REPORT: Average city teacher salary tops $100,000

[Milwaukee, Wisconsin] MacIver News Service – For the first time in history, the average annual compensation for a teacher in the Milwaukee Public School system will exceed $100,000.
That staggering figure was revealed last night at a meeting of the MPS School Board.
The average salary for an MPS teacher is $56,500. When fringe benefits are factored in, the annual compensation will be $100,005 in 2011.
MacIver’s Bill Osmulski has more in this video report.

From our archives: The Mess at MPS:

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48 thoughts on “REPORT: Average city teacher salary tops $100,000”

  1. Talk about slanted reporting. A headline like that and then it states that the average salary is $56,000. You’re not exactly sending your kids to Harvard on that.

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  2. Rob R – It’s over 100K when you factor in all of the compensation. And you have got to be kidding to have any gripes about money like that – that’s freaking amazing money! And WHO SAYS everyone should be paid well enough to send their kids to Harvard? It’s attitudes like yours that are destroying America – the “You owe me” syndrome. Nobody owes you or me anything. You have to go out there and work hard for it. You should travel a bit and expand your mind, then you would kiss the soil in America and appreciate what you have. America is going to see a slow demise into ineffectiveness on the global scene and it’s mentalities like yours that will take this once great country there.

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  3. I’m sorry but a $56,000 average salary sounds reasonable for a teacher. The headline says the salary was $100,000 when in fact the salary was a little over half of that.
    Why are we attacking teachers making $56,000 a year when our government just extended $800 billion in tax credits for the wealthiest 5% of the population?
    And yes I have traveled the world and America is the best country to live, work and raise a family in. I want to keep it that way. Teachers help keep our country great, and children are our future.

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  4. The Republican strategy is to pit average working Americans against one another, distracting attention from the almost unprecedented concentration of wealth and power at the top.
    They hope to deflect attention from the increasing share of total income and wealth going to the richest 1 percent while the jobs and wages of everyone else languish.
    The second part of the Republican strategy is being played out on the state level where public employees are being blamed for state budget crises. Unions didn’t cause these budget crises — state revenues dropped because of the Great Recession — but Republicans view them as opportunities to gut public employee unions, starting with teachers.

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  5. Rob R is clearly a mere parrot of NPR/MSNBC, or possibly a high school student coerced by a Wisconsin teacher.
    Whatever share of total income going to the richest people is NONE OF YOUR CONCERN. Nor anyone else’s. Concentrate on YOURSELF and what YOU make and how YOU make it. What OTHER people make is non of your business. Do you whine about how rich and powerful Al Gore is? Why not?
    Rich people, generally speaking, are rich because they worked HARD and had good ideas.
    The phrase:
    “The Republican strategy is to pit average working Americans against one another, distracting attention from the almost unprecedented concentration of wealth and power at the top.”
    proves itself exactly wrong. The LEFT is behind class warfare. And that phrase proves it.
    The (conservative*) strategy is to get ALL people to make themselves great and as rich as they want to be depending on how hard they work, not on how much that can leech off the government.
    Why do you think that taxpayers, who pay for THEIR OWN retirement and healthcare, should pay for the retirement and healthcare of union employees as well? How is that “fair”? You leftists love the word “fair”. Is it “fair” that the richest 10% pay 71% of Federal income taxes? How is that fair?
    Wouldn’t actual Fairness consist of EVERYONE, no matter how much they make, paying x% of their income?
    Rob YOU are exactly what’s wrong with America. You should go to some mediocre socialist country (pick one, there’s plenty) and be a drone. THAT would be fair to the rest of us.
    *- There are Republicans who are not for conservatism, and they are almost as bad as the democrats.

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  6. Pierce obviously has no idea what he is talking about. Do you know why 10% of the population pays 71% of taxes, you MORON? Because the top 10% controls 80% of the wealth in this country!!! Then when you factor in tax breaks and all the other perks showered on them theey control a much larger percentage than that.
    For the record I think the teachers should contribute to their healthcare etc. But the should NOT be mandated to lose their ability for collective bargaining. Protesting and voicing dissension is key to American discourse and that should NOT be stopped!!
    Also for the record, I live in CA and am in that 10% but I realize that unions have made a big difference in me being able to make that salary.
    http://www.mybudget360.com/top-1-percent-control-42-percent-of-financial-wealth-in-the-us-how-average-americans-are-lured-into-debt-servitude-by-promises-of-mega-wealth/
    http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
    There are MANY sites to back up these stats. Feel free to look them up.

