Kamala Harris wants to give teachers salary increase

[Remarkableriots]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/kamala-harris-wants-every-teacher-to-get-a-13-500-raise/ar-BBVgdXL?ocid=AMZN

Quote

The teaching profession is in crisis, and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has a plan: Provide teachers with a salary increase of $13,500 each to ensure a middle-class wage — and lure new workers into the profession.

Her proposal comes at a time when teachers across the country are going on strike, protesting issues ranging from low pay to crowded classrooms. Education experts support Harris' plan, saying it could narrow the pay gap that they say scares off some workers from pursuing a career in education.

Even though the U.S. economy has largely recovered from the Great Recession, America's public schools are still struggling to recover their financial footing. State funding for public K-12 schools remains lower than before the recession in a number of states, including five where teachers have gone on strike in the last year. And in 42 states, teachers are earning less than they did during the 2009-10 school year.

At the same time, Harris' proposal may only go so far. Her plan focuses on federal funding, while local taxpayers provide the bulk of funding for the country's 100,000 schools. And those buildings are suffering from another funding problem: chronic deferred maintenance to the tune of half a trillion dollars.

 

[CitizenVectron]

But they only work 10 months a year and are basically baby-sitters!!!

[RedSoxFan9]

what are Cory Booker's thoughts on this

[PaladinSolo]

I'd be down if states that already meet a pay requirement could use some of the money for other education issues, or other school staff besides teachers.  We have a serious problem with keeping bus drivers or attracting people to drive under the age of like 55, and constantly are short staffed requiring mechanics to drive busses because of the turnover.

[mclumber1]

Pass.  Keep the federal government out of education.  

[PaladinSolo]

3 minutes ago, mclumber1 said:

Pass.  Keep the federal government out of education.  

Federal government is already deep into education, and accounts for 30% or more of school budgets, and you can guess which states are on the high end of federal dollars as a percentage of their budgets.

[GeneticBlueprint]

 

[Guest]

The school district here has good starting pay, $54.5k a year in an area where you can buy a 3 bedroom home in a nice neighborhood for $150k  any day of the week.

 

But if you look at the schedule of pay rates, you only get $300 for each additional year of teaching experience you have. We basically treat it as a perpetual entry level position to academics and that is not great for keeping talented teachers in the classroom for the long haul.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

25 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

But they only work 10 months a year and are basically baby-sitters!!!

You know, I used to wonder why conservatives thought this until my wife transferred to a new school. A rich mostly white high school from a poor mostly black and Latino middle School. (She wanted to teach high school again, and the stress of working in the poor school was really getting to her) this new school is less stressful in some aspects but infuriating in others (helicopter parents, racism, misogyny, bullying, and homophobia being the biggest issues to her)

 

Most of the older teachers in her new school are basically babysitters. These kids come from wealthier families, more stable home lives, don't act out because they're hungry, etc. Teachers just tell them what to do, and it gets done. You don't have to go out of your way to help teach a lot of these kids as they can get private tutors or can get help at home, and don't have to worry about class being distracted by a few poor kids acting out because of any number of issues. 

 

They think that this is the way teachers in every school teach, when this is very much not the case. You try to teach like that in a poorer school you will be found out, and you probably will quit anyway.

 

 

Anywho, I look forward to her school district cutting her pay by an equal amount so her salary stays the same. 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

10 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

The school district here has good starting pay, $54.5k a year in an area where you can buy a 3 bedroom home in a nice neighborhood for $150k  any day of the week.

 

But if you look at the schedule of pay rates, you only get $300 for each additional year of teaching experience you have. We basically treat it as a perpetual entry level position to academics and that is not great for keeping talented teachers in the classroom for the long haul.

https://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/richmond-va/houston-tx/42000

 

Cost of living between Houston and Richmond is about the same (much less in Houston outside of transportation) but teachers make about 10-12k less per year here lol

[PaladinSolo]

13 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

The school district here has good starting pay, $54.5k a year in an area where you can buy a 3 bedroom home in a nice neighborhood for $150k  any day of the week.

 

But if you look at the schedule of pay rates, you only get $300 for each additional year of teaching experience you have. We basically treat it as a perpetual entry level position to academics and that is not great for keeping talented teachers in the classroom for the long haul.

Yeah, thats not good, thats what they start at in my district but raises are handled by their union negotiating every few years and right now its 3% a year, and starting salary increases by typically half of what the negotiated raise is so starting salary is also constantly increasing.

[CitizenVectron]

In the division that I work in (in IT), teachers start at around $50k but it goes up pretty decently on the pay grid/scale, and also increases if you get your masters, and more with a phd. So you have Grade 2 teachers with masters degrees and vice principals with doctorates, and the quality of education is very high. This is because in my province every teacher belongs to a single combined union. They have great benefits as well (401k matching up to 7% of your salary, at 100% match), full health and dental, etc. 

 

That's the power of a good union.

[PaladinSolo]

Right, i should also add education level also increases base pay up to 1200 a year, as well as being paid for any additional teach or coaching you do for school organized activities.  Then Pensions, healthcare ect...  but support staff are lagging and the district is dicking us around.

