Typical NEPA school priorities.... (high school, voucher, salaries)

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by Mr Yuk

Teachers are not overpaid. Its one of the most important jobs one can hold, and at least in Scranton, they start out somewhere between $35-40k a year. Hardly overpaid in my opinion. Do you think we should be paying $10 bucks an hour to teachers....I'm sure we'd really be attracting the best and brightest then.

One area I think school districts can cut expenses is in administration....especially in districts like Scranton, where there are countless cronies working at the administration building in all sorts of director and assistant director positions making 90k a year.

And once again, sports should be scaled down or eliminated in schools. The only sports that should exist in the schools should be intramurals and PE classes. I just don't understand how organized sports leagues become the taxpayers' responsibility once kids get to high school. Before that, they play in private leagues in the towns run by volunteers and supported by a nominal registration fee and fundraisers (little league baseball, youth soccer, football, basketball, etc). It should stay that way at the high school level.

Well said. I can remember our exchange students being surprised at the enthusiasm American schools had for sports, and the fact that students were dismissed early from classes in order to attend or prepare for that night's game. One student shared with us that in a lot of European countries, sports leagues were held within the community, not the school.

Of course, then we get into the whole issue of the community shouldering the cost of sports, rather than the school district.

A couple of school districts near where I now live have tried instituting, some with a bit of success, a "pay for play" format. But then there's a question of if that's fair for lower-income families who might not be able to pay for their kids to play sports.

Still, you'd think that if they have that many problems balancing their budget, sports would go first.

[jtab4994]

Public school teachers make decent middle class money in most areas. Dozens if not hundreds of state teachers' colleges crank out armies of 23-year-old girls every year who eager to make their mark and earn a decent living while getting married and raising kids, and getting summers off. However, the jobs are so lucrative (at least in suburban New Jersey where I am) the competition is very fierce and most girls have to start out at a Catholic school unless they have a relative on a local school board.

$35-40k to start out is very good when you are 23, when you consider the increases are guaranteed.

Teachers salaries can be looked up online. You can find out how much your child's teacher earns, as well as your friends, neighbors, and relatives who are teachers.

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by jtab4994

Public school teachers make decent middle class money in most areas. Dozens if not hundreds of state teachers' colleges crank out armies of 23-year-old girls every year who eager to make their mark and earn a decent living while getting married and raising kids, and getting summers off. However, the jobs are so lucrative (at least in suburban New Jersey where I am) the competition is very fierce and most girls have to start out at a Catholic school unless they have a relative on a local school board.

$35-40k to start out is very good when you are 23, when you consider the increases are guaranteed.

Teachers salaries can be looked up online. You can find out how much your child's teacher earns, as well as your friends, neighbors, and relatives who are teachers.

And most of those 23-year-old girls will leave within 5 years, once they start getting married and having children.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by MatildaLoo

Interesting. Looking at the tax bases those schools are in, and considering that many of those teachers have master's degrees, I don't have a problem with them making a decent amount of money.

I disagree, just because a teacher has a wall full of diplomas and a lot of experience doesn't mean they are a good teacher. Certainly that can play a very large role in helping them be a good teacher but unless they are using those tools effectively it doesn't make a difference.

[ChosenReject]

Originally Posted by Magritte25

How are they overpaid?! I always hear this and I even believed it myself until I did the research. They are not overpaid.

are you serious? even if the middle of the pack is making 55k. don't forget that comes with additional overtime pay and 3 months off, on top of the benefits that they don't have to contribute money to pension, health insurance and additional schooling for themselves. And HS teachers that are making near 100k with those benefits on top is just plain stealing from the community.

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by ChosenReject

are you serious? even if the middle of the pack is making 55k. don't forget that comes with additional overtime pay and 3 months off, on top of the benefits that they don't have to contribute money to pension, health insurance and additional schooling for themselves. And HS teachers that are making near 100k with those benefits on top is just plain stealing from the community.

I don't think any teachers in NEPA are making anywhere near 100k. They usually top out around 70k at the most after 30+ years. And yes, they do contribute money towards their pensions, its not just free money given out when they retire. Most still do not contribute to their health insurance, though....Scranton is the only area district that I know of where teachers pay for their health insurance.

