidays.

[SkyDancer]

There were times when we were out on a date and he couldn’t stop from being so frustrated - over the kids, the parents the administrators, the union. It totally crushed him because he believed in what he was doing. Dedication. You don’t go into that field without some sort of dedication.

[xsrdx]

$58K per year for 9 months work does, indeed convert to an annualized salary of $77.3K or almost exactly what you calculated.

I used 8 months at $56/hr to get the $78k number, annualized it still sums to $116k full time.

$58k for 9 months is about $36/hr, a much more realistic figure that nets about $45k annual.

BLS $56/hr figure includes very highly compensated school administrators, or overvalued pension & benefit calculations.

I don't know what the pension payout is for a typical public school teacher, but hard to believe it equates to $20/hr average.

[arrogantsob]

The hrs in the school are what produces the $56/hr. My late wife spent another 2-3 each night and probably another 6-8 on the weekends.

Rush does not do a good job on statistics when he is on a jihad against the unions. We love him anyway.

What is pretty indisputable though his the superior health care that is provided teachers. It is better than any other public or private employees.

[Carry_Okie]

Not at $56/hr.

How do you know that? Some do real estate during the busy season. Some work online. Moreover, looking at it in terms of total compensation per hour is the only way to account their opulent benefits, yet it does not consider job security, which unionized public employees enjoy to a scandalous degree. So in that respect, this analysis understates the disparity between public and private employment.

They might be overpaid, but an annual number would be more believable; too many variables in a "per hour" number.

Just as "believable" as adjusting downward every other worker's pay by three months a year, plus all the other time off these slugs get.

No. It's legit. People get paid for the time they spend working, and no other time. People get overtime for extra hours worked, "HOURS" being the constant here.

[wintertime]

I could not put up with parents like that, ....

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Do you know that it is becoming more common among professionals to eliminate the small percentage of obnoxious clients and patients in their practice? Their money isn't worth the hassle. These bullies are politely asked to find another professional. One expression that I used in my office was, “We are not a good fit”.

I bet many private schools do that, too.

Parents do this in our nation's socialist schools because they can get away with it.

[familyop]

Privatize education. Starve the beast.

[terycarl]

Why single out teachers? Again, just wondering.

sheer numbers and tenure!!

[SkyDancer]

How many teachers do you think there are in an individual school vs administrators, office clerks, janitors, principals, vice principals and any other staff?

[PATRIOT1876]

I guess they have to pay them double to ease their guilt about telling lies to the children all day long.

“Science is not what you observe, or what the outdated so-called “scientific method” or what the backwards patriotic Americans tell you it is.
Science is what the government says it is.

Now, open the late Chairman Mao's little red book to page twelve........”

[Burkean Buckleyite]

Obviously, a job that requires education and training is going to pay more than average.

[Bruinator]

Its salary including benefits. Under that formula he makes sense. The tax payer covers all that cost, but one has to include the taxes the teachers pay as well. So it may be slightly less but not by much. Salary plus my benefits I am near 110K, but I done see that on my w2’s.

[tickles]

Having a dad who was a teacher and a bro. who currently teaches and a child who teaches to. While they may work more ‘hrs’ then said (conferences and correcting homework/tests) the teachers who work the most hrs tend to be those just out of college. Once they’ve established their plans they really don’t vary a whole lot from year to year. Getting new texts does require going through them and implementing the plan with the new text.

And of course beginning teachers who end up putting in more time doing lesson plans and such, just because they are just starting out are lower paid then those with the years in and who have established plans that just need tweaking.

I really don’t recall my dad doing much ‘school’ business during the summer except when he had to take a class or such. I’m sure he did some but it wasn’t like he sat around every day working on lesson plans and whatever everyday during the summer, he did spend allot of time coaching tho.

[SkyDancer]

Teachers always get a bum rap. Whenever things go bad in the economy the first thing is teachers salaries and how much they make, etc, blah blah. It really irritated me listening to Rush today bashing teachers pay. I think the people who pass information to him are not credible and thus he runs with it without checking details. I emailed him but I doubt that he’d read it. I hate it when teachers are maligned esp. about their pay. I think they deserve every penny they earn what with having to put up with all that they do.

[A_perfect_lady]

There is a hatred of teachers in this culture that is truly baffling. Sometimes I wish WE could do an Atlas Shrugged and see how America likes bored children and teenagers running wild year around.

[SkyDancer]

It’s interesting how the media finds fault with kids from Japan and China who are really taught in schools there. Then you look at what is being turned out here.

[Mears]

Public school teacher bashing and cop bashing is quite popular around here.

I don’t get it.

[dinodino]

No hatred of teachers whom earn their keep and do a good job—however, public school teachers deserve all the scorn they get. Year after year, they receive more money, and the standard of public schooling declines. Public schools are disgraceful and should be abolished.