If you twist facts enough, you can make them say just about anything you want them to say. Hence the "divide by 12" comments.
Posted on 02/02/2007 5:20:28 AM PST by Zakeet
Who, on average, is better paid--public school teachers or architects? How about teachers or economists? You might be surprised to learn that public school teachers are better paid than these and many other professionals. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, public school teachers earned $34.06 per hour in 2005, 36% more than the hourly wage of the average white-collar worker and 11% more than the average professional specialty or technical worker.
In the popular imagination, however, public school teachers are underpaid. "Salaries are too low. We all know that," noted First Lady Laura Bush, expressing the consensus view. "We need to figure out a way to pay teachers more." Indeed, our efforts to hire more teachers and raise their salaries account for the bulk of public school spending increases over the last four decades. During that time per-pupil spending, adjusted for inflation, has more than doubled; overall we now annually spend more than $500 billion on public education.
The perception that we underpay teachers is likely to play a significant role in the debate to reauthorize No Child Left Behind. The new Democratic majority intends to push for greater education funding, much of which would likely to go toward increasing teacher compensation. It would be beneficial if the debate focused on the actual salaries teachers are already paid.
It would also be beneficial if the debate touched on the correlation between teacher pay and actual results. To wit, higher teacher pay seems to have no effect on raising student achievement. Metropolitan areas with higher teacher pay do not graduate a higher percentage of their students than areas with lower teacher pay.
In fact, the urban areas with the highest teacher pay are famous for their abysmal outcomes.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
It is a good read on the subject of education.
it's for the kids...*sniff sniff*
Good article, of course, but perception is the key, and the article notes that teachers are perceived to be underpaid because of their annual salaries.
Most interesting, I thought, was the brief paragraph discussing gains in students scores when teachers' pay was tied to student performance. Perhaps this should be the model of the future.
But $47.00 an hour in Detroit! Wow!
Teachers work about 9 months out of the year. That's why $34/hour makes "low pay". That $34/hour is equivalent to $25/hour(12 month) (math: p * 9/12 = s)
Remember, that doesn't include ammunition, bullet-proof vests, riot gear, taser, mace and self-defense classes.
Three months off is a benefit, not a penalty.
$34 an hour isn't the equivalent of anything. $34 an hour is $34 an hour. Period.
Teachers work about 9 months out of the year. That's why $34/hour makes "low pay". That $34/hour is equivalent to $25/hour(12 month) (math: p * 9/12 = s)
It's the equivalent to $25/hour with 3 months paid vacation plus excellent bene package.
Yes, i don't know that dividing an annual salary by 9 months is really a fair way to determine what their hourly pay is.
They also get long vacations in the summer months, and long stretches off for the holidays. I'd be willing to bet they only work 8.5 months out of the year, and that doesn't even count whatever personal off time they might have. Sounds like a European type job to me. In contrast, I work around 11.5 months out of the year. My employer can't tolerate me being gone for more than a couple of days at a time.
If you divide their pay by the number of hours worked, why isn't that fair?
Why would we divide by 12? they don't work 12 months out of the year.
I did an analysis some years ago in Ontario, Canada. I worked from the Education Act and the financial disclosures of the school boards.
A secondary school teacher was required to work 750 hours per year. That works out to a little over 4 hours per day for about 180 days (40 weeks). When I did the math, the average secondary school teacher in Halton Region earned $82.63 per hour. Add to this sick days, and the best pension system in Canada.
They are better paid than family practitioners.
I know, some work more hours. But they do not 'Have To'.
Teacher never have to travel. They don't have to leave their families. They are home for the daycare pickup without rushing.
I have no sympathy when they complain!
yeah, but how much money can they make in the summer?
FWIW, in my local schools the teachers' first day this year was July 26 and their last is May 25.
That's 10 months of work, not 9.
Ack, forgot about all the different holiday breaks.
Why? Many teachers work those other 3 months. I certainly dont get 3.5 months of vacation counting holidays. I'd consider that a huge pay increase if I got that.
Or money for lawyers when you're slapped with a frivolous lawsuit for attempting to control an out-of-control and potentially dangerous brat.
SLACKER!!!!
I know the feeling... I once had a hell of a time getting time off from work for jury duty. Part of the problem was my job as a networking systems instructor, and in the case of one of the classes I taught, I was 1 of just 4 instructors in the country authorized to teach the class. My employer had to write a letter to the court, to reschedule my jury duty, since I had been scheduled to teach classes for three months from that date. So, three months later I showed up for 3 days and then was done...
But even now (with a different job as a network admin), even though I've got 2 weeks of vacation a year, they'd rather that I not take more than 3 days of time off at a time. To be honest with you, I'd be absolutely thrilled if I could get an entire weekend off of work! A few months ago, I went 6 weeks without a full day off.
Mark
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