Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I found this article about funding schools in Wyoming... but taking money away from teachers will take teachers away from Wyoming, I would think, to the detriment of students. Teachers are underpaid in most states, and what Wyoming offers is a decent salary for an often thankless task.
Bottom line.. you start taking away from schools and the kids will be the ones who suffer...If you think you have bad in Wyoming.. try living in California, or Minnesota, or Michigan... Just be thankful your students don't have to attend inner city schools or poorly funded rural schools in those states, or you would think twice about suggesting that teachers are "squealing" about their dedication. Teachers are dedicated...and it's a lot harder of a job than you might think. Frankly I'm appalled that anyone would suggest such a thing Just remember that those students will grow up to be future leaders of our country, workers in our factories, fields, retail and otherwise... and I'd rather invest money in youth today than to complain about what they become without a good education. And you can kid yourself into thinking that 40k is a lot to pay teachers.. but how can you really put a price on a child's education? Because without DEDICATED teachers, student's wouldn't have the best environments possible to learn.
JMPO
Last edited by Froggie Legs; 09-18-2009 at 05:34 PM..
Reason: adding more thoughts
Ok, if you say so. I know what I payed and what it was for.
Not according to the document that FroggieLegs posted ... every Wyoming county has a 6 mil State School fund and a 25 mil School Fund tax levy as ordered by the State Legislature. So there's at least 30 mils by State law on your property tax bill for schools, in addition to the one that you mention for the "school buses". Those mil levy's are on my tax bill ...
According to the Sheridan County Treasurer's website, the current mil levy in Sheridan County is approx 73 mils. That's pretty consistent with what we're seeing here in Laramie County. I can't get the mil levy breakdown right now on-line, but I'll bet that the folk up North aren't paying much more for county and local services than we are down here in Cheyenne (Laramie County) ... and I'll bet a nickle that the breakdown of property tax mil levy there will have similar percentages of school taxes as we do here.
Maybe we could call the County Treasurer next week to get the breakdown ....
one more tidbit... here in MN teachers starting salary is appx. 30k/year. I did the math to figure out what take home pay was...and minus health insurance premiums ($600/month/couple--which is roughly the same cost, if I'm not mistaken, as health insurance for many Wyoming teacher's and spouses), and Federal taxes...the earnings came out to be appx. $19000 take home, and this without factoring in union dues, which are "High" according to the teachers' I've spoken to. (Union dues usually run about $500-$600 a year here in Minnesota).... tell me.. how is this really paying teachers too much? if you raise that figure to 40k/year.. you're maybe talking about a take home roughly 27-29K... again, not including potential union dues and that is figured without the $7200 health care premiums taken out... ..you do the math..
I'm not saying that there aren't government employees that are padding their pockets, but it certainly isn't teachers who put in 50-70 hours per week, both in school as well as the stuff outside of school (prep time, grading, before and after school assistance of students, meetings, etc.)
Be thankful you don't have Al Franken in YOUR senate seat!
Could've fooled me, EH ...
So 71% of my Property Taxes are for THE SCHOOLS! Not police, fire, library, weed and pest, county fair, or other services ....
I just dug out my last year's taxes and of my total property, the mills for the local school is just under 41% of my total property tax bill.
one more tidbit... here in MN teachers starting salary is appx. 30k/year. I did the math to figure out what take home pay was...and minus health insurance premiums ($600/month/couple--which is roughly the same cost, if I'm not mistaken, as health insurance for many Wyoming teacher's and spouses), and Federal taxes...the earnings came out to be appx. $19000 take home, and this without factoring in union dues, which are "High" according to the teachers' I've spoken to. (Union dues usually run about $500-$600 a year here in Minnesota).... tell me.. how is this really paying teachers too much? if you raise that figure to 40k/year.. you're maybe talking about a take home roughly 27-29K... again, not including potential union dues and that is figured without the $7200 health care premiums taken out... ..you do the math..
They do love their unions. They like seniority to determine their job status, never competence.
It's digusting to pay these foul slime anything. What do they do for children? They sure don't educate them in a traditional sense. They're far too busy trying to make children believe that America stinks, that the White race stinks, that business people stink, that anything our culture has ever held sacred is evil.
There's nothing in the Constitution about free education. Not so long ago, country folks would get together and hire a girl to teach their children the three R's. The girls generally were married within a year, so they needed to find a new one, but it worked. If the girl had spent time, maybe even graduated, from a women's college, she'd teach her students some French, something about Shakespeare, maybe a little science.
Those days are gone. But even today, the vast majority of country people live and vote as moral individuals. Those unprofessional and non-union schoolmarms of old left quite a legacy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Froggie Legs
I'm not saying that there aren't government employees that are padding their pockets, but it certainly isn't teachers who put in 50-70 hours per week, both in school as well as the stuff outside of school (prep time, grading, before and after school assistance of students, meetings, etc.)
Be thankful you don't have Al Franken in YOUR senate seat!
Government school teachers putting in 50-70 hours per week? Nobody will buy that one, or are you counting the time you need to spend in the bar to relieve the terrible pressures. People who seek jobs with three month vacations and constant holidays are not hard workers.
They do love their unions. They like seniority to determine their job status, never competence.