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  7. When I speak of the richest 1% of the population, I AM speaking about myself. While I grew up in a lower income home, I benefitted from the excellent teachers in my public school, went on to a full scholarship, attended a state college and graduated with honors.
    So I think I’m an example of what’s right with America. I’m willing to spread the wealth around so your children can be afforded the same opportunities for a good education that I had.
    PS to Pierce: I’m glad you brought up teachers retirement benefits. Every day the elderly are faced with a choice of purchasing food, paying their utilities, or buying medicines at hugely inflated prices. I don’t think anyone should have to be faced with those choices, whether or not they are a teacher, and I wouldn’t feel good about taking money for reirement away from ANYBODY. How can you sleep at night?

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  8. Pierce, Nate – you are bigoted idiots. Rob, myself and others like us are going to save this country from the nightmare of a future people like you are enabling with your unwavering support of the ruling classes and their lackeys in the GOP that are gutting this nation.

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  9. Rob R. (aka Brett) – Pierce absolutely schooled you. Re-read what he wrote without your “I hate all things Republican” attitude. I think he might be right when he guessed you might be a student.
    Their total compensation *is* $100K. The majority of the private sector (i.e., those accountable for their actions and vulnerable to layoffs regardless of performance) do not receive a pension (or any 401K matching) and pay a huge portion of their medical coverage and expenses. I’ll give you this, though, that the headline should have used the word “compensation” in place of “salary”.

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  10. Let us not forget…teachers only work 8.5 months per year…not a bad income package…$100,000 for PART TIME WORK. If teachers feel so underpaid…go get a job in the real working sector…aka the private sector. Public schools are a monopoly that need to be broken up! Taxpayers DESERVE BETTER!

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  11. My husband can only get a part time job with no benefits, and I am self employed in a discretionary spending category of work that has been tanking. We get no assistance from the government and have to pay our own way for medical, and then have to put aside what we can for our own retirement. Together we make only half what a first year teacher makes without benefits in Wisconsin. We are working hard just to feed and clothe ourselves, so I can’t understand why everyone is so angry about pitching in to help pay for your own medical care and pensions. We have to do this for ourselves and then pay for yours also through our taxes. It’s time to wake up people and see that most of the population is a bunch of thumb sucking babies who just want to be taken care of by the state. Well the state is broken and someone is trying to take the necessary steps to fix it. It means reigning in spending because when the wallet is empty, you can’t go out and get a pizza. It’s time for everyone to start learning to tie their own shoes again. Why aren’t the teachers privately funding their own retirements? They are being paid a very good wage for part time work and many pick up extra work during the summer months, so what is stopping them from being responsible adults and socking something away for their retirement. Just look online at all the financial planners who would be happy to set them up with Roth IRAs or help them invest in stocks. No one is robbing their retirement! They are just being asked to contribute to something that only benefits themselves and not the general population.

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  12. Mike, Photo Lady, and CO Politics:
    I understand where you are coming from, but where is your ire over billions given to the rich in tax breaks, $1.121 trillion for military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and $117 billion given to banks that were “too big to fail”?
    Granted it would seem the benefits are almost equal to the salaries of Wisconson public scholl teachers, but why is the tea party jumping up and down over teacher compensation and not focused the waste and corruption we’ve witnessed over the past decade? We have no business in Iraq and Afghanistan, should have let the banks fail after they took on excessive risk and the wealthy should pay higher taxes.
    This is why our country is broke. Don’t blame the teachers.

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  13. I am sorry, but public school teachers act like they are holy effin martyrs. i detest 99% of them. in truth, all they care about are themselves completely forgetting the fact that students are the clients and the reason for their employ. anyone who goes into education to get rich had better rethink that plan. public education is not about riches–it is about SERVICE. they act like they dig damn ditches all day.
    will someone please send in some “scab” teachers to get that state on track again?

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  14. Lynn, there is the problem. You feel these folks are getting rich on an average of salary of $56,000. Isn’t the problem not with them getting too much, perhaps it is that you – many of you – are not getting enough?

