Given that the data shows that teachers have upper midrange total compensation, I’m guessing that the tales of woe we hear are a reflection of the fact that it is really hard to start out as a teacher and that the job’s psychological baggage is high, not that established teachers are underpaid. They aren’t overpaid either, look at the data. They make salaries right in line with industries that are largely staffed by people with college degrees. (Now, if you want to pay teachers as much as the guy who bags your groceries, you might very well end up with your kids being taught by a guy who used to bag your groceries.)

Please do what you can to support the working class here in WI. There’s no telling where this may happen next.

Walker won with 52%; the winning votes coming from rural and wealthy suburban districts. In urban areas,the democrat won. Mind you, this is also the election that swept out Russ Feingold. This is more an effect of the United decision that allowed unfettered flows of conservative, business, and special interest monies into the election process. So is this what the people of Wisco wanted? Probably not. But it sure is what the Republican money-ed interests want.

This is a trial balloon. As Wisco goes, so will the rest of the nation.

THEN teachers in WI are required to take what is equivalent to 1.25 college credits per year to renew their licenses. (6 credits every 5 years) Grad credits cost about $300 per credit ($1800 out of teachers pockets btw) , and courses range from 2 days to 2 months. All done during the remaining “2 months off”. During this 2 months teachers also do major planning for new curriculum to keep up with the ever-changing state and federal curriculum requirements, serve on committees, meet with community members to build school community partnerships for real world relevancy for kids to keep them interested and motivated in school, set up service learning projects for upcoming school year and much more. Effectively equalling another months work.

Now were at 11 months work for 9 months pay!

Oh, and on average teachers spend $600 out of their own pockets on school supplies and another 100 sponsoring kids who can’t afford field trips or who are trying to raise $ for a school function they can participate in.

So let’s add it up. 11 months work for “9 months of pay”. Income which is 6.8% decrease due to the QEO which was suppose to cover at least rising healthcare but which has since surpassed due to higher premiums and copays. $500 a year spent on required courses and $600 a year on classroom and student needs.

Is anyone starting to see how insane it is to equivocated what teachers make to what they actually do? For those in the discussion who want to quantify what teachers do. Make sure you research and report accurately.

NONE of this even addresses the jobs teachers do regarding supporting and encouraging success with the marginal, mentally or emotionally challenged (I am not gloomy special Ed here), homeless or about to be homeless, AOD home issues, nutritionally challenged, etc… Issues that present themselves at every turn as a challenge to the task of educating individuals.

STILL THINK THIS IS ABOUT THE $?

By not paying teachers wage increases for 16 years under the QEU and not acknowledging their past contributions to the budget reconciliation efforts and then coming after the reason they are 6.8 % below in pay (benefits over wages), is dirty politics and low. Saying things like “teachers only work 9 months” is propaganda and sensationalist to promote taking more income from teachers while the wealthy get tax breaks.

Don’t look the direction they turn you, look behind as they sneak past you what they don’t want you to see.

NOW AFTER ALL THIS…. The real issue w this bill is the rights of workers. Which is the only thing stopping a complete take over by one party that happens to have the backing of big interest and corporations. The dollar bill will determine our life choices and abilities.

In third world takeovers they first kill the teachers so they can control the masses and their thinking with little opposition to their agenda. The less educated the better. This isn’t a third world country, but the signs are pretty clear. Unless of course your not looking or don’t want to see it.

The children are our future. Squashing their future opportunities, hurts all of our futures!

Thanks for the unintentional laughs.

http://legis.wisconsin.gov/lfb/Misc/2011_01_31Vos&Darling.pdf

Now for a couple of quick rebuttal points and then off to bed for this guy.

I’ve lived in wisconsin all of my life, lived in madison for 50% and in the rural areas for the other 50%, and I can surely tell you that the people who elected walker are the ones who live in the rural districts, are poor, uninformed, and scared. Yes, scared and thereby willing to lash out against anyone who is different or better off, usually whomever the rich point at with their talking points. These are the people who will most be hurt by this legislation, and also the ones who most need to get themselves organized in the first place. First they need to start by electing officials who will enact policies that better their constituents instead of corporations, then they need to get organized in the workplace and rebuild their unions. For those who would say that unions drive up prices because you have to pay the workers better, then you really have no clue how much profit a corporation makes off of a single employee.

