Teaching Situation in Tulsa/Broken Arrow/Owasso areas

[Milleka]

Originally Posted by BAGuy

Revenue is increasing slowly. Broken Arrow Public schools passed a 295 million dollar bond issue a little more than a year ago that will allow it to expand space at schools and build a few new ones, therefore hiring new teachers. BA has really grown since you were last here. Many new restaurants and stores have opened. It is, as you know, a great community!!

Not true. Just because you have a big building and can fill it, does not necessarily mean you can employ the teachers to staff it. Building money comes from a completely different place than teacher salaries.

[Milleka]

Originally Posted by ERISAjunkie

My sense it that the Republican controlled legislature is keepin' it real. With tenure, trail de novo etc. you live in a job paradise. Here in NJ my next door neighbor is a gym teacher. He is the football coach. His base salary is over $100,000. Not bad for part time work.

The hundred grand is just openers. He gets a stipend for being a scorekeeper in other sports. He runs a football camp for two weeks in the summer- on school property. After his two weeks are up he is the assistant coach in a neighboring town and so on. The coaches trade positions throughout the summer. His wife is a guidance teacher in a neighboring town. She brags about how she does next to nothing but that her posistion is mandated by the state.

Unless I miss my guess, I'm sure that you are fairly compensated. You have employment benefits and time off beyond the imagination of most working people. You have the respect of the public and the knowledge that your calling is high and noble. In acknowledgement of that you receive job security and participate in enviable pension and health care plans.

Where I come from a bad quarters' performance or downturn in company earnings may mean showing up in the morning and receiving a cardboard box and 15 minutes to clean out your desk. How does your job compare to that? I'm not talking about highly compensated people- just regular joes trying to feed their families. Millions of people have lost their jobs and don't even know trail de novo from trail mix.

That's fabulous if you're teaching the oh-so-neccessary art of football. I teach Biology and I'm scratchin out only $34,000 with 8 years experience. Try raising a family on that. Add it up. It won't work. Thank my lucky stars that I'm married.

[Milleka]

Originally Posted by Les Pharis

$41,053 is a realistic figure for someone with a graduate degree and 20 years experience. Most teachers have not received step raises for several years now. You have to remember that they are
calculating and counting administrators and counselors in that average. We are contracted for
9 and one half months and that's what we are paid for. The way our pension contributions are paid
is interesting. They are deducted from our gross salary so that the school district can claim it's
paying a higher salary. There are just a few districts across Oklahoma that pay it separately.
Here are some of the things you probably have as a white collar worker that the average Oklahoma
teacher would not> stock options, a thrift plan, a secretary, a telephone, technology repair
within a short period of time, being able to go on business trips on the company's ticket, corporate
retreats, company parties, paid training, real training, access to a restroom when you need it,
a place and time to eat undisturbed, etc. If you guys think it's so wonderful, how come you're
not doing it.?

Exactly! I welcome anyone to come and check it out with me for a couple of days! It's easy to sit back and judge teachers until you've walked a mile in our shoes. Everyone thinks they can be a teacher because they have sat in a classroom. It's not that easy.

[Goodpasture]

Originally Posted by Milleka

.............. Building money comes from a completely different place than teacher salaries.

Not to belabor a point, but in fact ALL school budgets, whether it is buildings, staff or faculty comes from the same place. It is called taxes.

[Les Pharis]

One last thing for ERISAjunkie, I did a little research in trial de novo. I think if you look, you'll
find that the right to due process beyond the school board is pretty much universal for tenured
faculty although it may be labeled a different way.

[Milleka]

Originally Posted by Goodpasture

Not to belabor a point, but in fact ALL school budgets, whether it is buildings, staff or faculty comes from the same place. It is called taxes.

Uhhh- sure. But, it's not allocated that way. You don't just take everyone's taxes and put the money into a big ole bin and start doling it out. Bond money has to be spent on precisely what the bond was passed for. Other money is earmarked to go to salaries, textbooks, etc. School budgets are complicated. You can't just say "my tax dollars". It doesn't work that way.