This may not be good information but a questionable source just told me that the Seattle Teacher’s Union just rejected this salary proposal ….REJECTED a starting salary with huge benefits, automatic promotions, and progression to tenure!
I checked the TV .. perhaps it is more reliable than my source .. and it says the vote is not till Sunday. Whewww.
So, if you are a teacher, I urge that you vote yes. You are getting an incredibly good deal. As a beginning teacher your existing salary works out to about $26/hr. This takes you to $30/hr. In an era where blue collar appliance repair guys make $65, this seems unfair. But, you need to remember that your salary is for 10 months of work and the salary does not include additional pay you get for study days, training days. time spent supervising recess etc. For some teachers this may be over $10,000!
AND the repair guy can be fired! Your union, not the district or the parents, controls evaluations and makes the rules for what types of content skills you should have. Isn’t that great? And in just three years you get tenure and can not be fired!
My guess is that you graduated from some ed school. None of these is highly ranked compared to our first class universities. By comparison alums of MIT with 0 to 5 years of experience make $78,000. This is better than you do but it includes individuals who went on to advanced degrees .. a LOT harder to get than your teaching certificate! At Harvard, the median pay for is $62,000 for those with 0-5 years of experience and the kids who graduate from Brown only expect a somewhat more modest $57,900.
$50,000 is not bad for an ed school graduates but you might compare yourself with these other kids in a different way. They have more upward mobility in return for more effort. Of course not all B school grads end up being Donald Trump. Some of these folks end up poor. Demand for teachers is not going away, your union gets you automatic tenure and that pension means you can retire and then become an appliance repair guy!
TAKE THE DEAL!!!!
Yeah, all this is true, but you’re forgetting that teachers have to babysit other people’s dysfunctional and antisocial kids for 6 hours a day. That, by itself, is worth big bucks! Also, teachers are expected to provide their own billy clubs and brass knuckles for self-protection at their own expense.