Posted on 05/09/2012 4:50:49 AM PDT by MichCapCon
A Tecumseh Public School official says there isn't a second-year teacher with a master's degree making $31,000 a year, despite claims by the Michigan Education Association president and a local website saying that such a teacher exists.
MEA President Steven Cook made the claim twice recently in Detroit News columns.
His statement was then repeated by the website, Blogging for Michigan, which said it found the $31,000-a-year, second year teacher with a master's degree.
Blogging for Michigan, which states on its website: “All Rights Reserved. Suck on that, GOP,” claimed to have found the teacher and posted a paycheck stub with the name of the teacher removed. The website says it is run by Christine Barry, who didn’t return a phone message seeking comment.
Jim Brown, payroll manager at Tecumseh Public Schools, said that a memo of understanding between the union and the district imposed a 10-percent pay cut below the contractual starting salary for teachers just hired. But none met the circumstances the union claims.
The salary schedule on the Tecumseh school district website says that a starting salary for a teacher with a master’s degree is $37,116. Brown said that would be reduced to $33,405 after the 10-percent reduction. That teacher would have remained at that salary for a second year due to the memo of understanding between the district and the union, he said, adding that all teacher’s had their salaries restored to the full schedule amount as of April 27.
Brown said a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree would start with a salary of $33,665, which would be reduced to $30,299 after the 10-percent reduction.
The Michigan Association of School Boards reported in 2011 that a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree had an average salary of $36,798.
Many districts offer much higher salaries to teachers just starting out. For instance, in Grosse Pointe, a second-year teacher with a master’s degree makes $52,265. In River Rouge, that teacher makes $50,522. The average teacher’s salary in Michigan is $63,024, according to the Michigan Department of Education.
Nonetheless, on March 28, the MEA's Cook first mentioned a teacher with a gross salary of $31,000 per year with a master’s degree and in the second year on the job. On April 25, he said in a column that the teacher was from Lenawee county and repeated the salary and experience claim.
Cook didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.
Potential energy converted to kinetic!
If you can keep the entropy of the kids low your foundation will endure. Congratulations to you both.
On one hand, the teachers say they’re in it because they love to teach. OTOH, they whine and complain that their pay isn’t enough.
Well, which is it? Do you teach because you love to teach or are you in it for the money? If you’re in it for the money, and you know you won’t make much money, then you’re really too stupid to teach the next generation.
Besides which, the $31,000/year is for 9 months of work, plus the person is likely to get free or nearly-free health insurance, and some sweet deal accumulating in the pension plan. Add on, probably will get yearly cost of living increases, and increases simply for longevity.
Nothing like the private sector.
Maybe way up in some poverty pocket on the U.P. the job pays that. But then again you can probably rent a house there for $250 a month.
Georgia Tech 1965-67 (decided to go play in sunny Southeast Asia)
I had to average 21 hours per quarter in order to graduate in 4 years.
Easiest courses? English, PE & some civics class that was teaching about poverty (Michael Harrington’s “The Other America”). In that class I learned that I grew up “below the poverty line” (what’s a poverty line?). Gee, all my life I thought that we were middle class!
Nowadays, kids talk about 12 hours being a Full Load.
If you want to improve schools, every year replace 10% of the Education Majorss with people who have 10 years real world work experience, with 10% of the replacements having real work experience OVERSEAS.
And make Mike Rowe (”Dirty Jobs”) Sec of Education, tasked with teaching America to WORK and with reducing the DOE budget by 25% per year. Final long term budget at 10% current level.
BTW, in another recent post I read that Ga Tech had the best Return on Investment (of your college costs) at 11%. A couple of other schools also had 11%.
I thought thermodynamics was tough until I took electromagnetic field theory. To be fair there are high school science and math teachers who took thermodynamics and electromagnetic field theory in college. However they are paid the same as the gym teacher. That’s unions for you.
You are sooo right. If a teacher is teaching second grade math it would not matter to me if she had an associates degree, BS, Masters, or PhD. The pay for teaching second grade math should be a set level. If I work on an assembly line at the Ford plant I do not get more based on my level of education, the same is true if I work for Dept of Streets and Sanitation.
MEA President Steven Cook made the claim twice recently in Detroit News columns.
A UNION THUG LYING?!
I am shocked. Shocked, I say.
“I know a junior high school teacher with a Masters degree that is in her 38th year of teaching at the same school.
She teaches science at a Catholic school.
This year, she will make $49,000.”
which means she would be making $65k for 12 months of work. that is a good salary
i have a friend who teaches high school and he looks at 12 months of 40 hr weeks and works those hours in his 9 month school year and takes the summer off. i’m sure he is not the norm.
and lets not forget the cadillac health care benefits, pensions, 401 k, early retirement...etc. They also get to work in a nice clean, climate controlled atmosphere. I respect what teachers do but in no way are michigan teachers suffering.
Awesome!
But I this song (warning, slightly risque music video link here) was a staple in your playlist after that.
I'm willing to bet there are LOTS of teachers than can hit a ball as well as Pujols... Trust me, I'm a HUGE Angels fan, and he's pathetic so far.
I’m a lifelong rabid Phillies fan, so I understand your frustration. Pujols has been a hitting machine for over a decade, putting up incredible numbers. He will go on a tear, hit 10 runs in two weeks, play several more years, then write his speech for Cooperstown. Be patient!
Agreed. If she worked in a public school (which she would never be hired for because of her creds), she'd be making $70K+/year.
She is happy where she is and is thinking about retirement in a few years.
We’re talking about a Masters in EDUCATION
And a PHD in education is even less.
My SIL is a teacher but she only does subbing at the high school level.
Whenever she is around teachers that start complaining about their pay she always says the same thing, “You knew going into teaching what the salaries were, so you have no reason to complain.”
Thanks bud
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