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If we hang student achievement on parental involvement, then we are putting an entire group of people at a severe disadvantage...those with under-educated parents and/or those with immigrant parents. We will be a 3rd world country in a matter of a couple generations. Low income kids already have disadvantages...furthering that by not offering them all the help they need through public schooling is outright charting the children's life course if they are born into a family where the parents don't have the time or education to do at home teaching.
I wonder how much West Virginia schools spend on sports programs. I bet sports are fully funded with healthy increases each year while inflation adjusted net teacher pay goes down every year.
I read a WV teacher's account of how they get paid there. Basically, due to rising costs for their benefits that come out of their paychecks, their take home pay has basically been declining over the years. Then they have to pay for their classroom supplies out of pocket.
KY government trying to make cuts in teacher pensions. That teacher in LA I think it was got arrested for asking about their pay during a meeting and the article mentioned their pay has been cut as well over the years. That's at least three states that have been gutting education pay in some way.
Public sector unions are an abomination. You can't serve two masters, the union or the public.
The teachers took the job, and now want to cry its not good enough. I'm sure others would be happy to have their public sector jobs. If you dont like whats being offered, then pass. Thats what an honest man with any degree of integrity would do.
I say fire them all, like President Reagan did with the air traffic controllers.
West Virginia teachers are NOT UNIONIZED.
In fact their strike was illegal, but superintendents around the state, in EVERY county, sympathized with them and cancelled school so that the teachers would not be breaking the law.
My opinion is probably not going to be popular, but here goes.
WV ranks near the bottom in teacher pay, but also ranks near the bottom in cost of living. I'm also from Appalachia. From what I've been able to gather, average WV teacher pay is around $45,000. With that being an average, some will make more, and some will make less. A $45,000 salary is low in terms of national teacher averages, but given the local cost of living, it is probably not that far off the mark.
I used to work in computer support in a county that was about 15-20 miles from WV's poorest county, McDowell. We only earned about $15/hr. A team lead over a ten or so computer support techs for the two federal government contractor offices in that county might, just might, make $45,000. Like the teachers, virtually everyone there had a degree. Most of us would have been really happy to have that $45,000 average salary.
In poverty stricken, rural areas, like much of WV is, teaching is one of the few reliable pathways to a middle class wage, other than healthcare, adjusted for the local cost of living. If these people weren't teaching, they probably couldn't live there! If the local economy is terrible, wages for private sector employees will go as low as the market will bear. That's why you have computer techs and accountants down to $10/hr.
I graduated with degrees in economics and finance from a state university in northeast TN in 2010, had an internship in my field, and had other jobs before graduating. It took me four years after college to get to $45,000, and I had to move to the Midwest to get that.
They seem to be compensated fairly given where they live.
Fire them. Hire new teachers. What's to keep them from going on strike for 10% since this worked? It's just blackmail and extortion.
lol fire them and hire new teachers from where? How many high school teachers do you think will quit their jobs in another state and move to West Virginia to make $40,000 a year?
Nor knows anything about teaching and the many ways that students learn.
An educated society benefits everyone.
I guess it doesn't count that I consider myself well-educated having gone to public schools that were well-ranked. I went to Brown University. I am a self-taught antiques dealer. I worked on the MIT campus for several years. And over the years, I met many people from all walks of life and education levels.
Currently, I live next to a family that moved to our NH just so that their sons could attend our highly ranked academy that in recent years was #396 in a list of top 500 high schools in the US. And... the oldest son failed to graduate from high school and also failed at a second try at graduation from another town's high school. And I would say that it's the fault of his parents for not caring enough about his school work.
I am an aunt to two nieces. My husband's sisters have sons. So it's not as if I have zero contact with any parents.
So why wouldn't I be able to have a valid opinion on what makes good parenting and how well students are being taught? I learn so much on so many topics every week online. And I do appreciate how my parents raise me to appreciate art and music, and to continually seek knowledge. And I do believe that knowledge is power. I also believe in balanced budgets and practicing commonsense.
And with teachers seeking higher pay and the costs of health care and pharma skyrocketing, doesn't it make sense to redesign how are public schools are run? Fewer staff at higher pay. And it's clear how much kids and young people are attracted to online content anyway. So why not make their time spent online more productive? Why not kickstart a class on astronomy with watching some Carl Sagan specials?
And I am not suggesting massive teacher layouts, just a gradual shift to lower staffing levels.
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