Teachers' Salaries

We got this comment in an article about the high failure rate for teachers taking Teacher Competency Exams.

I can NOT believe this conversation is taking place. Does the public want quality teachers? Then PAY for them. For too long our society has sponged off the system that has teachers who teach because they love the children and love teaching. No more.

If you want to question your teachers' qualifications, then question away. The system allows under-informed teachers to teach because no one else will teach them. Want quality? Quality comes with a price, and the public is not willing to pay it.

Perhaps Hal missed the articles on what teachers actually make. And it isn't peanuts.

The Manhattan Institute tracks teachers' salaries. Closely. And while we haven't the research assistants, it's no hard job finding out how much Broward County (FL) teachers make. Starting salary right out of college: $37,000/year. It's $25.17 an hour That works out to an annual $50,340 if teachers worked the 2000 hours that is average in business. Or as we put it:

For approximately 9 months work - 200 days.

Paying no social security.

Fully paid contributions to Florida Retirement system.

Fully paid benefits: health, vision, dental and life.

No state or city income tax.

Fully paid disability insurance.

Ten days sick leave, accumulated from year to year, with no maximum.

You can even get a personal leave for cultural traveling.

Teachers might get more if they could do something else. They probably would, except that a large percentage of teachers wouldn't be employable in any other field except teaching. Private business couldn't afford them and stay solvent. Businesses wouldn't hire them and demand so little.And businesses surely couldn't survive with the bad publicity of four employees arrested for sex crimes with children if the business was based mainly on trust.And what does that say?

We thought all of that was worth saying again.