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Old 04-13-2016, 06:05 AM
 
2,428 posts, read 5,523,461 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunflower_gal View Post
Some of my friends who are former teachers said that the current sub teacher rate in WCS is $14/hr. I know subs in public districts in Ohio that make $24/hr, which makes WCS' rate look so pathetic.
My mother made more as a paraprofessional in Mass in 1990 than WCS pays isn't paraprofessionals currently.
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Old 04-13-2016, 12:35 PM
 
5,064 posts, read 5,703,819 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunflower_gal View Post
Some of my friends who are former teachers said that the current sub teacher rate in WCS is $14/hr. I know subs in public districts in Ohio that make $24/hr, which makes WCS' rate look so pathetic.
In fairness, WCS gets approximately half the funding per student from the state that other TN school districts. The average district in TN gets approximately $6,000 per student in state funding. WCS gets $3,300 per student. The could pay a lot more if there was less disparity in student funding. WCS is at the low end of $ spent per student and consistently has the best outcomes in the state. Perhaps the state and federal government should quit removing funding WCS. Not every family in WCS is wealthy. Spring Hill and Fairview are not wealthy, and there are plenty of low to middle income areas in Franklin.
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Old 04-13-2016, 02:06 PM
 
Location: Brentwood, Tennessee
49,932 posts, read 59,626,227 times
Reputation: 98359
Some of the anecdotal "evidence" here is getting out of hand.

The top-rated public school system in Massachusetts, Lexington Public Schools, pays substitute teachers $95 per day:

Online Employment Application | Open Positions

... which is $5 per day more than here in Williamson until you work 21 days, at which point you begin earning $95. If you've subbed 50 or more days in WCS, you are paid $100 per day.

http://www.wcs.edu/wp-content/pdf/Sa...tuteSalary.pdf

The pay is the same in Brentwood because Brentwood schools are also Williamson County schools, just like Franklin. It's a countywide school system.

65% of the county budget goes toward the school system, and that budget includes the sheriff's dept, highway dept. and parks and rec. School officials will tell you that is an operating budget only.

Why not raise taxes, you ask? The county commission, which is the funding body for the county school system, has a couple of commissioners who claim they are low-tax, no-tax, and who like to bust the superintendent's chops every budget season because they are led by one who is angry that her house was rezoned to a high school she felt was inferior. So there is a little grudge match going on that infects the process.

In that sense, there is a conservative element here that behaves like that, but previously complacent voters are waking up and standing up to it, and they aren't all Democrats.
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Old 04-13-2016, 05:44 PM
 
2,428 posts, read 5,523,461 times
Reputation: 1836
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life View Post
Some of the anecdotal "evidence" here is getting out of hand.

The top-rated public school system in Massachusetts, Lexington Public Schools, pays substitute teachers $95 per day:

Online Employment Application | Open Positions

... which is $5 per day more than here in Williamson until you work 21 days, at which point you begin earning $95. If you've subbed 50 or more days in WCS, you are paid $100 per day.

http://www.wcs.edu/wp-content/pdf/Sa...tuteSalary.pdf

The pay is the same in Brentwood because Brentwood schools are also Williamson County schools, just like Franklin. It's a countywide school system.

65% of the county budget goes toward the school system, and that budget includes the sheriff's dept, highway dept. and parks and rec. School officials will tell you that is an operating budget only.

Why not raise taxes, you ask? The county commission, which is the funding body for the county school system, has a couple of commissioners who claim they are low-tax, no-tax, and who like to bust the superintendent's chops every budget season because they are led by one who is angry that her house was rezoned to a high school she felt was inferior. So there is a little grudge match going on that infects the process.

In that sense, there is a conservative element here that behaves like that, but previously complacent voters are waking up and standing up to it, and they aren't all Democrats.
Sub pay sucks everywhere liberal or not. Babysitters make more and have fewer kids to watch.

Ah Kathy Danner... the county commissioner who thinks PTOs should be funding roof repairs to schools.
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Old 04-14-2016, 10:52 AM
 
136 posts, read 209,479 times
Reputation: 257
Woah.. getting back to the original posters question. YES. Brentwood is conservative. Franklin is conservative. Williamson County is conservative. I grew up in Pennsylvania and was totally not politically interested. I was educated in New England, where I would have been considered "middle of the road" politically - which by definition made me a raging liberal when I moved to Williamson County.


People here are very nice, but if you are asking residents who have grown up here or who enjoy the conservative/religious climate, many cannot even see just how conservative it is. I honestly don't think my kids were ever taught evolution in school, because that would be considered too controversial and anti-religious. This is how generations of kids grow up ignorant in science. Same thing about climate change - too controversial to go into.
We moved to Williamson County for the reputation of the schools, but I found them to be very uninspiring and fixated on test scores. In fact you can't even debate the quality of the schools with people who live here, because all they will do is site the "test scores". Again, many cannot see that there is so much more to an education than "the test". What's worse, is that my kids felt that they could not openly admit that they were not Christian, or that they were not Republican, because that would leave them vulnerable to bullying, so they just kept quiet... and at times they lied when asked about their religion - to their teachers even!