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  15. Pay your own f’IN WAY. I OWN MY own business and it is ENTIRELY on me to save for my own retirement! Teachers and their bloody union thugs are forcing elderly out of their homes in Nys via absurd property taxes. Public employees retiring at 55 or YOUNGER with 80% of their salary is taxpayer extortion

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  16. no, rob, the problem isn’t that i am not getting enough. the thing that is RIGHT is that i do not feel entitled and do not feel that those better off than me have to pay my way.
    oooh–those evil rich bastards wanting to keep what is theirs. how dare they?!! and those evil taxpayers wanting the teat-sucking public workers to pay into their own retirement and healthcare.
    if the gubmint employees think they are so valuable, let them enter the private sector and do better. but we all know what they are really worth and the jig is up. taxpayers have had enough!

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  17. Lynn, the public employees of Wisconsin already have agreed to concessions on their retirement and health benefits, the issue is the destruction of the public sector labor unions. The fact that you detest 99% of all teachers and you and your husbands combined earnings are less than $56,000 lead me to believe that you might not really value an education, didn’t try to get a good education and now are paying the price.
    And the, as you put it “evil rich bastards” are taking your tax dollars to fund illegitimate wars and bail out the criminal banksters. Wake up people!

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  18. Reading the comments below gives further evidence that a traditional Republican strategy is back with force. Historically ( since the New Deal) it runs something like this: First find a scapegoat. In this case teachers…..or minorities, immigrants, coal miners, labor activists and unions….it really doesn’t matter…as long as they are identified with the so-called “left”..Second, place the blame for a crisis or social problem… state budget shortfall, economic recession, crime, drugs, “fraud and abuse”……squarely on their shoulders…..and Third, convince enough independent “middle class” workers, that these guys are the root of THEIR woes. This diverts attention from Republican support for corporate subsidies (Exxon/ Mobil paid no Federal Taxes last year), tax breaks for the rich….(Warren Buffet had an effective tax rate of 17% last year), and corporate -friendly legislation. Of course, they have to look after the occasional union that supports their candidates (like police and firefighters who are exempted from the Wisconsin governor’s bill)…..Wow, I guess their endorsement of him had nothing to do with that! It’s the old shell gameof take from the poor and give to the rich…. and the Republicans and their corporate masters are very good at it. How else could they convince voters that they want to “cut the deficit” while giving the wealthy top 5% what amounts to a $700 billion tax cut. And for those of you out there who lost their jobs, before you point fingers at teachers, who exactly was it that wanted to end your unemployment benefits because extending them would make you “lazy”. These Republicans are amazing….they can insult you on the one hand while convincing you that they have your best interest at heart by lowering taxes and decreasing spending. Go figure this out Tea Party Folk: The average citizen’s Federal tax bill as a percentage of total income is LOWER under Obama than Bush and get this…..under Reagan….the King of tax raisers…….The total number of Federal employees as a percentage of population served has DECREASED 15% under Obama over Bush, and total Federal taxes paid as a percentage of income have also DECREASED. It’s all out there at the bi-partisan GAO web site….go check it out. One last thing….as a former teacher, I can say without a doubt that your idea of what we do is total BS. The average teacher work week is well over 60 hours when you consider class preparation (ever heard of a lesson plan) for upwards of 3-4 different classes a day. labs etc. We aren’t paid for that. Then there is “extra duty” like coaching., parent meetings (you’re not being fair to my little Johnny”), extra-curriculars, evaluations…on and on…..Oh by the way, those long “vacations”….I spent most of mine working on an advanced degree at my own expense or attending summer classes just to keep my certification. By the way, it takes 10-15 years to get to that “average” salary….New Wisconsin teachers start in the 30’s …….a decent admin. assistant can make that. But hey come on! Let’s get the teachers! As long as they have people like Lynn out there…(hates 99% of teachers) they don’t have a thing to worry about. Afghanistan is $ 1 Trillion and counting.. The Beat goes on……

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  19. Teacher’s are not overpaid. We are professionals with degrees. In CT where I teach, teachers have a limited amount of time to complete a Masters Degree. Compared to other professionals with equal educational background our salaries lag. Yes, teachers have Health Care benefits that all Americans should have. And we have pensions but here in CT I have kicked in 6% of salary for 32 years and not paid into social security. I will never collect social security even as a surviving spouse. I am ineligible.
    Urban schools have a much more difficult task than suburban schools. Most of our students enter school with a much smaller vocabulary and general knowledge then the children of college educated, more affluent parents. Many of them face English as a second language. We welcome and teach them. If they have problems we have fewer resourses to help them. Unlike magnet, charter and private schools, we have to teach them all. No child left behind recognises only the ability to perform on standardized tests. Thes tests do not measure many of the important gains students from all backgrounds achieve. I am all for improving Urban education but the playing field is not now and never has been level.

