Posted on 04/03/2018 5:17:43 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
Today breathlessly made the teacher walkout in Oklahoma and other states its “top story” this morning, touting the “wildfire” as “thousands are rising up and walking out.” The reporter on the ground in Oklahoma claimed it’s “turning out to be more than a protest, but a movement,” and host Hoda Kotb billed it as “a powerful movement that’s sweeping the country.”
A clip showed a student claiming that the walkout is “all for us.” Except it’s not. It’s really about teachers demanding higher salaries, though some window dressing has been added about increasing overall school funding.
One inconvenient fact that Today had to recognize: the Oklahoma legislature just adopted a record $6,100 teacher pay raise, the largest in state history. But teachers continue to refuse to teach as they hold out for more.
Get the rest of the story and view the video here.
(Excerpt) Read more at finkelblogger.com ...
Move there, then ! See if you can afford the property taxes on your home.
It’s called supply & demand.
“I know where our school taxes are going: pensions and health bennies.”
Well, you have a tough nut to crack for sure. Somehow someway your teachers pension plan needs to be terminated and a new plan based upon either a 401K or 403B matching funds scheme implemented. As already stated, it will be tough to pull off but it’s the only way to avoid becoming Detroit......
LOL!!!! Generous health benefits? That's hilarious. Yeah, they're so generous that my wife has never opted to use the health "benefits" offered by the schools in Texas and has been on my insurance every year of her career since we've been married. Pension, at least in Texas, isn't anything to brag about either. And about those 180 work days ... that's the school day schedule ... it doesn't include all of the teacher work days, the evenings spent offering mandatory tutoring, summer workshops, working 2 weeks before the start of the school year and a week after it ends.
Personally, I think they get paid just fine, but let's not pretend it's all you've cracked it up to be.
Wow, you can really tell that you “studies” education. I am guessing you dropped out?
I am not a teacher. My wife is, along with several of our friends. They have over 35 kids in their classes, so no, not bad facts.
I knew my salary when I took the role I am in now. According to your logic, I can never ask for a raise? Well, I guess I will go tell my boss to take back that 10% bump I recently requested and received. I knew my salary when I signed the contract after all.
And there's your real problem. School districts are very fat at the top and supers are WAY over paid for what they do.
Thanks, but no thanks. Property taxes in Texas are high enough. Besides, why on earth would I want to live in Oklahoma? Ew!
Oklahoma teachers make a minimum salary of 31 grand. They get week long vacations multiple times a year. Christmas Break, Spring Break etc. They get all summer off. Don’t like it? Don’t teach. I’m sure if you asked any other person, they’d take that deal.
My daughter, who is a very dedicated and capable teacher, started out in a charter school making $32,000 per year. She has since moved to another where she cracked the $40K barrier. Has had dozens of interviews in the public school system, but no offers as the hiring process in our mobbed-up unionized school system is so incredibly corrupt. (Basically you have to be related to someone or know who to pay off).
My daughter is OK with the pay as she is married to an engineer, and she managed to get enough scholarships that she is not burdened with a ton of student debt.
I would be fine with paying teacher salaries north of $70K IF they were really among the best and brightest. In nearly all cases they are not. Unionized schools reward seniority and connections.
Didn't say I didn't like it. In fact, in another post I said I think they get paid just fine. But when someone calls teaching a part time job and says they get great benefits, I'm gonna challenge them on that. Because what I've seen being married to a teacher, it's far from part time and benefits are horrible (at least in Texas they are).
Excuse me... I live close enough to Tulsa to be aware of a few things...
Like for example who the number one mouthpiece for the local teacher's union is... I just happen to know who...
A dude named M**k who hails originally from Chicago, not Tulsa or anywhere else in Oklahoma.
M**k drives an older gray F150 around his neighborhood that ALWAYS is sporting a pro-0bama or anti-Trump sign in the back window. ALWAYS. Very reliable Martians have told me this. For example: "Obama 2012, Michelle 2016 2020, Malia 2024 2028, Sasha 2032 2036", and more recently, "Trump sold us out to **" where ** is a hammer and sickle signifying obviously... You know...
M**k takes advantage of his morbid obesity by getting a handicap sticker for his truck, so he can park up front at his favorite breakfast place located at the NE corner of 61st and Sheridan, where he's been noticed, on weekdays, loading up on the biscuits and sausage gravy, as he sits and pontificates to his pals about the latest evils of all things conservative and/or Republican.