We moved our kids from WilCo schools to a private school in Nashville and we as parents are happier, and the kids are happier. Even at a private school in Nashville, the student population is so much more diverse (on many levels, including politically), such that my kids feel there is freedom of discussion with a wide range of view points. Now they don't feel like the odd man out. So yes, Williamson County has it's conveniences, but yes it is very CONSERVATIVE, and you and your kids will feel that. It is not subtle.


PS - These are the people who get offended if you say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas! (Just a helpful tip if you move here)

Last edited by budgiegirl; 04-14-2016 at 11:11 AM..
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Old 04-14-2016, 11:39 AM
 
27 posts, read 39,427 times
Reputation: 63
Quote:
Originally Posted by budgiegirl View Post
Woah.. getting back to the original posters question. YES. Brentwood is conservative. Franklin is conservative. Williamson County is conservative. I grew up in Pennsylvania and was totally not politically interested. I was educated in New England, where I would have been considered "middle of the road" politically - which by definition made me a raging liberal when I moved to Williamson County.


People here are very nice, but if you are asking residents who have grown up here or who enjoy the conservative/religious climate, many cannot even see just how conservative it is. I honestly don't think my kids were ever taught evolution in school, because that would be considered too controversial and anti-religious. This is how generations of kids grow up ignorant in science. Same thing about climate change - too controversial to go into.
We moved to Williamson County for the reputation of the schools, but I found them to be very uninspiring and fixated on test scores. In fact you can't even debate the quality of the schools with people who live here, because all they will do is site the "test scores". Again, many cannot see that there is so much more to an education than "the test". What's worse, is that my kids felt that they could not openly admit that they were not Christian, or that they were not Republican, because that would leave them vulnerable to bullying, so they just kept quiet... and at times they lied when asked about their religion - to their teachers even!


We moved our kids from WilCo schools to a private school in Nashville and we as parents are happier, and the kids are happier. Even at a private school in Nashville, the student population is so much more diverse (on many levels, including politically), such that my kids feel there is freedom of discussion with a wide range of view points. Now they don't feel like the odd man out. So yes, Williamson County has it's conveniences, but yes it is very CONSERVATIVE, and you and your kids will feel that. It is not subtle.


PS - These are the people who get offended if you say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas! (Just a helpful tip if you move here)
Great post!

Statistics don't lie:
In the recent March 2016 primary, 80.5% of the ballots cast in Williamson county were Republican.

Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (rumored Trump VP candidate) represents Williamson County, and she is quite literally as far-right as you can get. She believes evolution is a myth and that climate change is a conspiracy. She consistently carries 70% of the vote in local elections.
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Old 04-14-2016, 03:56 PM
 
Location: Nashville, TN -
9,588 posts, read 5,795,990 times
Reputation: 11115
Quote:
Originally Posted by budgiegirl View Post
Woah.. getting back to the original posters question. YES. Brentwood is conservative. Franklin is conservative. Williamson County is conservative. I grew up in Pennsylvania and was totally not politically interested. I was educated in New England, where I would have been considered "middle of the road" politically - which by definition made me a raging liberal when I moved to Williamson County.


People here are very nice, but if you are asking residents who have grown up here or who enjoy the conservative/religious climate, many cannot even see just how conservative it is. I honestly don't think my kids were ever taught evolution in school, because that would be considered too controversial and anti-religious. This is how generations of kids grow up ignorant in science. Same thing about climate change - too controversial to go into.
We moved to Williamson County for the reputation of the schools, but I found them to be very uninspiring and fixated on test scores. In fact you can't even debate the quality of the schools with people who live here, because all they will do is site the "test scores". Again, many cannot see that there is so much more to an education than "the test". What's worse, is that my kids felt that they could not openly admit that they were not Christian, or that they were not Republican, because that would leave them vulnerable to bullying, so they just kept quiet... and at times they lied when asked about their religion - to their teachers even!


We moved our kids from WilCo schools to a private school in Nashville and we as parents are happier, and the kids are happier. Even at a private school in Nashville, the student population is so much more diverse (on many levels, including politically), such that my kids feel there is freedom of discussion with a wide range of view points. Now they don't feel like the odd man out. So yes, Williamson County has it's conveniences, but yes it is very CONSERVATIVE, and you and your kids will feel that. It is not subtle.


PS - These are the people who get offended if you say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas! (Just a helpful tip if you move here)

Good post. I can relate to your statement about being considered middle-of-the-road in more liberal areas, but a "raging liberal" here.

Anyway, the reason I brought up salaries for people working in education in Williamson County is because it is relevant to the question. As most of us already know, there is a strong correlation between politically and socially conservative areas and low (er) wages, especially in a field like education. That's not to say that all conservative areas pay poorly or that all more liberal areas pay well, but a pattern certainly exists.

