Never Make cuts in the right places
By terryt52
@terryt52 (243)
United States
February 15, 2011 12:58pm CST
I was reading an article in our local paper how our school budget needs an additional 500,000. That is after reducing the special education department by 270,000. We are going to bring back soccer and baseball for the middle school which was taken away. the cost of that is 19,500. Now we need an additional 758,000 for the teachers pensions, their health care and workers comp. But the teachers are not getting a pay raise sound to me like they are getting a pay raise in their pension. I have to pay for my group health care and my co pays are terrible. I wonder how the teachers, state workers and government workers would like get paid and have benefits that are comparable to a middle class employee. And out of most employees they whine the most. How is the school budgets in your town.
2 people like this
7 responses
@terryt52 (243)
• United States
17 Feb 11
Let me see if I get this right. I live in a very small rural town. The new teacher starts out at 45.00 and hour. The older teachers average around 62.00 and hour. So sad they have to take papers home to correct. At that money I would not complain. If a budget is asking for over 750,000 for the teachers and they are not getting a raise then I would say as the paper stated that is for their health care and pensions. So in reality they are getting a raise. The average American does not get benefits like the teachers do. Teachers get summers off and vacations during the school year and lets not forget all the days teachers have off to for some reason or another. As a parent I am concerned that our teachers have to much time off and the majority of our teachers are not doing their jobs. So cry me a river how hard teachers have it. and at the end of the day I am the one working with my children because the teacher gave them homework and they did not know how to do it. I think teachers should get paid according to how good they are at their job. I bet alot of teachers would get fired or make no pay. teachers have become to comfortable.
1 person likes this
@Redeye95 (19)
•
15 Feb 11
My sister is an educator and things have gotten pretty bad for her. They have removed the teachers aides and all other unneeded personnel. She teaches huges classes with very little help. And as previously noted she brings work home and has to pay for extra training.
Honestly I wish they would get rid of pensions so that they can budget for what's to come but eh. I will take it either way. If government businesses (education and the like) could do away with pensions they would save a lot of money overall.
@ganeshprabhuk (1722)
• India
16 Feb 11
As a parent, the money spent is more on schooling and as a teacher my sister gets very less compared to others. An additional budget is required. I would agree they get more holidays but the sad part of it, they do the work at home also. Either they take tuitions at home to earn extra money or something due to the income received by them is not enough for middle class family.
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
15 Feb 11
Well there are a lot of issues really. First off, teachers annual salary and local government employees in general, is low in most places. Teachers do not have a 9-5 job. They take work home with them, they work on their days off, they have to PAY for required training and certifications that private, and even most government jobs, would be paying employees to go to. Add to that that they keep getting new rules and standards thrown at them by state and federal governments. These are rules and standards that they MUST follow and succeed at or be fired, but regardless of whether they meet or exceed these standards, there will be no reward for it.
Now almost all of the teacher friends I have are in Florida, so thing may be different across the country, but seriously, it's not an easy life. Pensions are great, but frankly the states can't afford those pensions and a lot of these teachers will never get the pensions they were promised by their unions. Seriously, the best way to show an employee you appreciate them is a raise. They see it every week on their paycheck. Teachers in Florida haven't gotten a raise in god knows how long, but their workload sure has increased.
"I have to pay for my group health care and my co pays are terrible. I wonder how the teachers, state workers and government workers would like get paid and have benefits that are comparable to a middle class employee"
Well now you're lumping all state and government workers together like they all have great benefits that private businesses don't give their employees. I've worked a total of 5 different government jobs, one in corrections and 4 in libraries. The benefits and pay were different in every one. Two of those gave me good, inexpensive (almost free in New Jersey) health insurance for my family. The others all had higher premiums than my brother in law pays working for FedEx and his insurance is covering a wife and 5 kids. My job as a detention office paid $10.69 an hour and the benefits were almost non-existent despite the fact that my life could be at risk. It also had the highest premiums for health insurance. My current job in New Jersey pays $18,000 a year less than I was making in Miami, but my insurance the the entire family is practically free ($18 per paycheck for health and $12 a month for vision and dental through the union). You want to know if I'd rather the cheap benefits or an extra $18,000 a year, I think you can guess what my answer is.
@classicalgeek (185)
• United States
16 Feb 11
I agree. I applied to be a teacher until I found out the conditions and then I decided to just teach privately instead. Don't forget that teachers don't get paid in summer unless they teach summer school, which is being cut (as is pre-K). In addition, teachers in many areas teach in horrible conditions (broken windows which let the cold in in winter, students bringing weapons to school, etc.) and a lot of them spend their own money on classroom supplies because the school doesn't provide such basic necessities as paper (one teacher I know has to buy her own chalk to write on the board) or photocopying costs for tests or quizzes.
Teachers also end up with their safety at risk. Several teachers in my area have been wounded or sexually assaulted by their students. One was shot. All the teachers I know have some form of stress disorder caused by having to deal with the same unruly students and uncaring administrators on a daily basis.
@sierras236 (2739)
• United States
15 Feb 11
The problem is that the education system is not working as it is. I would be all for paying teachers more for good education. But even the basic high school graduates can't pass the AVSB exam. (The military entry exam) Which is really sad.
@ebuscat (5935)
• Philippines
16 Feb 11
For me yes so that you not blame to it if you find mistake in doing to your job.
@Bipolargandolf (9)
• United States
15 Feb 11
Yes, teachers get paid a lot when you include pension and benefits, and they get to retire with 90% of their pay, they also have the summers off. The funniest part to me is that they always say that they need more money get our kids to learn better, the majority of the budget is salaries and benefits, how is paying the teachers more going to help the kids learn more?
