re: Discussion on Teacher Pay

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However, they don’t calculate the 1) the full hours that a teacher works, and 2) there are 12 more weeks that the teacher actually has to live.

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Are you serious? You do know that MOST people on salary don't go home when they don't have anything going on right? And you know that MOST people on salary don't get compensated for working over 40 hours a week, right?

Salary is one of the biggest scams in the workforce for that very reason.

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It isn’t accurate to calculate an hourly wage unless you use actual hours.

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Dude, I probably worked close to 45-50 hours a week at my previous job and traveled a few days out of the month. I also didn't hop on the plane until 3 or 4 PM in the afternoon and went straight to work if I returned before 1 PM

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teachers are glorified baby sitters

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That's not true. It's not an "easy" job.

However, their constant self-aggrandizing and complaints of being "underpaid" are exhausting and infuriating. Many teachers (not all) act as if they are the only salaried employees on planet earth who may occasionally have to work on a weekend or "after hours." Also, their pay is commensurate with the amount of time they actually work (which is approximately 9-10 months of the year). Plus, they NEVER consider the great benefits that are not always available in private sector jobs (great retirement benefits; health insurance, etc)

I know MANY teachers who "retired" in their mid-40's only to return to a full time teaching position in another system or private school WHILE collecting their retirement benefits. That kind of situation is rare in the private sector. I'm not saying teachers are wrong for doing that (far from it). But to not consider that tremendous benefit of their profession is ridiculous.

Finally, there are very few professions where simply just remaining employed for a relatively short period of time (tenure) provides you with significant protections from being fired at will. Many times poor teacher simply get transferred from school to school rather than fired because it is such an arduous and expensive process to fire them.

Make no mistake, teachers play a VERY important role in our society. But to act like they should be paid some exorbitant salary to do it is laughable.

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The $1500 came with $2 million for private schools for special needs kids - which is a nice gesture but not enough.

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Call me crazy... but why should a private school receive public funds?

That’s why they are bitching and going all in for a Democrat.

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teachers are glorified baby sitters

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I used to think similarly until my wife took a job (non-teaching) in the schools and began telling me about the stress teachers are under and how much they work at home after hours. Changed my attitude.

I think when discussing pay it is important to realize the discrepancy by state and district. At my current district starting pay for a BS is only 32,000. My last school was 10K more for the same teacher. As you move around the country there are some huge swings in pay, and that's ok. My cost of living is vastly different than a teacher in Cal, to say we should have the same base salary is ridiculous.

I also think that upper level STEM teachers should get paid more, but as an AP bio and physics teacher I'll admit I'm a bit biased. The local D1 university has graduated 1 chemistry teacher in the last 5 years and no physics. Supply and demand will have take effect unless you see wide scale adoption of online classes.

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Eventually, you’ll have School’s run by people that simply can’t excel anywhere else and took the teaching position because the school system is desperate for warm bodies. Right now, the majority of that group is comprised from the hard left.

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Eventually? This has been the case in public school systems for 40 years.

Teachers of upper level classes ought to get paid more because it requires a higher level of proficiency in their subject.
If you put a 2.5 gpa graduate from ULL in front of a HS class of gifted kids there will be kids that know more about the subject than the teacher. And that's a recipe for disaster.

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A popular conservative voice in MS asked yesterday if the problem with teacher pay was that a first grade teacher got paid the same as a advanced math or physics teacher.

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Threw out the stat that for every first grade teacher opening, there are 10 applicants, and for every 10 high school math or science openings, there are 7 applicants, creating a massive shortage of qualified teachers.

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This is pretty much true everywhere, in private industry the market solves such issues, which is why an engineer gets paid considerably more than a office clerk.

The math course sequence required to be a secondary math or physics teacher is almost the same as that required for engineering degrees. Those that have the aptitude to handle the rigor of those course are more likely to pursue a engineering or other STEM degree for the much higher lifetime earning potential.

If schools want more math and physics teachers the solution is simple, they have to pay them salaries competitive with private industry and not the same as 1st grade teacher.

My father was a teacher and coach for 30 years before retiring. He got so disgusted when they became babysitters which is what they are. The school he was at was so bad near the end that the kids didn’t want to learn and he couldn’t discipline any of them. If they were sent to office they got sent back right away. Knowing my father I am sure he was lucky he didn’t discipline them himself. He retired and made more money working at the casino. The changes that need to be made are with the entire educational system first. Then maybe they can pay the teachers if they are worth a damn. And by the way he voted republican every election because even back then the Dems sucked. Didn’t like either tho