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I have been following education issues in Colorado for many years, and while I am no expert on the finer points of Colo school finance, I know a few things. One is that Colorado passed the school finance equalization act in 1988, which tries to even out the money available to the various districts around the state. More state money is given to poorer districts. There is a cap on how much money a wealthy district (or any district, for that matter) can raise above "base". So teacher salaries are somewhat evened out, though of course, this plan does not work perfectly. Salaries are set by district, but the very wealthy ones do not have a huge edge on the poorer districts, especially in the metro Denver area.
I have some teacher friends, and as they have gotten older, they seem to spend less of their summers working and more doing other things: travel, home improvement, kids' activities, and the like.
Given I teach in a charter school, I don't see that happening. I deal with a struggling student population. The only way I see doing less as time passes is if I were in a wealthier district where the student body was performing well. Then you can get lesson plans down that work and stick with them. I think I'll still be looking for things that work with kids who don't want to learn 10 years from now.
Given I teach in a charter school, I don't see that happening. I deal with a struggling student population. The only way I see doing less as time passes is if I were in a wealthier district where the student body was performing well. Then you can get lesson plans down that work and stick with them. I think I'll still be looking for things that work with kids who don't want to learn 10 years from now.
Wealthier districts are usually wealthier because of the quality of their schools. It is rare to find affluence and low quality public education in suburban districts outside of the south. School systems are heralded in those districts and are part of the Chamber of Commerce appeal to locate business there. It is part of the appeal used by builders so they can build more expensive homes with a greater profit margin. Etc etc etc. Shouldn't the teachers in those districts get paid more since it is the fruit of their labor that is producing the increase revenue flow for their local government employer? That is what happens in the private sector and is why those who make money for people get paid so well. It is this need for standardization and fairness in inputs that is destroying American Education and creating sub standard outputs.
You bring up some good points, but wealthy districts are also wealthy b/c high earning people live there, and can afford to keep raising their taxes in perpetuity. That is what the Colorado plan was trying to tamp down a bit. Even so, a district can "over-ride" the base by 20%, proposed to go up to 25%.
If I can use the teachers who have been there for years as examples, my work load will not reduce much over the years. I'll just handle the stress better because I'm used to it. Right now, I'm both pressed for time and stressed about it. My fellow teachers work just as long hours as I do and spend their summers prepping for next year. They just don't seem to sweat it. They tell me in time, I'll do the same.
Rubbish, the teachers in my family are all relatively good. Some are great. And that is not based on my judgment but of the schools and students. None of them work during the summer, etc. Judging a teacher by how much they work during the summer is completely ridiculous.
Regarding myself. I taught fine, my student reviews were good, etc. I could not consider myself an "excellent teacher" though, I don't have a passion for it. The only reason I did well was that I was an expert in the material I was lecturing on. And again, this was college not K-12.
Sorry, 'relatively good' teachers don't do much over the summer and run out the door the minute the bell rings. Passionate, intelligent and comitted teachers are the ones who are always revising lesson plans, developing new strategies and constantly educating themselves on new methodologies and information in their fields. Your obviously don't know any of those. So, judging teachers on 'how hard they work' is ridiculous? Isn't that the matrix we use for ALL professions?
You taught 'fine'? Again, I disagree. I appreciate your honesty and concur, with your attitude, there is no way you could consider yourself an 'excellent' teacher. I'm glad that you admit that being an 'expert' is a necessary but not complete requirement for good teaching. Teaching at the university level is a whole other enviroment than teaching in K-12. There you have a classroom of consumers rather than a captive audience. I knew plenty of professors like you admit you were, and believe me, those professors' lack of passion made them the very last choice during adds and drops.
Rubbish, the teachers in my family are all relatively good. Some are great. And that is not based on my judgment but of the schools and students. None of them work during the summer, etc. Judging a teacher by how much they work during the summer is completely ridiculous.