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, PaladinSolo said:

Yeah, thats not good, thats what they start at in my district but raises are handled by their union negotiating every few years and right now its 3% a year, and starting salary increases by typically half of what the negotiated raise is so starting salary is also constantly increasing.

 

5 minutes ago, PaladinSolo said:

Right, i should also add education level also increases base pay up to 1200 a year, as well as being paid for any additional teach or coaching you do for school organized activities.  Then Pensions, healthcare ect...  but support staff are lagging and the district is dicking us around.

Yeah, Indidnt mean to insulate that raises never happen, I just meant there is a problem in the system when the spread between new hires and somebody with 15 years of classroom experience is only a few thousand dollars. It tells teachers if they want to be financially reward, administrative jobs are the only path. Our district sounds largely the same as yours in practice.

[RedSoxFan9]

 

[elbobo]

I was curious so I decided to look up my friend's salary that teaches in the local city school district since they are all listed. He is making 70k, the median household income around here is 52k. Guess teachers aren't underpaid here and they shouldn't be with how horrific our school taxes are. 

[Chris-]

3 hours ago, RedSoxFan9 said:

what are Cory Booker's thoughts on this

 

2 hours ago, RedSoxFan9 said:

 

I appreciate that, in a thread about a progressive policy from Kamala Harris, you've decided to only comment on Beto and Booker. So substantive. 

[Ghost_MH]

3 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

In the division that I work in (in IT), teachers start at around $50k but it goes up pretty decently on the pay grid/scale, and also increases if you get your masters, and more with a phd. So you have Grade 2 teachers with masters degrees and vice principals with doctorates, and the quality of education is very high. This is because in my province every teacher belongs to a single combined union. They have great benefits as well (401k matching up to 7% of your salary, at 100% match), full health and dental, etc. 

 

That's the power of a good union.

 

Yeah, but in America people have been convinced that unions are bad and increase the cost of goods...because people thought that decreasing the costs of goods would create savings that would then be passed on to consumers. As a result, the only unions that aren't getting any pressure to disappear or looked down upon are police unions because police never do anything wrong.

[legend]

3 hours ago, sblfilms said:

But if you look at the schedule of pay rates, you only get $300 for each additional year of teaching experience you have. 

 

[RedSoxFan9]

https://theintercept.com/2019/01/15/la-teachers-strike-charter-schools/

 

it would be nice to see Sanders, Warren, and Harris press the charter school dudes on this issue

[PaladinSolo]

52 minutes ago, elbobo said:

I was curious so I decided to look up my friend's salary that teaches in the local city school district since they are all listed. He is making 70k, the median household income around here is 52k. Guess teachers aren't underpaid here and they shouldn't be with how horrific our school taxes are. 

Yeah this is what I mean, in some states they are paid quite well especially in the NE, so they should allow those states to pass it on to support staff who aren't paid nearly as much.  For reference my head mechanic has worked here 40 years and makes ~55k, thats teacher starting salary here, and their current proposal with insurance increases would actually net a lot of our members a loss over their raise proposal, lol.

[Keyser_Soze]

Teachers want a salary increase too, that's why they keep going on strike.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

5 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

But they only work 10 months a year and are basically baby-sitters!!!

They also only get paid for 10 months a year, and have higher responsibilities per child to keep up with. 

[CitizenVectron]

24 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

They also only get paid for 10 months a year, and have higher responsibilities per child to keep up with. 

 

True, but I was joking.

[Remarkableriots]

1 minute ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

They also only get paid for 10 months a year, and have higher responsibilities per child to keep up with. 

My friend coached golf during that off time for years and it was volunteered time because of school budget. He was also the wrestling coach and assistant football coach while teaching special education. He eventually got a high school head football coaching job for a few years and now he is an high school testing coordinator. Another friend switched to instructional coaching instead of teaching kids witch she did for years.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

39 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

True, but I was joking.

I figured with the three exclamation points. 

 

I did just want to point out for anyone that while they don’t go to work, they also don’t get paid. So it’s a 2-3 month unpaid vacation at best. If they could afford to budget accordingly they will be ok. Many have to try to find temp work over the summer. 

 

I worked with with a couple teachers at Blockbuster back in the day. Pretty sad that a teacher had to work at Blockbuster over the summer just to help make ends meet. 

[Remarkableriots]

4 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

I figured with the three exclamation points. 

 

I did just want to point out for anyone that while they don’t go to work, they also don’t get paid. So it’s a 2-3 month unpaid vacation at best. If they could afford to budget accordingly they will be ok. Many have to try to find temp work over the summer. 

 

I worked with with a couple teachers at Blockbuster back in the day. Pretty sad that a teacher had to work at Blockbuster over the summer just to help make ends meet. 

I'm not sure if it's normal but my friend got paid monthly which i have problems with biweekly paychecks let alone trying to budget for that. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Just now, Remarkableriots said:

I'm not sure if it's normal but my friend got paid monthly which i have problems with biweekly paychecks let alone trying to budget for that. 

Probably depends on the state or school district.