Greedy Teachers Asking For More Money
Say Anything blog
July 4, 2005 @ 11:37 am
LOS ANGELES - The head of the country’s largest education union has pledged to renew his fight to get higher pay for starting teachers, veteran instructors and classroom aides — policies likely to require hundreds of millions of dollars.
National Education Association president Reg Weaver, speaking to reporters at the union’s annual meeting, said Sunday his officers will work with their state and local chapters to lobby state leaders and school boards.
“The issue is where the money is going to come from,” Weaver said. “And to respond to that, my answer is I don’t care. I don’t care where the money comes from. Because when this country thinks and decides that something is important, they find the money.”
Not a single state pays its new instructors an average of $40,000, with the U.S. average hovering close to $30,000 for beginning teachers, according to the American Federation of Teachers, another teachers union.
The average salary for an entry-level educator is over $30,000…and the teachers complaining?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the mean hourly income for all American workers is $17.75 per hour, or roughly $35,500 per year, going on 40 hours a week and 50 weeks a year (assuming that most people might miss an average of two weeks for vacation, sickness, etc.). Even if you include those two weeks you get $36,920 per year. And keep in mind that this average is for more than just Americans working in entry-level positions, this is for Americans who have worked their jobs for decades and are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year as well.
Nor should we forget that most teachers enjoy a benefits package which is far superior to what most non-government workers enjoy. Plus, teachers don’t work a full year. I’ll grant that most put in 8+ hour workdays during the school year, but they also get approximately three months off every year. Time they can use for vacations or further career training. This is something no workers outside of the education profession enjoy.
So excuse me if I don’t shed any tears for teachers who are making over $30,000/year as their initial pay for their chosen profession. They are making more than the average American makes."
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