Teachers have preparation to do at beginning and end of school year. They don’t retire at 50.
Teachers have preparation to do at beginning and end of school year. They don’t retire at 50.
I don’t begrudge teachers. Almost anyone who wants to be a teacher can get the degree and find a job. Personally, I couldn’t have survived taking crap from snotty nosed brats and not able to respond appropriately. I was much better suited for the “this can be done the easy way....or this can be done the hard way, your choice.” Profession. And I got to retire at 50. I don’t have any of my sanity left, but hey, I’m retired.
Many people begrudge teachers making a good living. Many people think anyone can teach. Many people think it is an easy job. Compared to police, fire fighters, nurses the hours are better, the stress is less. Working for a corporation has it's benefits as well as problems.
Colorado is very low on the per pupil funding on a national scale. In addition the salary information from DPS shows a much higher allotment of resources for administration compared to other districts. The pro-comp system is another issue, it is an incentive system that rewards working in high needs schools or showing specific improvements. This system is broken (one sign I saw was that pro-comp skis in jeans, lol). I have been hearing that teachers do not actually get the money. As for insurance, the year we all got raises the insurance got significantly worse and so took some of that money. It looked great on paper.
Yes many teachers did well and are now retired, that does not mean that these teachers in this state do not have a reason to strike.
The other point to consider is that the median price of a home in Denver area is pushing $400k.
What irritates me is that so many people who begrudge teachers, fire fighters, police any decent salary and retirement have NO problem with corporate welfare paid by tax dollars, defense contractors and the lobbyists making a small fortune from tax money. Somehow any jobs dealing with children, women or those in need are the worst paid and most resented.
If we're trading anecdotes, here's a timely one from the local newspaper this week.
A 2016 Teacher of the Year says, "This is my 27th year as a teacher. I have bachelor's and master's degrees, but I make less money than my 25 year-old son, whose job only requires a bachelor's degree. I've been teaching for more years than he's been alive, but he makes more. … I'm talking about this not to cast resentment on my son or on his job (I'm super proud of him!) but because folks need to understand how tough it is to stay in teaching in an underfunded system."
She goes on to state more facts like, "about 23 percent of teacher vacancies across the state this year still remain unfilled, and more than half the vacancies are filled by teachers who do not meet the state's standard teacher certification requirements." Also, "913 teachers left the profession with the first half of this school year."
These numbers clearly show that teaching is not an easy or lucrative job.
One other factoid: Arizona districts are so desperate they are recruiting teachers from the Philippines -
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/u...ilippines.html
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