Who would one suppose it is who would be putting M**k in the position he's in, in the local teacher's union?
And that doesn't even open the subject of TPS's superintendent, who isn't an Oklahoman either... like for starters, aren't there some schools named "Lee", and "Chouteau", and a couple of others that are about to be renamed on politically correct grounds?
M**k is from Chicago, and where is D*****h from? Rhode Island or someplace, isn't she?
This is all about Democrats helping Democrats, and getting Drew Edmondson elected Governor in November, and all the teachers are all in with it. Otherwise some of them would be grateful for the $6100/yr raise they just got and would be crossing the picket line to do their jobs.
Oh... union... picket line... Chicago...
Maybe I better not say no more in case M**k knows who I am...
was typing w/o my glasses ... meant to type “studied” - the “d” button and the “s” button are side by side, so excuuuuuuse me.... not that I didn’t know the proper grammar, unlike most Okies, for sure (” I shoulda went ...” ).
the average OK pay is $22/hour, Average teacher $32/hour for 180 - days.
some schools don’t even have 50 kids
again, it’s supply and demand.
When I did study Education the coursework was redundant ( methods of teaching social studies, methods of teaching language arts, methods of teaching geography, etc ) teaching is a gift, the required studies for the little piece of paper that says you CAN do it is overrated.
UGH, typical union workers, results go down and they want pay to go up.
LIBs are malignancies no matter where they exist.
I respect teachers greatly, my sister is one. Maybe New York is different, but I know what she makes and how much she works.
The median HOUSEHOLD income in Oklahoma is about $49,000. Most of the people in small towns work for ZERO benefits of any kind let alone medical and retirement. Most of them also work, unless they are on the dole, long and hard hours all year long.
You can’t pay a good teacher what they are worth but a bad teacher can do more damage than you can pay for.
Median income: http://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/oklahoma/
The teachers are correct about he Gross Production Tax though. It is not competitive. Oil producers in Oklahoma have gotten a sweetheart deal for a long time at 3.2% and it is time for that to end for new wells at least. Raising this tax more in line with national averages will not stop drilling for good prospects. Most of the road damage in oil production areas is because roads are beat to hell by oilfield trucks as just a by-the-way.
https://okpolicy.org/reality-check-restoring-oklahomas-gross-production-tax-wont-hurt-economy/
Oklahoma spends less in total per capita than the average state in the US but more on average for transportation. Guess it is a population density problem? The outcome of transportation spending is far less than average.
https://okpolicy.org/resources/online-budget-guide/expenditures/how-oklahoma-spending-compares/
The Oklahoma Policiy Institute appears to be left leaning but the data should be all one needs to know to form their own opinions. On things like capital gains tax exemption their stance sounds a lot like from each according to his means.
@GrantHermesKWTV
Lawmakers I’m talking to say there’s no movement on new funding bills to meet teacher demands. Despite 20K turnout and national spotlight what we’ve got so far is what we’re going to get.
In this tweet, a newsman from TV9 in OKC, says, "what we’ve got so far is what we’re going to get."
We? He considers himself part of the union and striking teachers. He's not alone.
A month or so ago, several OKC and Tulsa news stations ran a series of pieces highlighting a half dozen or so teachers who claim they are forced to have two or three part time jobs to make ends meet. Sympathetic pieces.
The news media has never, in my memory, been against any legislative proposal that would increase taxes or expand the reach of government.
Great post, yes, I know that corner, too !
Yeah, I am certain that NY is lightyears different than Texas. They're union up there, right?
They may be getting this time off, but they aren't being paid.
I retired after nearly 30 years in a public school system. During that time I never had so much as one paid vacation day, holiday, snow day or summer vacation day.
I'm not saying it's a bad deal, but you get and do exactly what is bargained for in the union contract.
In my state, we had a 180 day contract, and we worked 180 days. Snow days, heat days, emergency days, whatever. If you were off for a day for any reason, a make up day was added to the end of the school year and school was in session until the 180 days was completed.
I am a health care professional...have not had a raise in 7-8 years.
Fact is...I've topped out.
Fact is..with inflation I've taken a pay cut.
Fact is..I make 1000 times more doing something else...
But still kinda like helping people...get well.
That all said,...I've no sympathy for "teachers"...
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