Superintendent Worries Teaching Less Attractive Than Factory Work

Michigan Capitol Confidential ^ | 6/4/2012 | Tom Gantert

[cripplecreek]

Something for year round union factory workers to take note of. You ain't crap in the eyes of the oh so superior teachers.

If anyone wants to be added to the Michigan Cap Con ping list, let me know.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Can I observe that words have meaning?

They are saying that good people won’t go into education because they don’t want to live like paupers. What the heck kind of word choice is that?

So, 40 grand a year is living like a pauper? I agree that such a person is not getting rich, but such a person is not a pauper. What the heck are they talking about?

And this pauper can make up to 72 grand along with a benefit package after a number of years on the job. That’s living as a pauper, so people will not want those jobs? Really????

I must be missing something somewhere.

[randog]

The superintendent asked "how do you justify" someone with no education going to the auto industry and making $33,000 a year with someone with a bachelor’s degree with college loans who makes a similar salary.

Well, if you ask teachers they'll tell you how important their work is, how it's more of a "calling" than a vocation like the rest of schlubs, that they're on a higher level, sacrificing their needs for the good of the community. In fact, most government workers will give you that spiel.

[hal ogen]

I just bet the supertendent of this obscure school district makes between $175,000 and $300,000 per year (with many benefits and a smooth retirement benefit added to that). These “educators” have such a racket.

[iowamark]

You can tell that Mr. Wilson has never worked in a factory if he thinks that teachers are going to be leaving for factory jobs.

[babble-on]

"If there were an open market for teachers, high-performing ones would probably be compensated better than they currently are," Van Beek said. "The problem is that union contracts distort the teacher labor market and prohibit schools from paying good teachers more. All teachers are paid the same regardless of their performance, and this artificially reduces the wages of the best teachers."

I was going to post words to this effect when I saw that it was already in the article. Good teachers are GOLD to our society. They should be paid extremely well. The problem is that "teacher pay" is monolithic, unlike pay in any other profession. If all doctors made the same amount, the drive to be a better doctor would be minimal. If all baseball players made the same amount, no one would bother practicing. UNIONS ARE THE PROBLEM

[Oberon]

The real issue isn't the pay... it's the environment. Teachers are asked to be parents, cops, guidance counselors, child care supervisors, referees... doing anything and everything but delivering valuable information to children. The situation is made worse when all the tools that might be useful to maintain order and discipline in the classroom have been systematically taken away. That's why cops get called into classrooms; teachers are not allowed to touch a kid who is misbehaving, but cops may legally do so. To this add the fact that school administration is essentially a political function trying to look good for the local community, and you find that the odds of success are badly stacked against both the teachers and the kids they're supposed to teach.

Reason #79 to homeschool.

[Da Coyote]

It’s the Supt position that is worthless.

What, exactly, does this loser do that couldn’t be duplicated with greater sucess by a Class of 1948 High School Grad?

Hey Supt, about giving up some of your salary so that the teachers (who are the ONLY ones doing any work) get better pay?

[afraidfortherepublic]

Cut the propaganda! Most beginning teachers in WI make $50k PLUS Cadillac health, life, and retirement plans for which they contribute almost nothing. It used to be that they contributed nothing, but Scott Walker changed that so that they now contribute a small amount towards those benefits.

I just looked at my Mom’s retirement benefit (CA teacher). She’s been retired more than 25 years and she gets zlmost $3000 per month to live on, PLUS quarterly payments of another $3000. Not too shabby, I’d say.

In WI the teachers retire at 50 and go back to work at the same job, same classroom the next day collecting pay PLUS retirement benefits almost equal to their pay. Not too shabby.

I defy you to find a factory job that has anything like that.

[cherry]

I would have loved to stay home full time with my 3.....these jerks really are just over the top....

if this teacher is so dang smart and talented, let him go find that job that requires only 8-9 months of work, fantastic benefits, and pension, and gets assured that he'll never be fired, ever...

arrogant....

btw...the superintendent just wants his paycheck to increase...the more we have to pay the underlings, the more he'll demand...

[CitizenUSA]

72 grand after only 13 years of service in a job that only lasts 9 months out of the year is not a bad deal at all, and that doesn’t include other tangible and intangible benefits like job security and health insurance. Notice that they’re focused on the small starting salaries, but many skilled, even degreed, people don’t make 72 grand in 13 years.

[G Larry]

Perhaps if teachers were permitted to enforce discipline in the classroom and TEACH foundational tools of life, rather than indoctrinate a liberal agenda, the career field would be more appealing?

[precisionshootist]

"The average salary of a Howell teacher is $63,359, according to the state of Michigan. "

Oh the poor teachers only making $63k per 8.5 MONTHS!!

How long do you have to work at a private sector job before you get THREE MONTHS VACATION!

Its time to END GOVERNMENT EDUCATION AND GOVERNMENT EDUCATORS and Take ALL schools private.

End unconstitutional perpetual property taxes to pay for government teachers.

Only people with kids should pay for school and when they are done being educated you get to STOP PAYING!

Sorry for the rant but the government school system is the single most screwed up example of why we MUST have strictly limited government.

[PGR88]

This article is full of half-truths.

I live in NY, a state very much like MI. For one, teachers’ salaries may start at the level, but they do rise with seniority. Also, they get excellent benefits. Of course, they only work 8 months per year. Most teachers I know also have summer jobs.

Regardless of what he says, personnel costs are 70-75%% of our local district year budget

Moreover, teachers (or their unions) have chosen to have MANY teachers vs. having fewer with higher pay. Again, here in our NY district, we have a teacher for everything. Computer room? Teachers needed. Guidance counselors? 4 for 400 seniors. Librarians? Several. PE teachers and coaches - many!

[precisionshootist]

"So, 40 grand a year is living like a pauper? "

It's 40 grand per 8.5 months!!

[Tax-chick]

Only people with kids should pay for school and when they are done being educated you get to STOP PAYING!

Or in other words, "private schools."

[struggle]

I call BS. I started out as a teacher with a stay at home wife at 28K a year.

Stop complaining.

[precisionshootist]

"Good teachers are GOLD to our society. They should be paid extremely well."

They should be paid what the market will bare just like everyone else.

I think the problem is this BS that somehow teaching is more important work than other careers, its not. This is why the only true fix for our school system is to get rid of government education and take all schools private. The best teachers will get paid like the best and the bad ones will likely have to find other work.