Regarding myself. I taught fine, my student reviews were good, etc. I could not consider myself an "excellent teacher" though, I don't have a passion for it. The only reason I did well was that I was an expert in the material I was lecturing on. And again, this was college not K-12.
I teach in an elementary school as well as in a college. The difference is amazing. So, you can't really compare the two.
As far as know teachers who are "pretty good" this too is irrelevant. Unless you have done it yourself (classroom teaching), then you will never know what it is like.
First you are not a run of the mil classroom teacher. You are not only teaching you are the AP coordinator and that alone elevates you to the top of the list. You and I both know that with the recent AP course assessments you have had a major leadership responsibility. Being on your school leadership team gives you greater responsibilities. Unfortunately academic contributions after the school day are not as richly compensated as coaching efforts in most districts. Your skill set is comparable with that of top teachers anywhere in Maryland and elsewhere. You have a very competitive salary scale that many with a college degree would find attractive. Compare your salary with a masters after 20 years with that in most professional careers after 20 years.
http://www.calvertnet.k12.md.us/departments/hr/contracts/cea/documents/fy10.pdf (broken link)
A masters plus 30 is over $90,000 a year. On top of that you have full health care and a full pension after 30 years based on your 3 highest year income.
I believe you are in Calvert County and while starting salary for next year appears to be TBA the salary for a 2nd year teacher is just over 50K with a bachelors degree. That also includes a generous benefit package and much more secure employment than most professions. Now add on that the additional money for some of your assignments and you have it pretty good to compared to most with a college degree both in and out of teaching. You also get to live near the ocean and have what free time you do have to enjoy that. You have earned it with hard work and are in a great school district and those both within and out of the professions should be appreciative of your efforts and envious of your compensation. Good luck in retirement and I am sure you are well on your way there. That pension is awesome and most people today don't have one and even fewer have one as large as the one you will be getting. Won't they also pay health care into retirement. You have earned it be proud.
You are a great example of a teacher who can and did!
First off thank you for the kind words. I don't teach in Calvert though, just live there. My school system is actually the considered one of the worst ones in the state.The one whose most recent ex-Superintendent resigned when questions were raised about his PhD and whose predecessor is now in federal prison for bribery and corruption convictions. I rarely, if ever, complain about my salary but I weigh in on these threads when the "child care and summers off" crowd start in. Teachers as a rule work an awful lot of uncompensated time that nobody sees. After I'm through here I have to work on recommendation letters that I haven't had time to do at school. Generally these are for kids who have a "spotty" record but did well for me. I like to personalize those letters and have no set template where all I do is change the name.
First off thank you for the kind words. I don't teach in Calvert though, just live there. My school system is actually the considered one of the worst ones in the state.The one whose most recent ex-Superintendent resigned when questions were raised about his PhD and whose predecessor is now in federal prison for bribery and corruption convictions. I rarely, if ever, complain about my salary but I weigh in on these threads when the "child care and summers off" crowd start in. Teachers as a rule work an awful lot of uncompensated time that nobody sees. After I'm through here I have to work on recommendation letters that I haven't had time to do at school. Generally these are for kids who have a "spotty" record but did well for me. I like to personalize those letters and have no set template where all I do is change the name.
You are absolutely right about the amount of time teachers put in and not compensated for it. What about the supplies and materials we buy out of own money. Yes, we can write it off on our taxs, but that's only a fraction of what I actually spend for my classroom.
You are absolutely right about the amount of time teachers put in and not compensated for it. What about the supplies and materials we buy out of own money. Yes, we can write it off on our taxs, but that's only a fraction of what I actually spend for my classroom.
Same here. I've already spent more than I can write off on my taxes next year and I haven't bought a thing for September yet.
You bring up some good points, but wealthy districts are also wealthy b/c high earning people live there, and can afford to keep raising their taxes in perpetuity. That is what the Colorado plan was trying to tamp down a bit. Even so, a district can "over-ride" the base by 20%, proposed to go up to 25%.
Wealthy people move to where the schools are good.
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