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  20. Rob R..there’s a difference between PRODUCTIVE and redistribution. The WEALTHY that you’re so ready to condemn are PRODUCTIVE..They produce a product/service to be sold for a profit. In return, they EMPLOY people and the “productivity” continues. The TEACHERS salary is not taken out of a profit. It is taken out FROM THE PRODUCTIVE aka it is a redistribution of wealth. For EVERY INCREASE of public school teacher, a TAXPAYER has to bear a burden. That taxpayer is already paying TAXES for everything else.
    Private School teachers get paid less the public schools. DO YOU hear them complaining? of course not..they operate as a business and thus everything is based on market value.
    Let’s try the numbers. The average cost per public school student is around 14k while private school is on average of 7k. Return on investment? About 50% dropout rate for public schools (less than 10% for private schools). Test scores? Here’s the breakdown from HIGHEST scoring to LOWEST scoring: Homeschool, private, PUBLIC.
    BTW folks..Being a teacher is A CHOICE. Don’t tell me that you are more special than ANY other profession. You’re not. You don’t like your salary? Change your profession. But don’t come to me the TAXPAYER and milk me dry to you can contribute as little as you can to your benefit. One is paid based on their MARKET VALUE. You don’t have to like it but that’s how it works. The very people that’s PAYING YOUR SALARY aka TAXPAYERS are NOT making near the average salary, yet the Union want to milk them dry without regard? So they can continue to operate on failures and inefficiency? There’s a reason why UNIONS are dying in the private sector. And it’s because Unions LITERALLY take the life out of everything they touch. NOT ONE industry has scape the destructive nature of unions. They all have visited the bankruptcy court. Even FDR the BIG GOVERNMENT loving president saw the Unions destructive force.

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  21. rob–you are assuming a whole crapload about me. i have a degree with two minors. and i am a widow. you are a communistic idiot. or maybe just a socialist boob. don’t know. don’t care. but what i do care about is the fact that our society is free. and teachers are free to persue other avenues of employment if they feel underpaid and unloved. boo damn hoo!
    one thing is for certain. education is about service, not security. it should be merit-based and not unionized.

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  22. Rob R. do your research and understand economics and politics before commenting on salaries, republicans, unions, collective bargaining, etc.
    President = $400,000/yr. In my state I have school district superintendants making over $400,000. I know this because it is public record available on the internet. Many of these DS’s took $40-70,000 raises last year while they cut Art and Music jobs and pretend to fight the good fight for the poorly paid teachers. How hypocritical. A special ed teacher at a chicago elementary teacher went from $87,000 to $413,000 from 2009 to 2010. The strategy is that teachers salaries get bumped up expotentially at the end of their career because their pension is based on their highest paid years. The average Illinois teacher gets $52 for every $1 they contribute. This is why the “entitlement” is up-side-down. Cudos to those states who have the fortitude to stand up and say enough is enough, we are broke (i.e. the Governor of New Jersey).
    And while the retirement plans of the “private” sector go down the tubes (i.e. talk to any United Airline employee about their pension plan) the “public” sector gets a guaranteed return. Who are the entitled elitists? The public sector unions.
    The Obama administration has created 200,000 new government jobs. These are not manufacturing jobs with a “return on the dollar” value. These are public jobs which the “already working” working class must pay for. Democrats are growing the government sector, increasing taxes and increasing spending (by borrowing from foreign governments) The latest budget will increase the deficit to 25 trillion over time. I hope your kids like that bill.