Example: I worked at a filter factory in northern wisconsin by Eau Claire and a cheese factory in the south eastern part of the state while I was going to college. At both places we ,the workers, were told that unions were bad, and that they would pack up the factory and move it to mexico if we unionized because they wouldnt be able to make a profit. Indeed some people even got fired for talking publicly about unionization, but not a single person complained to the state boards because of how much they needed the jobs. Yet in a time of economic recession both companies were making outrageous profits, and both of them made their livelihoods based on the fact that their products were made in america and wisconsin respectively so moving to mexico was out of the option. For a numbers person, and this is per factory not just the companies: 10 million profit for the cheese factory (88 employees), and 60 million plus for the filter factory (200 employees or less). Even a child could realize those numbers are large enough to afford paying your workers better and giving them some real benefits, and the argument that these profits cover loss in other parts of the company is moot, unless the rest of the company is hemorrhaging money like there’s no tomorrow.

Whoever said that teachers on average make 79k in madison is surely out of their mind, I have more than a dozen friends who teach there and make nowhere near that amount (even with pension and healthcare) and probably never will in their entire lives. That number is computed by using not only teachers salaries, but those of administrators (which in madison are exorbitantly high for the work they do) , counselors, techs, and so forth. In fact the administrators would love to have this bill enacted, it would mean teachers would be unwilling to lobby for new books, better working conditions(also whoever said teachers only work nine months at eight hours a day is crazy, I’ve been a teacher and never worked that little. That includes when i was working only half time) , or any little thing that they needed.

Unless you go into politics, most people don’t work for the government to make big bucks. They do it for job stability and a comfortable benefit package, and sometimes because they are drawn to it, like teaching. Big bucks are traded off for said benefits. Apparently I can be a state employee, have worked under union contract for decades, and because of economic trouble when I retire, I don’t get my contracted retirement. Or because of economic trouble, period, I don’t get whatever benefits I’ve contracted for, if the government decides they can’t afford it. Interesting.

Thanks to Glenn Reynolds/Ann Althouse for pointing this out.

My favorite comment: “The trash must of been planted by tea party racists.”

Please provide some of the facts, statistics and numbers you say prove these other arguments that you disagree with to be wrong.

Thanks in advance.

And remmelt, no, they are not. The people who voted him into office are rural people, and not unions. Only some local Milwaukee unions supported him, and they’re not happy about this as well.

The unions he’s not trying to break are also coming out in support of the unions he is.

He was talking about the governors of Wisconsin and Florida coming out against the high speed rail funds that the Feds are going to make available across the country. The funds for these two states will now go to other states who can see that the investments are needed. When the citizens of these states see what is being done in their names, they will have to understand that elections have consequences.

So what exactly is the problem? I’m from NC, so unions are that big around here. I’ve always saw them as the other side of the power trip. They can be a good productive tool, or a PITA for a company having to deal with them.

Just remember greed can infect every organization, the union and the companies they work for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4mTTigqTSA

you are lucky to make $25000

You may be surprised that your opinion on someone’s salary has no impact on if they are happy with it or not. The truth is that lower salary will lead to less people pursuing teaching, and less qualified people being teachers. Ultimately this will lead to less educated people, more outwards migration, and a worse future for Wisconsin. Underfunding education is eating your seed corn.

For my money 25,000 per teacher is way less than we should be investing.

I voted against him despite being fairly fiscally conservative. He’s anti-education, anti-union, anti-anything that invests in the future. I have friends who’s livelihood will be severely effected by this bill and support any effort to defeat it.

BTW, if you see B-roll on MSNBC of the protests, and you see a sign that says: “The Only Good Walker is a Skywalker,” that’s my son, who spent the day yesterday marching with about 2000 other high school students in support of their teachers. He plans to go down there again today — as school is out again today.