newjerseynewsroom.com

Where to start, where to start... The union spin is so entrenched.

Let's see - even though no work is done during the summer (or the Winter vacation or the Spring vacation), teachers should be paid, is that it? Oh wait, teachers already are! In my Hunterdon Cty district of 99 employees (including the $185k Super), 34 earn over $100k if you include 35% for benefits (which is way low). Average pay is $42.50/hour for 9 months (1580 hours). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 90% of Americans earn LESS than $36.15. Is teaching so much harder than other jobs? Then why is it so easy for (poor) HS students to gain admission to easy education majors at colleges? While there are surely some brilliant teachers, most would last an hour in an engineering curriculum (and as Massachusetts proved two years ago, the MAJORITY cannot pass their own tests!). The School Boards set the calendar the way the union wants because - unlike the rest of America where not showing up for work gets you fired - the union will just strike.

If teachers paid for their LIFETIME pensions, why would the unions sue over Christie asking the rate to be stepped up to 1.5 cents per dollar? You're fibbing dear.

Teachers pay NOTHING toward their health insurance PREMIUMS; they do make (below-market) co-pays. Most Americans pay at least 33% of the cost of their employer-provided health insurance plus higher co-pays. Another fib, dear.

Tenure means you can flip pages in a textbook every day for 40 years if that's how you want to teach; how do I know? That's what my 10th grade Social Studies teacher did for the whole year, back in 1976. If tenure served only to prevent nepotism, there would be (more) no-nepotism laws. Yes, teachers are being laid off - the non-tenured (enthusiastic, interested) ones! Nice try on the tenure issue.

Overtime? You seem only to talk to your union friends on that one. Most people work far more than 40 hours per week and do not receive extra pay; in the real world, people do it to keep their jobs. And by overtime, do you mean the hours after 2:30 dismissal?

You forgot to throw in the "small class size" canard, like a good little union puppet. Class sizes have been decreasing for years. Right along with student test scores and achievement.

No one now complaining about teacher and administrator/supervisor (bigger problem) pay claims being a teacher is easy but neither are any other jobs. The difference is, no other jobs have 12+ weeks off, guaranteed employment (once tenured), lifetime benefits and free health insurance. Perhaps you union Kool-Aiders could get a clue and stop whining. And stop demanding more pay - there is no more money!

Btw, the "World Language Supervisor" (!) at my high school earns $132,000 - but gosh, nothing during the summer! - so when he's working, doing whatever critical function a World Language Supervisor does, he's paid at an annualized $176,000 rate. Is his job tougher to get and master than an OB/Gyn (average $179k, according to BLS), an Internist ($167,970), a financial planner ($94,960) or a nuclear engineer ($97,080)? Yeah, I didn't think so either.

$50,000 a year teachers might not be overpaid; $100,000+ a year teachers, supervisors and administrators are the most overpaid people in America. Please try to pay attention.