My humble opinion here.....Yes, I think that in general, most public school teachers are well compensated.
It used to be that in our society, all public servants, including school teachers, were paid somewhat less than their privately employed counterparts, but in compensation, we offered our public servants a very good, more than adequate, and as compared to the private sector, a substantially larger "compensation package"; (e.g.; a "health care/retirement/pension" package). It was considered an honor to serve as a public servant. There was a certain amount of nobility that came with serving as a public servant, but in the same breath, it was also considered a "lesser" profession as compared to those who actually worked in the private sector, and who produced, manfufactured, serviced, generated, sold, or created some product or service.
Now, the tables have turned. Both state and federal employees have weasled their way into receiving pay scales and compensation packages that for the most part exceed those salaries that are paid to working class Americans who are in the private sector. The compensation packages have continued to increase exponentially.
By example, I have a good friend, who is the Union Steward for the local Hillsborough County Teacher's Union in Tampa. He has worked for the Hillsborough County School System for twenty-two years. Working nine months out of the year, with a very limited work week schedule, this man has also compensated his teacher's salary as a coach and as a marketing representative for various and sundry products on the side. Last year, he chose to take his retirement, wherein he was allowed to cash in his sick days for something like $100k, and he now collects his pension, (of which he contributed very little if anything to) which is something like eighty-five percent of his salary. The real kicker, is that he was re-hired by the Hillsborough County School Board, pretty much getting the same job back, at just a little less than double his previous salary, while still being able to collect his pension, and all of the perks of his compensation package. The "compensation package by the way, includes free medical, dental, free prescriptions, as well as 100% contribution to a 401K retirement plan, and ten paid "sick days/personal days" annually, of which, the teacher can accumulate and cash in at any point in time, to include retirement,
Yes, teachers are well compensated, and anyone who suggests that teachers are underpaid don't know the half of it. The purported $53k average salary in my humble opinion is way, way way low, when one considers the compensation package that most if not all teachers receive.
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On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 1:55 AM, Travis <baconlard@gmail.com> wrote:
Not really. Hollywood buffoons and professional athletes are the most overpaid people on the planet. Except maybe for libtard politicians.
On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 5:08 PM, MJ <michaelj@america.net> wrote:
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To Surly, With Love: Are Teachers Overpaid?
Nick Gillespie & Meredith Bragg | March 3, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tck77z3x0I&feature=player_embedded
Public school teachers are at the forefront of protests against state budget cuts and restrictions on collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Ohio, and elsewhere.
Teachers have a lot to lose. According to Department of Education statistics, in 2007-2008 (the latest year available), full-time public school teachers across the country made an average of $53,230 in "total school-year and summer earned income." That compares favorably to the $39,690 that private school teachers pulled down.
And when it comes to retirement benefits, public school teachers do better than average too. According to EducationNext, government employer contribute the equivalent of 14.6 percent of salary to retirement benefits for public school teachers. That compares to 10.4 for private-sector professionals.
Those levels of compensation help explain why per-pupil school costs have risen substantially over the past 50 years. In 1960-61, public schools spent $2,769 per student, a figure that now totals over $10,000 in real, inflation-adjusted dollars. Among the things that threefold-plus increase in spending has purchased are more teachers per student. In 1960, the student-teacher ratio in public schools was 25.8; it's now at a historic low of 15.
Among the things all that money hasn't bought? Parental satisfaction, for one. Despite public teachers' much-higher salaries, parents with school-age children in public schools report substantially lower satisfaction rates than parents with children in private schools. In 2007, the percentage of parents with children in assigned public schools who were "very satisfied" with the institution was 52 percent. For parents whose children attended public schools of choice, that figure rose to 62 percent. Parents sending their children to private schools, whether religious or non-sectarian, were "very satisfied" 79 percent of the time.
It's little wonder that parents with little or no choice report the lowest-levels of satisfaction ( about 90 percent of K-12 students attend public schools). Despite all the extra resources devoted to public school teachers and students, student achievement has been absolutely flat over the past 40 years. The National Assessment of Educational Progress is "the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas." When it comes to 17-year-old students (effectively, high-school seniors), nothing has changed since reporting began in the early 1970s. In 1971, 17-year-old students averaged 285 points (out of 500) in reading. In 2008, that had risen to 286. For math in 1973, the average score was 304 (out of 500). In 2008, it was 306.
Public school teachers make about $14,000 a year more in straight salary than private school teachers; when you add in benefits, the gap widens even more. They teach fewer students than ever before and taxpayers at all levels spend increasing amounts of money on education. Yet for all that, the best you can say is that we're spending more than three times as much money as we were 40 years ago for exactly the same outcomes.
The National Governors Association says that states are looking at $175 billion in shortfalls over the next two years. Local governments are in the red too. As legislators look for places to cut or reduce spending, there's no question that public school teachers have a lot to lose in terms of compensation.
And there's no question that, even if there were no budget emergencies, the nation's public school system is failing to return much of anything on an ever-growing pile of tax dollars.
"To Surly, With Love" was written and produced by Nick Gillespie and Meredith Bragg. Go to Reason.tv for downloadable versions of all our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.
http://reason.com/blog/2011/03/03/to-surly-with-love-are-teacher
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