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  23. Economics 101: Money flows down hill.
    So why have Dems always slandered Reps saying they want to give tax breaks to the rich? Give tax breaks to the “wealthy” and they build businesses, create jobs, give bonus’, etc. Chuck, do you have any idea how many jobs, directly and indirectly, Warren Buffett creates? No, you just “know” that he effectively paid 17% taxes. That 17% is in the hundreds of millions. He also gives unheard of amounts to charity. He is a great, and humble, man who contributes to the betterment of society.
    Why all the focus on Wisconsin and teachers? The issue is Collective Bargaining and unions in general. Unions served a purpose in the 60’s when a man made peanuts and truly was taken advantage of by the “wealthy” owner. Look at Detroit and see what unions do. They take an uneducated person with the ability to put a screw on a bolt and leverage it into $38/hr ($150K/yr in salary and benefits). The result is an automobile that costs too much to compete with foreign cars. Then, as auto plants close, factories supplying every last small part begin to close. The Butterfly Effect takes motion. This mentality has caused the collapse of an American city, Detroit. How is the carpenters union helping all their unemployed? They are not. They only insist the dues keeps getting paid. It is probably the worst hit union in America. Currently, pensions and SS write out more in benefits than they collect from the working. It doesn’t take a Wharton Business School grad to figure out where this formula is heading. But it does take a Republican.
    Republicans? Democrats? Wealthy? Poor? Their is enough blame to go around. The word is greed and it stems from the generation of materialism. Baby Boomers and my Generation. We have all contributed. Now it is time to grow up and face reality. We are out of money and out of credit. Perhaps one day the new rich will be hard working entrepenuers and not just athletes and music artists. Get our priorities straight. And we’re worried about whether or not there will be football in 2012. Who cares! (FYI, I love football. I don’t NEED football)
    You want to teach your children? Teach the WANT and teach them NEED! Teach them the difference!

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  24. Steve M, way to break it down! I also find it Sooo amusing that many democrats seem to think that they are better educated and more intelligent then Republicans, Give me a BREAK! All republicans are dumb, racist, we hate poor people, and we don’t value education!? It’s so sad how we are painted by the media and the flock so easily follow.
    Anyway, down with public unions!

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  25. Rob R., thank goodness for your ‘voice of reason’ among all of these unnecessarily nasty comments. Why do so many feel the need to attack you personally (“you are a comunistic idiot?”) CLASSY! I am a registered Republican and a public school teacher in NJ. I worked many years in corporate America, then taught in Los Angeles, then returned to corporate America, then back to teacher. I am two years from retirement, at the age of 59. My local union has already made concessions for this year, and are prepared to make others. I do not expect to earn anymore money until I retire. I do expect the state to honor their committment to me regarding retirement, which I paid into for 23 years. I expect to pay a great deal more for medical benefits. I am also a tax payer in NJ, the state with the highest property taxes. ANYONE who has never been in a classroom, day in and day out, can make an informed/intelligent comment about what it is like to be a teacher, anymore than I can determine what a doctor’s life is like based on my office visit! And Rob R. is correct…in the past 20 + years, the richest Americans have increased their wealth while the middle class has LOST financial ground. In other words, the gap between the have and the have nots has increased dramatically. I think we have the beginnings of a class war, nothing less! It floors me that people will defend the uber-wealthy, the corporations who have made billions of profit on the backs of the average American, yet villify teachers! It sounds like jealous anger to me. Sounds like a lot of people ticked off they don’t have what someone else has, and they don’t want anyone to have more then they do. Petty jealousy. I read these comments, as a conservative, a Republican and an American, and I fear for this country. The HATE is palatable. The angry mob speaketh and it isn’t pretty. Rob R. you were a voice of reason among the mob, and for that I thank you! I don’t care whether you are Democrat or Republican we need to hear more voices like yours!!

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  26. WOW – please don’t get me started !
    We live in an area with loads of retired teachers.
    They all have TWO homes and plenty of money.
    We however lost our jobs and had to stop paying for our own healthcare.
    We had two relatives both teachers bragging about their salaries & benefits over Christmas holiday. Also, don’t forget how they slave all summer AT THE BEACH ! If you add up all the free healthcare for teachers, government employees, military,
    state & local workers, cops, welfare etc. I think there’s only a few of us without a free ride. We need a big overhaul in this country. And how come all the kids graduating can’t read or add ? Did any of these teachers ever hear Kennedys famous line – Ask not what your country can do for YOU, ask what YOU can do for your country.

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    • Lets see teacher go to there school in August to get ready for school to open in late august . They are advisers for different clubs . Some clubs go away durn vacation a teacher goes with them at no extra pay .