I don't know why people knock teachers so much, other than the fact that many in this area seem to have jealousy of people who are educated and make a decent wage, especially public employees. You want to look at true waste of taxpayer dollars? Look at the politicians, with all of the cronyism and back door deals funded by the taxpayers. Yet the same people who pi$$ and moan about teachers making 50k a year are the ones who keep voting for the corrupt politicians.

[NEPA-x-pat]

Originally Posted by Mr Yuk

I don't think any teachers in NEPA are making anywhere near 100k. They usually top out around 70k at the most after 30+ years. And yes, they do contribute money towards their pensions, its not just free money given out when they retire. Most still do not contribute to their health insurance, though....Scranton is the only area district that I know of where teachers pay for their health insurance.

I don't know why people knock teachers so much, other than the fact that many in this area seem to have jealousy of people who are educated and make a decent wage, especially public employees. You want to look at true waste of taxpayer dollars? Look at the politicians, with all of the cronyism and back door deals funded by the taxpayers. Yet the same people who pi$$ and moan about teachers making 50k a year are the ones who keep voting for the corrupt politicians.

Tried to rep you..but had to spread it around a bit. Well said!

Not to take away from the original thread but had to make a comment as a professional educator. Currently I am on a 12 month contract in an urban school district in VA. After 33 years in the field I have topped out around $70K. I have a master's degree and contribute to both my own health care and retirement. I have friends who say that they wished they had a job where you got off for the summer and all the vacations...to which I said..hey we are hiring...to which they excuse themselves. Until you have done the job, you don't understand WHAT you are talking about. It is no easy road. My friends tell me that in reality they couldn't do it...they would end up killing some kids.

I know that VA being a right to work state doesn't allow for collective bargaining...so over my career I made about $450K less than I would have made if I took the job I was offered at Stroudsburg schools. No regrets though. I hope those that cast dispersions on educators really study the issues. So called "merit" pay opens a boat load of issues. If I am getting paid in competition with the other teachers in my building I am going to keep all the great techniques to myself. Who loses? The entire school district does. Another issue of establishing pay by performance (which I hear here and in general) is a problem. It isn't like piece work in a factory. Can you imagine working on an assembly line where someone gives the other guy working components or parts and others get broken parts or defective ones? Guess they won't get the same results will they.

The only solution I can see is get rid of the ineffective teachers...we too have tenure here in VA, but you can get rid of teachers (we do it every year!) with the proper paper trail. Tenure was put in place to get some continuity in the system where new faculty was to be replaced at political whims of the elected. I think we still need that...but you can and should can bad teachers! I know I had a few at Mid Valley back in the dark ages.

I don't think the answer is charter schools, schools of choice, or vouchers for private schools. Get rid of the dead weight. It makes it harder for all of the hard working educators everywhere.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

I think that depends on the teacher. If we look at the salaries for those in the Abington Heights district the top salaries are all $69,500 and there might be 50 of them making that much. They aren't all worth $69K and there is some worth more. This is one of the problems with the union contacts, great teachers cannot expect to be rewarded for their extraordinary work and the slackers can just slide by.......

For people who hold a master's degree AND who work in a rich district like Abington Heights, $69K hardly seems outrageous.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by ChosenReject

are you serious? even if the middle of the pack is making 55k. don't forget that comes with additional overtime pay and 3 months off, on top of the benefits that they don't have to contribute money to pension, health insurance and additional schooling for themselves. And HS teachers that are making near 100k with those benefits on top is just plain stealing from the community.

Yes, I am quite serious. I already said they should pay towards their benefits. Can you show me in which districts the teachers make overtime pay?

[MatildaLoo]

Originally Posted by Mr Yuk

I don't know why people knock teachers so much, other than the fact that many in this area seem to have jealousy of people who are educated and make a decent wage, especially public employees. You want to look at true waste of taxpayer dollars? Look at the politicians, with all of the cronyism and back door deals funded by the taxpayers. Yet the same people who pi$$ and moan about teachers making 50k a year are the ones who keep voting for the corrupt politicians.

Exactly.

Only in NEPA would people think that $50k is "rich."