A long time ago, maybe 60 years, the teachers were pitied because their pay seemed on the low side. They were even compared with garbage collector’s pay.
Well, that has changed significantly!!!!
Now, educators, in some districts, are making six figure incomes and retiring in style. Administrators, such as Superintendents, are RETIRING ON $500,000 per year!
One reason is that our dollar has lost so much in purchasing power. OK, I’ll give that but still, I ask,
Who is watching the store?
Public school teachers in NJ are our upper middle class, with great pay and benefits not seen in the private sector for decades here - and they work 180 part-time days per year with guaranteed employment-for-life after a couple of years. In urban areas they draw extra “combat pay”, and learning is practically non-existent; they are in one of the few fields/industries where results have no bearing on compensation or job security.
More than any other single factor, the hold of the teachers’ unions has destroyed NJ economically; employers and young potential employees won’t set up here (and those that are here have been leaving for years). Eventually opening a large business here will be impossible because there won’t be enough English speakers to staff it.