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  27. I have to agree with Lynn and Joe P and Katie.
    The teachers assume we owe them for simply performing their 8 1/2 month jobs. My company doesn’t give me a spring break or Christmas break, not to mention summers or SNOW days !
    My grandchild has a principle and an assistant principle in GRADE SCHOOL, WHY ? What does the assistant do ? We had forty or fifty kids in my classes, one principle and no school nurse, and we all turned out fine. People are tired of the its all about me generation. Maybe if we lay half the teachers off & make the rest pay health care we can balance the budget !

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    • But we’re gonna solve this financial crisis by firing and laying-off all
      the teachers, and having 50 kids in a classroom, no school nurse
      (illegal did you know?) and they will all turn out fine, according to
      Will! I vote for Will for new Czar of the Department of Education! That’s because kids did what the teachers said an did not talk back to them .

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    • The only thing i can say you are not working at the right place . when i worked at the railroad in Waterville Maine . I had 3 weeks vacation i could of had off the month of August with no pay . When in worked at BIW i had 4 weeks of comp pay they rolled our sick time an vacation together . I could take it any way i wanted if i did not want to come in that day they had a call in number to let then know i was not coming in . I took off most every year at our shut down at x mass time an that lasted thru New Years .

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  28. Well, I’ve been kind of busy and have not had the chance to look at my active threads. I insure small businesses, and with the recession everybody is buying less insurance, their sales and payrolls have dropped off a cliff and I have to work twice as hard to just stay where I was in 2008
    Wow, I have sure been called a lot of names in my absence! I’m not going to rely to anyone that resorts to calling me names, I have more respect for myself than that.
    There is some truth in Scott Walker’s claim of a “budget shortfall” of $137 million. But Walker fails to mention that less than two weeks into his term as governor, he pushed through $117 million in tax breaks for business allies (the Koch’s). There is your crisis right there. Look it up.

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  29. I have an idea….instead of laying off the teachers/firing them…why not get rid of ALL sports and extra-curricular activities. Let’s make schools strictly academic institutions. Any parent who wants a child to play a sport, must pay for it. Not the taxpayers. Anyone who wants to be in a play/band/cheerleader, must pay for it. I believe that would save millions. Let’s start there. YES, ask the teachers (and other public employees) to contribute much more to health benefits. Increase the school day, increase the school year. Let the public employees suffer as the private sector is! But eliminate ALL the “extras.” Give it two years, and let’s revisit the savings. But let each district negotiate it’s OWN unique contract! Additionally, I still do NOT understand why people are not angry about the Wall Street/Bank BAILOUTS, GM’s Bailout, etc.? The WARS being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan are STILL going on? How much money would be SAVED if we just GOT OUT of these? They aren’t going anywhere anyhow! BILLIONS of dollars wasted!! But we’re gonna solve this financial crisis by firing and laying-off all the teachers, and having 50 kids in a classroom, no school nurse (illegal did you know?) and they will all turn out fine, according to Will! I vote for Will for new Czar of the Department of Education!

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    • .why not get rid of ALL sports and extra-curricular activities. Let’s make schools strictly academic institutions . Ive been saying that for a long time . Increase the school day ive been saying that to . They should not get out of school till 3 pm . I still do NOT understand why people are not angry about the Wall
      Street/Bank BAILOUTS, GM’s Bailout, etc.? ive been saying the same thing for a long time to . But we’re gonna solve this financial crisis by firing and laying-off all
      the teachers, and having 50 kids in a classroom, no school nurse
      (illegal did you know?) and they will all turn out fine, according to
      Will! I vote for Will for new Czar of the Department of Education! I would love to see a teacher try to handle 50 kids when they get in there face an the teacher can not do anything about

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  30. Hey Remy – I do like your idea for schools to be strictly academic, and let parents pay for the sports, music etc. Plus a longer school year.Thats not a bad idea.
    Also, how much do they pay for a “Czar of Dept of Education” ? Will they give me a pension and pay all my health care ?
    In answer to Anonymous – Teachers should be paid what they pay for other jobs in the private sector
    in the Thirties – if your lucky.
    Look around – the only people who can afford to retire – are teachers and x goverment workers !
    Ever look around at who’s waiting on you or checking out your groceries. Some poor old soul
    who Tried to retire but can’t afford the taxes on their homes now.