It's digusting to pay these foul slime anything. What do they do for children? They sure don't educate them in a traditional sense. They're far too busy trying to make children believe that America stinks, that the White race stinks, that business people stink, that anything our culture has ever held sacred is evil.
Unions are not what they used to be, I will grant you that. I do not belong to a union and if I was offered a position in a job that had a union I would opt out on personal reasons, and carry private liability insurance instead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy in Wyoming
There's nothing in the Constitution about free education. Not so long ago, country folks would get together and hire a girl to teach their children the three R's. The girls generally were married within a year, so they needed to find a new one, but it worked. If the girl had spent time, maybe even graduated, from a women's college, she'd teach her students some French, something about Shakespeare, maybe a little science.
Those days are gone. But even today, the vast majority of country people live and vote as moral individuals. Those unprofessional and non-union schoolmarms of old left quite a legacy.
Under the 10th amendment the founding fathers gave "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
This includes public schooling. For when the constitution was written, in 1776 there were not any formal "grammar schools" yet in America. However, did you know, Thomas Jefferson was wholeheartedly for funding public schools ? Albeit it was likely that the schools would have been open only to boys, as girls were generally not educated at all in those days, outside of the housewifely duties she would one day take on.
You obviously have some very strong opinions regarding schools in general, and perhaps you had a bad experience somewhere along the way, but that's really no reason to make negative generalizations about a whole group, is it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy in Wyoming
Government school teachers putting in 50-70 hours per week? Nobody will buy that one, or are you counting the time you need to spend in the bar to relieve the terrible pressures. People who seek jobs with three month vacations and constant holidays are not hard workers.
By "government school teachers" I presume you mean public school teachers, because obviously you have never worked as a teacher. There is no "bar" time, which is rather insulting to suggest that there is ... On average teachers spend on average 3-4 hours at home every night at work on grading, lesson plans, preparation, etc. Top that to the arriving at school around 7:30 am and staying until 4:30 pm (which is mandatory) you are looking at 12-14 hour days, ever day of the week, not including weekends.. which a lot of teachers do end up working on grading and lesson plans... I don't know what fantasy world you live in, but until you walk a 1000 miles in someone else's shoes, you perhaps shouldn't judge a person's career choice so harshly. I know there are other teachers on this forum, and they could tell you as well that teaching isn't the cake walk you are trying to make it out to be.
On a final note, I highly doubt there is one teacher in this country that went into it for the money for goodness sake. We KNOW we aren't going to get rich doing this job, but we CARE enough about the young people in our country to WANT to do this job.
By "government school teachers" I presume you mean public school teachers, because obviously you have never worked as a teacher. There is no "bar" time, which is rather insulting to suggest that there is ... On average teachers spend on average 3-4 hours at home every night at work on grading, lesson plans, preparation, etc. Top that to the arriving at school around 7:30 am and staying until 4:30 pm (which is mandatory) you are looking at 12-14 hour days, ever day of the week, not including weekends.. which a lot of teachers do end up working on grading and lesson plans... I don't know what fantasy world you live in, but until you walk a 1000 miles in someone else's shoes, you perhaps shouldn't judge a person's career choice so harshly. I know there are other teachers on this forum, and they could tell you as well that teaching isn't the cake walk you are trying to make it out to be.
On a final note, I highly doubt there is one teacher in this country that went into it for the money for goodness sake. We KNOW we aren't going to get rich doing this job, but we CARE enough about the young people in our country to WANT to do this job.
Glad you weighed in Froggie Legs. Quite frankly, I laughed out loud when I first read the post - the part about "bar time". I haven't set foot in a bar in over 20 years, but I don't think "Happy in Wyoming" would even care. Doesn't seem very "Happy in Wyoming", does he/she.
I arrive at school between 6:45 and 7am and am there until 4:30pm on a regular day, whatever that is. Didn't have one this week. I was there until 6:45 pm one evening and 7:00 another. And yes, I've spent about 5 hours today grading papers and planning for next week. And I just got assigned a new task by my principal that will involve probably another 4-5 hours a week.
But I absolutely love my job. No - I didn't go into it for the money. I worked in industry before becoming a teacher and made tons more $$$$$ there. But I've already received 3 emails this year from last year's graduates thanking me for demanding so much of them in the classroom - it prepared them for college.
In spite of naysayers like Happy in Wyoming, I continue to do a good job - for my students and for my intrinsic rewards. Education is very different than it was when Happy in Wyoming went to school......It HAS to be.
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that today’s learner will have 10-14 jobs . . .By the age of 38. "some French, something about Shakespeare, maybe a little science" just won't cut it for our students today.
The only thing we can count on in this world IS change. If you haven't seen the video on YouTube, I highly recommend the "Shift Happens", HappyinWyoming.
While you may resent how our world has changed, it is what it is.
Great video Wyolady! we watched something similar in one of my classes last semester. You are absolutely right, unless one is of the Amish , Mennonite, or Hutterite persuasion, we all will have to adapt to the rapidly changing times.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Nobody will buy that one, or are you counting the time you need to spend in the bar to relieve the terrible pressures. People who seek jobs with three month vacations and constant holidays are not hard workers.
