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Good points all, I would include that the average teacher spends a little over 5 hours per day actually in front of students.
As far as purchasing supplies go, a few points to make in regards to my city:
-The average teachers salary in Boston is a little over $90,000/year.
-The piece of the budget pie that education consumes in Boston in roughly 36%.
-Faculty and staff pay and benefits consumes 89% of the education budget. This leaves 11% for supplies and physical plant (buildings and property maintenance).
In conclusion, I have a hard time pitying the teachers when they complain about having to purchase school supplies.
Let me make clear that in general, I do not think teachers should have to purchase their own supplies. I say "in general" because I always like to leave a little "wiggle room", say a teacher wants to do some elaborate project that the school can't fund. But pencils, paper, etc for the students, basic office supplies to do the job, no.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jgn2013
Average to good teachers work much more than people realize. My wife either works late or brings home work 3 to 4 days per week and almost always does prep work on either Saturday or Sunday.
Unlike most white-collarish jobs, teachers spend much more time on their feet and have to deal with people like customer service reps (parents, administrators, kids etc.). Parents rarely blame their own kids for being knuckleheads. The extra time off is a good trade-off though.
Good Grief! Go follow a health care provider, doctor, nurse, pharmacist, physical therapist, etc around for a day. They're on their feet most of the day too! We used to all try to hide when the pharmacy reps showed up. And we had to deal with insurance companies, families of patients, etc. I'm all for empathy for how hard teaching is, but this "the only profession that. . . " usually isn't true.
Not sure where you got that 5 hours a day in front of students, but lucky teachers spend 6 hours in front of students, the majority spend 6.75 hours, and the average is just under 7 hours. This does not include duty, meetings, and, of course, grading or planning, it is just time in front of kids. Do you think the only time someone should get paid is when they are doing the defining function of their job? So police shouldn't get paid for driving around neighborhoods or writing reports, just when arresting someone? Firemen should only be paid when putting out a fire? This notion that the only time teachers earn their pay is when there are kids in the classroom is ludicrous.
The national average of the portion of the school budget spent on salaries and benefits is a tiny bit over 90%. Boston is not out of line.
You know who should be buying those supplies that the school system doesn't? The parent, it is after all their child that needs and uses it.
Where do you get these numbers?
The school where my kids go to school runs from 8 - 2:30 M-TH (6.5 hours a day) and 8 to 1 on Fridays. (5 hours). In that time there is lunch and recess. Most schools I know only have the kids for 6.5 hours a day
A great teacher is worth their weight in gold. A poor teach is worse than worthless as its impossible to quantify the cost to society when they fail. One thing is certain; no two teachers are worth the same.
The school where my kids go to school runs from 8 - 2:30 M-TH (6.5 hours a day) and 8 to 1 on Fridays. (5 hours). In that time there is lunch and recess. Most schools I know only have the kids for 6.5 hours a day
My previous middle school in different state: 8:10 - 3:25 (My contract hours: 7:50 - 3:45)
One before that in yet another different state: 7:25 - 3:10 (My contract hours: 7:00 - 3:30)
No early release at a single one. I have NEVER worked in a school with less than a 7-hour student day and as a military spouse I have worked in multiple states and for DoDDS. I guess your state is different. However, to answer your question, I got the numbers from Ed Week a professional magazine.
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Arizona has early release days. New York didn't when I was a student:
The Arizona based district I work for has:
High School: 7:15AM-2:15PM except on Mondays and finals which it is 7:15-12:15 BUT on Mondays there are meetings for teachers that go to 2:45.
Elementary schools run 8:15-3:00 but because there are so many they are staggered from 8:15 to 8:30 to 8:45.
An easy way to fix the school supplies problem would be to just increase the amount of tax deduction available for teachers who spend their own money. Iirc, it's currently $250. I max out that deduction every year. Make it $1000-1500. God knows we have deductions for more useless crap than that.
An easy way to fix the school supplies problem would be to just increase the amount of tax deduction available for teachers who spend their own money. Iirc, it's currently $250. I max out that deduction every year. Make it $1000-1500. God knows we have deductions for more useless crap than that.
Sadly it is likely not happening. The government don't care about teachers. Just look at all the union busting going on in so many states. Teaching unions are typically a punching bag for Republicans and the anti-union crowd.
Sadly it is likely not happening. The government don't care about teachers. Just look at all the union busting going on in so many states. Teaching unions are typically a punching bag for Republicans and the anti-union crowd.
In all fairness, some of what teacher unions are suffering from now is the result of their own folly of working to protect even the most incompetent teachers. And I say that as a person who supports unions (in general), and supports teacher unions, and was a union building rep for 2 years myself when I was teaching. And even as an administrator, over 20 years I had one complaint against me go to the local teacher organization...and they ruled in my favor, dismissing the complaint by saying to the teacher, "If you can't get along with Mr. L----, then who exactly can you get along with?"
Teacher unions or teacher organizations ought to stick up for the profession and ought to support the good to great teachers...which are the vast majority of all teachers. But there are some they ought to be glad to get rid of because they tarnish the whole profession and lead to threads like this, which reflect public opinion to a large extent.
An easy way to fix the school supplies problem would be to just increase the amount of tax deduction available for teachers who spend their own money. Iirc, it's currently $250. I max out that deduction every year. Make it $1000-1500. God knows we have deductions for more useless crap than that.
Never understood why teachers spend their own money, do it like college and make parents foot the bill. Would make the parents more involved in what/how classes are taught if they had to see the bill for it.
The teachers are teaching "their" kids so why not have parents foot supplies? If they dont like it, they can vote to increase taxes for everyone to spread it out or find a different school
Never understood why teachers spend their own money, do it like college and make parents foot the bill. Would make the parents more involved in what/how classes are taught if they had to see the bill for it.
The teachers are teaching "their" kids so why not have parents foot supplies? If they dont like it, they can vote to increase taxes for everyone to spread it out or find a different school
I often bought supplementary reference books for my classroom.
There were also always kids whose parents didn't give them school supplies.
Your solution is no solution.
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