Yes, OP, Williamson County is conservative. One manifestation of that conservatism is to what extent it values public education. And one way to gauge how much it values public education is to look at what it pays its education professionals and support staff (K-12 AND college), especially in the context of its high COL.
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Old 04-14-2016, 05:02 PM
 
Location: Nashville, TN -
9,588 posts, read 5,795,990 times
Reputation: 11115
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life View Post
Some of the anecdotal "evidence" here is getting out of hand.

The top-rated public school system in Massachusetts, Lexington Public Schools, pays substitute teachers $95 per day:

Online Employment Application | Open Positions

... which is $5 per day more than here in Williamson until you work 21 days, at which point you begin earning $95. If you've subbed 50 or more days in WCS, you are paid $100 per day.

http://www.wcs.edu/wp-content/pdf/Sa...tuteSalary.pdf

The pay is the same in Brentwood because Brentwood schools are also Williamson County schools, just like Franklin. It's a countywide school system.

65% of the county budget goes toward the school system, and that budget includes the sheriff's dept, highway dept. and parks and rec. School officials will tell you that is an operating budget only.

Why not raise taxes, you ask? The county commission, which is the funding body for the county school system, has a couple of commissioners who claim they are low-tax, no-tax, and who like to bust the superintendent's chops every budget season because they are led by one who is angry that her house was rezoned to a high school she felt was inferior. So there is a little grudge match going on that infects the process.

In that sense, there is a conservative element here that behaves like that, but previously complacent voters are waking up and standing up to it, and they aren't all Democrats.
Okay, you provide some good insight as to some of the (unsurprising) political reasons for low salaries in WCS and Franklin Special School District, which is the K-8 school district my Franklin house is zoned to. And you're right, I did momentarily forget WCS is a county-wide system and that, therefore, salaries in Brentwood would be the same. All the more reason those salaries are absurd.

I don't think anecdotes here are getting out of hand. I used substitute teacher pay as but one example of low salaries in education-based occupations throughout Williamson County, but we shouldn't focus exclusively on substitute teacher pay. The fact is that right across the board, salaries for people working in permanent positions at one of the two public school districts, at higher education institutions, in libraries, etc. ARE low. Very low (especially when one considers the COL here, which is NOT low). This is not a figment of my imagination. I have worked in higher education and libraries in two countries and in two different U.S states (Michigan and TN), so I'm not pulling this claim out of thin air.

Lexington, MA pays its substitute teachers similarly to what WCS and FSSD pays its subs, which is badly. But a comparison of salaries for permanent professionals AND support staff between WC and Lexington reveals quite a difference:

Lexington Public Schools salaries: Lexington Public Schools - AppliTrack Recruitment (click on "additional information" beside each position to see salaries).

WCS non-professional staff salaries: http://www.wcs.edu/wp-content/pdf/Sa...fiedSalary.pdf

WCS professional staff: http://www.wcs.edu/wp-content/pdf/Salary/ejuly.pdf

Now, I know people are immediately going to say, Yes, but Lexington has a much higher COL than does WC. I'm sure that's true in terms of cost of housing, but in other respects, I don't know. I do know that the city I grew up in, and the wealthy suburb of Detroit I used to live in, have COL currently similar to WC (or somewhat lower), but with education salaries closer to those in Lexington.

Last edited by newdixiegirl; 04-14-2016 at 05:12 PM..
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Old 04-14-2016, 06:17 PM
 
Location: Brentwood, Tennessee
49,932 posts, read 59,626,227 times
Reputation: 98359
I'm certainly not trying to convince ANYONE who is even remotely worried that Brentwood might be "too" conservative to move here.

However, even this native Tennessean knows that throwing around generalities, "momentarily forgetting," and making statements based on your limited experience is not science.

For example:

Quote:
Originally Posted by newdixiegirl View Post
The fact is that right across the board, salaries for people working in permanent positions at one of the two public school districts, at higher education institutions, in libraries, etc. ARE low. Very low (especially when one considers the COL here, which is NOT low). This is not a figment of my imagination. I have worked in higher education and libraries in two countries and in two different U.S states (Michigan and TN), so I'm not pulling this claim out of thin air.
It might help you to know that the globally acclaimed Brentwood library is a city-operated and funded library. It is not part of the county budget, although it does receive about $75K in funding from the county each year.

A look at the city budget shows that a Librarian II earns an average of $50K, right in line with the national average, while the library director earns right at $100K. Do you consider that low? Everyone has their own definition!

Brentwood has 41K residents, almost exactly the same as Bloomfield Township, MI, the only "wealthy Detroit suburb" I know to be comparable in size. Let's please please PLEASE discuss cost of living again and start with property taxes, er, sorry, "millage rates."

Again, I will say that if you have to ask if this area is "too conservative," you already know your answer.
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