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Old 07-10-2011, 11:02 AM
 
31,995 posts, read 36,572,943 times
Reputation: 13254

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zel Ya View Post
First of all, what do consider a good salary?

Do you realize it costs a lot of money to buy a home, raise children, and to send them to college. And then sometimes there's the added expense of taking care of your aging parents. And then health care costs are always a concern.

Good benefits?
Average salary for an APS teacher is $59,528 for 38 weeks, or $81,459 based on a 52 week year.

In addition, they get 12 paid holidays, 12 days of sick leave, 9 days of annual leave and 3 days of personal leave.

They may also get Bereavement leave, Jury Duty/Emergency leave, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Request for Religious Leave, Military Leave, Illness in Immediate Family leave.

Other benefits include group health, group dental, group vision, group term life, pensions, workers comp, long and short term disablity and a variety of other things.

In my opinion, these are pretty generous benefits. If you give them a value of even 10% of salary, that means a teacher is making right at $90,000.

Most people would consider that a good job. As I recall, average per capita income in Atlanta is around $38,000 per year, so teachers are not doing too badly.

Last edited by arjay57; 07-10-2011 at 12:20 PM..
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Old 07-10-2011, 11:58 AM
 
Location: Atlanta
714 posts, read 810,832 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arjay57 View Post
Average salary for APS teacher is $59,528 for 38 weeks, or $81,459 based on a 52 week year.

...average per capita income in Atlanta is around $38,000 per year
Good grief Arjay, enough with the facts! People arent interested in those.

I can see it now. The argument "teacher salaries are too low" wins out, and across the board raises are given (without merit considerations, of course). Then, next year or two, another {cheating or other} scandal breaks out, and the same argument is made. Salaries and pensions go up yet again. Then another scandal, salaries increase AGAIN, and on and on...

Rewarding the teaching community for harboring cheaters in its midst is not the answer. Over time, it effectively ends society as we know it.

Meanwhile, private sector pensions are disppearing completely and people that have jobs are working longer hours with fewer and fewer "perks". It just aint sustainable.
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Old 07-10-2011, 12:35 PM
 
31,995 posts, read 36,572,943 times
Reputation: 13254
Quote:
Originally Posted by tigers84 View Post
I can see it now. The argument "teacher salaries are too low" wins out, and across the board raises are given (without merit considerations, of course). Then, next year or two, another {cheating or other} scandal breaks out, and the same argument is made. Salaries and pensions go up yet again. Then another scandal, salaries increase AGAIN, and on and on...
I'm not opposed to teachers receiving good compensation and benefits. They should be paid well. However, given that these are highly desirable jobs it's easy to understand why very few were willing to rock the boat.

Despite the vows by politicians to root out anyone who participated in the cheating, I'd be surprised if many actually lose their jobs. Teachers' unions are extremely powerful and they're going to be around long after the furor dies down. Most teachers will probably say they were just following orders, while the administrators at the top will claim nobody told them what was going on. Everybody passes the buck, things get bogged down in hearings and litigation and after a while it's back to business as usual.
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Old 07-10-2011, 12:41 PM
 
Location: Atlanta
714 posts, read 810,832 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arjay57 View Post
I'm not opposed to teachers receiving good compensation and benefits. They should be paid well. However, given that these are highly desirable jobs it's easy to understand why very few were willing to rock the boat.

Despite the vows by politicians to root out anyone who participated in the cheating, I'd be surprised if many actually lose their jobs. Teachers' unions are extremely powerful and they're going to be around long after the furor dies down. Most teachers will probably say they were just following orders, while the administrators at the top will claim nobody told them what was going on. Everybody passes the buck, things get bogged down in hearings and litigation and after a while it's back to business as usual.
Frightening, and probably quite true. Among many upleasant reverberations from the scandal, one could be that it is bad for housing prices in the APS area codes. I mean, who wants to pay up, school tax-wise, for that kind of nonsense. Better to save the dollars for private education.
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Old 07-10-2011, 01:44 PM
 
16,644 posts, read 29,343,547 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arjay57 View Post
...
Teachers' unions are extremely powerful and they're going to be around long after the furor dies down...

There are no teachers' unions in Georgia, arjay.
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Old 07-10-2011, 02:09 PM
 
7,112 posts, read 10,095,150 times
Reputation: 1781
Quote:
Originally Posted by arjay57 View Post
Average salary for an APS teacher is $59,528 for 38 weeks, or $81,459 based on a 52 week year.

In addition, they get 12 paid holidays, 12 days of sick leave, 9 days of annual leave and 3 days of personal leave.

They may also get Bereavement leave, Jury Duty/Emergency leave, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Request for Religious Leave, Military Leave, Illness in Immediate Family leave.

Other benefits include group health, group dental, group vision, group term life, pensions, workers comp, long and short term disablity and a variety of other things.

In my opinion, these are pretty generous benefits. If you give them a value of even 10% of salary, that means a teacher is making right at $90,000.

Most people would consider that a good job. As I recall, average per capita income in Atlanta is around $38,000 per year, so teachers are not doing too badly.
Yes and I would add that the Teacher's Retirement System (TRS) is very generous. Teachers were underpaid in the past but I think we've done a lot to address this in the 1980s. Yet we still seem to have this built in assumption that our teachers, no matter what, are underpaid.
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Old 07-10-2011, 02:11 PM
 
Location: East Side of ATL
4,586 posts, read 7,676,370 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Originally Posted by arjay57 View Post
Average salary for an APS teacher is $59,528 for 38 weeks, or $81,459 based on a 52 week year.
You do know the pay is the same for the whole year, correct?

Only difference, you can spread your check over 12 months instead of 10 months (pay check during summer break). A teacher contract is 180 days only.

Your pay doesn't increase to 52 weeks...
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Old 07-10-2011, 02:21 PM
 
7,112 posts, read 10,095,150 times
Reputation: 1781
Quote:
Originally Posted by AcidSnake View Post
So in other words, you are more comfortable picking nits with the comments that other people have on this subject than with drawing a line in the sand with your own. Understandable, I guess...

Taking a stand on a controversial issue or event is not for the faint of heart, I suppose.
No, just a large topic requiring research and more time than I want to commit unless someone pays me for my time.

But...if we all contribute a little something, maybe the thread will bear some fruit.
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Old 07-10-2011, 02:22 PM
 
7,112 posts, read 10,095,150 times
Reputation: 1781
Quote:
Originally Posted by PKCorey View Post
You do know the pay is the same for the whole year, correct?

Only difference, you can spread your check over 12 months instead of 10 months (pay check during summer break). A teacher contract is 180 days only.

Your pay doesn't increase to 52 weeks...
Some teach summer school for extra $$$.
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Old 07-10-2011, 02:25 PM
 
7,112 posts, read 10,095,150 times
Reputation: 1781
Quote:
Originally Posted by arjay57 View Post
How about simply emulating the schools in North Futon, Cobb and Gwinnett? They're killing it, at a fraction of the lavish expenditures by APS.

Here in the city of Atlanta, our school board and its large cadre of extremely well paid administrators has been dumping vast amounts of money into the system for decades.

This latest report makes it clear that teachers who occasionally pointed out that the kids still weren't learning were told to shut up and change the tests so that everything looked okay. A lot of teachers seemed content to go along with that.
Did I say "other countries"? I meant "other counties".
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