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  31. I like Remy’s idea for the strictly academic.
    That would probably school all of us on the tons of extra insurance. And the parents can’t sue the schools when kids get hurt.
    Also, I agree with Will, teachers today are overpaid. And I didn’t know that grade schools have assistant principles ! And I would really like to know what the heck they do, I looked up the salaries and in maryland area they start in the high sixties, before you add the benefits !!!
    Wow. I better get out my old guitar and hope for a I get discovered so I can retire someday.

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  32. I agree with Lynn, if teachers feel they can do better go get a job in the REAL WORLD !
    And what message are those teachers sending out to their students when they call off SICK from their job to demonstrate. To help only themselves.
    I think they are way overpaid.

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  33. Rob R., since I last visited this site, I went and explored the infamous Koch brothers. I see them as the “right wing” version of George Soros. Am I mistaken? Billionaires who have an agenda! Money to influence ANYONE whom they may! My father was a small business owner, and a wonderful man! I HATE to see the little guy hurt! Guess that is why I went into Special Education as a teacher! I have famiy members who are Democrats..and Republicans…but we DO have common ground! Can’t that be translated into the public arena? As I mentioned earlier, I am a registered Republican. I have voted Democrat…I voted for John Corzine in NJ, because the candidate for Republican was an EXTREME idiot! I vote my conscience. Not along party lines. However, seeing what the Republicans are doing now that they have a taste of ‘power’, is repulsive! Throw the baby out with the bath water! Idiots! Let’s INCREASE the divide between the haves and have nots…they are beginning to actually be the party of the RICH. If something doesn’t happen soon, to change my mind, I am going to become a Democrat. NEVER will anyone in my family believe me, that is how staunch a Republican I am. Stop screwing the little guy, and I will listen!

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  34. Will, (I like the name…have a child in the family named Will…but it’s actually William..Good name) I don’t know how much you will make as ‘Czar’, but I imagine it will be more than acceptable. And yes, you will have a pension, and health care….so why aren’t you going for a public sector job now?
    Your comment about paying teachers what they paid in the Thirties, is mean. There was a depression then….what you are saying is that no one should be better off than you because that isn’t fair? Because you are a tax payer, and you pay the teacher’s salaries?
    Well, I am a teacher and I pay for welfare, and medicare, and Social Security, and Free School Lunches, and Low Income Housing, etc., etc. Do you not realize that I also pay for the teacher’s salaries in MY SCHOOL district? And all of the above? Do you know that many of these salary deductions are based on income?
    It isn’t true that the ONLY people who can afford to retire are teachers and ex-government workers! Your bankers, Wall Street Brokers, Hollywood actors, ex-professional Sports ‘Stars’, business owners, etc., etc., can also retire. AND those who were GOOD stewards of their incomes! Stop playing the blame game! Teachers have NOT impoverished you! Perhaps you might consider the Wall Street BAILOUTS, The BANK BAILOUTS, the TWO WARS we are currently fighting (Iraq and Afghanistan) and all of the PORK projects our Federal Gov’t engages in!
    And YES I have looked in my local Wal Mart at these sweet, old men (and women) who check my receipts when I walk out! And my heart goes out to them, and I pray each time I encounter them. I wonder WHERE IS THEIR FAMILY?? I take care of my 85 year old mother and my 87 year old Aunt (her sister) in my home.
    But the government cannot/will not/ should not solve all of the “ill’s” of society!
    Sorry for the rant! I just feel so diminished and defeated by these attacks on my profession. I am a person too! I am a taxpayer too! I love my country…I am NOT THE ENEMY!

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  35. If you have been out of school (not college) for more than 10 years, you should not talk about how it was “back when I was in school”. Thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers have much more responsibility to meet those standards, no matter the cost to the children. Public schools have to take whomever lives within a certain area. Private schools can pick and choose from those who can afford to attend in the first place. The economics weed out the chidren who have fewer social skills, thus Early Childhood teachers have to do that as well as meet academic requirements. Yes, Pre-k and kindergarten actually start learning from day 1, it is not a babysitting service.
    The average school day for teachers starts at 7:30 and does not end until at least 4 by the time the children are all gone. They may or may not get an undisturbed 30 minute lunch. After hours they have to do lesson plans, prepare report cards, and grade test. Don’t forget the after=school conferences for working parents, school carnivals and fundraisers, as well as evening events so the parents can see displays of what their children have done. Oh yes, some of those days when your children are not at school, the teachers are for professional developement which they must have to retain certification.

