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There already are teacher shortages. The changes are moving to a 4-day school weeks in multiple district for several years. Look at the sidebar on the left of the link.
I don't get it. The article is more about the 4-day week than about a teacher shortage which they seem to take for granted. I'd like to know more about the reasons for a teacher shortage in Oklahoma and how they are addressing it.
Texas is constitutionally obligated to provide and maintain free public education to it's residents. If raising salaries is necessary to meet that end, then they are obligated to do that.
The days are over when teachers are dime a dozen. Every state is facing a teacher shortage. I do agree
with you on pay being tied to the field of study. If you have an aptitude for math or sciences it would be crazy to be a teacher as you will be in high demand in medical or engineering fields. So if we want teachers in the science and math fields we need to pay them. Also federal or state government needs to start help paying back student loans for teachers when they graduate. They should pay back 10% per year they teach. Within five years we are going in a full blown crisis for teachers. Just read an article about 50% vacancies in Arizona and they are trying to hire Philippines to fill positions. It is only the start if we don't wake up. My wife was a teacher for 33 years. I know how hard and how much time it takes, if you are not a teacher or married to one you have no clue how much time they put into it. Their day does not end when
the kids go home.
While there may be a general shortage, around here, there isn't. Locally we have more teachers than there are positions for them. We know several who have taken jobs in church preschools because there are no openings in the public school system and multiple teachers apply for every opening. Now there does seem to be a shortage in the higher levels, esp STEM teachers. They can't find qualified STEM teachers due to competition, but there are plenty of Elementary Eds and Language Arts and Middle School. So as long as the market is flush with willing candidates, pay will stay low. That's why I advocate for pay based on market -- it will break the death grip on the bottom that uniform pay scales create.
Oh, regarding payback for college loans. While I am a staunch conservative, I have reached the conclusion that society has reached the point that college, at least the first two years of it, should be free just like public schools. I know there are many who will disagree but education, esp science education, is becoming a national security crisis. Other countries are beating us at the educated populace game, and the education gap will, if it hasn't already, become the greatest threat to our nation since the Cold War.
Edited to add: Just saw the map of state attractiveness (thanks to whomever posted it). Out state is a relatively attractive state per that list, hence the plentiful supply.
So you’re saying in some districts there’s super low barriers to entry into the profession and the standards of hiring have declined. Yet, they should be paid....more?
Nope. What they are saying is you can't hire quality employees for what the schools are willing to pay. You know everyone understands this concept when discussing private sector pay, but somehow everything gets reversed when discussing public sector pay. Who out there really believes a $19.95 necklace from Walmart has the same quality "jewels" as the $1995 one from the jewelry store? Or that a Big Mac is the same as Kobe beef?
But teachers know what they are going to be paid before they accept the job... then they accept the job and they are unhappy about it.
Look, many teachers are underpaid and I won't deny that, but it's hard to garner sympathy from people when this is what you signed up for.
This is a myth. Teachers signed up for low starting salaries, decent benefits, good pensions, and mediocre but consistent pay increases. That is not what they are getting any more.
I live in NY. The teachers in my area are the highest paid in the state. Largely b/c our COL is so expensive here.
That said, teachers are not the only people with bills, families etc etc. Teachers here make well over $100k after only just 5 years of teaching. They get free healthcare that we the taxpayers pay for. They get pensions/403B's which are much better than any corporate 401k type thing.
My area also has these teacher appreciation days where you can go to places like Dunkin or Starbucks and get something for free... usually it lasts like a month.
Now I have no problem with the salaries that teachers make here, they have to make a living like the rest of us - the problem I do have is teachers here are held on a pedestal that they are much better and much more important than any other profession. Don't you think I would like a free coffee as well? Is my profession less valued than teachers? Shouldn't be...
This is why myself and many other corporate sector people in my area get annoyed when we hear teachers complain about their salaries. Now I understand it is not this way in other areas of the country but imagine how it feels when you consistently hear the top paid people complain they want more money? It's annoying as hell.
Teachers also have the summers off, so while the rest of us are being paid for 12 months and actually working 12 months, they are being paid for 12 and working for 10.
Pretending to have a meaningful conversation about teachers as a whole and then holding Long Island up as your reasoning is stupid. They are literally the highest paid teachers in the country. That just defies logic.
Second, teachers work 10 months and get paid for ten months. The fact that you think otherwise is a myth that is as illogical as using people at one end of the spectrum to draw conclusions about the whole.
Nope. What they are saying is you can't hire quality employees for what the schools are willing to pay.
Ah, so all of the current teachers are dregs, and should be fired just before the correct, higher salaries are implemented to attract better teachers. Correct?
Quote:
Who out there really believes a $19.95 necklace from Walmart has the same quality "jewels" as the $1995 one from the jewelry store? Or that a Big Mac is the same as Kobe beef?
You probably aren't aware they you're disproving your own argument here, so I'll help you out. The jewelry store jewels and Kobe beef are more expensive because they're in higher demand and lower supply. That's it. If a given district has all of the teachers it needs, and is getting the results it's happy with, with a salary you think is "too low", guess what? That's where the supply and demand curves meet.
Average salary for a teacher in Westlake Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland that I live close to: $70,070.
This is not an anomaly: Strongsville, Ohio: $66,558.
Does that include administrators, or just actual teachers? I ask because one time they printed an article (in a local newspaper) about librarians, and how we earned something like $120K in this county - but that was averaging in the HEADS of the library systems, who make as much as $250K! Meanwhile, those of us "on the field" earn between $65-85K in the Bay Area. Pretty big difference, ya know?
Ah, so all of the current teachers are dregs, and should be fired just before the correct, higher salaries are implemented to attract better teachers. Correct?
Of course that’s not what they are saying. Many teachers were hired when salaries were higher and so were many standards. What he is talking about is new hires. Anyone who would choose to be a teacher in this day and age should be looked at askance. Salaries have never been stellar but the real difference is in losses in the rest of the compensation package.
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