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  36. Oh please Evelyn. So even though people who have been out of the school system more than 10 yrs and are paying teachers salaries through their taxes they don’t have a say in Where it goes ?
    You sound like yet another whiney spoiled teacher.
    I worked in the private sector Full time 8am till 5pm all year without any lunch most days.Two weeks vacation that was it. My friend a teacher makes over $70K plus pension & benefits.
    She sits at the beach ALL summer & then COMPLAINS
    when she has to go back one week ahead for a meeting. Also, goes away on vacation for Christmas because school is shut down for two weeks. She also has TWO HOMES by the way. My husband & I put in my own money for retirement and now had to start using it to survive. The private sector has NO JOBS.
    No one is blaming the teachers for being overpaid,
    we would of all gladly taken more money, paid breaks and summers off had the private offered it to us. Also, EVERYONE has been affected by the illegals, school systems, hospitals, social services, – the words out – sneak into american and your kids get schooling, you get jobs under the table, free everything. But the gravy train is over in america.
    The kids graduate and can’t add or speak proper english. Then their parents HAVE to send them to college so they may or may not have a job.
    Also, private schools get their funds from the parents not taxpayers so those poor souls are paying both. I don’t have the answers, just my opinions.
    Also, sounds like Remy knows both sides on this issue and that is why he went BACK into teaching.
    Appears he one of the few teachers without an attitude, who went into his job for a service.
    He sounds like a person who goes the extra mile. The teachers are just getting a touch of reality. The rest of us have been living this for the past ten years or more. Watching all the blue collar jobs taken out of the county. My cousin worked in construction for 25 yrs. Now he has to drive by and watch mexicans put up all the new developments because the big home builders have subcontracted out to the lowest bidders. He couldn’t afford the workers comp and insurances and healthcare anymore for his small crew or himself. Remember when they subcontract they pay no insurance or healthcare. Do you really think illegals are paying ANY taxes or insurances ?
    We all have to taken reductions and band together to make america great again.

    Reply
  37. Wow…just wow…and I’m not often left at a loss for words. Some of you speak of getting a job in the “REAL” world. That is so ironically funny. You could not BE anymore in the “REAL” world than inside my classroom day in and day out with all of YOUR teenage children, trying desperately to counsel them, teach them, discipline them, and prepare them as they attempt to navigate and enter this “REAL” world that you have created for them…all the while they are more and distracted with every form of technology known to man, which YOU purchase for them… And as much as you think you do…you REALLY have NO idea what they are doing and with whom most of the time…it just makes you feel good to think you do…but we know what is REAL…and let me tell you, it’s quite scary. I do not know a teacher who does not come in at 630am…most not leaving before 5…i’m usually there until 6 daily…and then you come home and grade…all night…all weekend…and we spend a MINIMUM of $50-100 a month out of our OWN pockets on supplies/extras/goodies/etc for no other reason than to try to make education more engaging for YOUR kids. If I didn’t have that 2 months off to regroup my sanity, I would not have the energy to year in/year out come back with full force and have the stamina to do what I have to do for YOUR children. And I am not a martyr…I’m a TEACHER…I LOVE my job…you would have to be NUTS to do what we do and NOT love it…it would be impossible, and if you DON’T love the job and LOVE the children…you shouldn’t be teaching in my opinion. So I don’t need your sympathy and I don’t want any more money than what I earn or what I’m worth. But by God, I KNOW, for the hours I work, and for what I do in the lives of YOUR children, I am worth WAY more than what I am paid. And I don’t know what these extra compensations you are speaking of are…but I sure have never seen any of them! I get paid $50 sometimes for staying on Saturdays or Mondays and working a 4 hour detention…but that might add 500 to the 47,000.00 I get after having worked in a profession for 13 years. The highest stipend I know of (and these are published as well) is 8,000 a yr extra for a coach or extra-curricular director. I do not know a SINGLE teacher making 100,000…and our salaries are published…I read them because I am curious…never seen one even CLOSE. I would LOVE to invite any one of you delusional, clueless people to come and do my job for a week and tell me I’m overpaid…Wow.

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