October 26, 2006

Did a Pig Just Fly By My Window?

Posted by Adam Graham in : Idaho Conservative, The

Clayton Cramer points us to this Statesman editorial I missed where the Idaho Statesman came out against Proposition 1. Yes, the Idaho Statesman is known as a big-time backer of the Teacher’s unions, but the whole idea of spending money from an unknown source on an unknown expenditure made the Statesman a tad squeamish:

Proposition 1 would infuse money into Idaho schools.
Unfortunately, that’s about all we know about it.

We don’t know where the money would come from. Or where it would go. We are left with too many questions — so we recommend a no vote on this ballot measure.

We do so with mixed feelings. Like Prop 1’s impassioned backers, we can think of nothing more important than strong public schools. But come Nov. 7, voters must decide on a $2.8 billion funding commitment that stays on the books until a 2020 advisory vote.

That’s too much to spend on a vague experiment:

Now, Clayton adds some additional thoughts as the money would most likely to go to teacher salaries:

It really doesn’t bother me any to see school teachers paid better. If they were paid well enough to identify with the middle class, who knows? Maybe they would stop being such reflexive leftists.

Well, if money would do it, Professors at Harvard would be more hard right. Whilie I appreciate that Teacher’s don’t make as much as some others, a certain reality has to set in. Our state’s Per Capita Income is $28, 158. Average teacher makes around $40,000 for 9 months work. Making 142% of what your fellow average citizen makes with better benefits isn’t something to sneeze at, though I’m definitely open to things like merit pay.

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Comments (5)

5 Comments

Comment by binkyboy [Visitor]

The average teacher also works over 60 hours a week, doesn’t really get much of the summer off, despite your claims, and are responsible for the education of the best community assetts available to Idahoans.

Yeah, lets pay them less and count on merit raises (that never seem to happen), good idea, bright boy.
Comment by Adam Graham [Member]

See this article from the Manhatten Institute:

The Teacher-Pay Myth. If it is teacher quality, instead of class size, that really matters, should we not raise the meager salaries many teachers receive, to recruit better-qualified candidates? Like other education myths, this seemingly plausible argument does not stand up to close scrutiny. Teacher pay, computed on an hourly basis, is not all that meager. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average elementary-school teacher in 2002 made $30.75 per hour. That is considerably more than other public servants, such as firefighters ($17.91) and police officers ($22.64). It is even more than highly skilled professionals, such as biologists ($28.07), mechanical engineers ($29.76), and chemists ($30.68), and just shy of computer scientists ($32.86), dentists ($35.51), and nuclear engineers ($36.16).

Not only do teachers reap benefits like shorter days and longer vacations, but these hourly rates do not include health and retirement benefits, which tend to be higher for public employees than for those in the private sector. Admittedly, these rates do not count hours worked at home, but there is no reason to believe that teachers bring home significantly more work than do other professionals.

This is especially true since most professionals can increase their income by doing more preparation at home, while teachers who take work home cannot expect to earn any more than teachers who never do: Teacher pay is based almost entirely on the number of years taught and the advanced degrees held, not on teachers’ effectiveness. Until we connect salaries to performance, with meaningful merit-pay systems that identify and reward excellent teachers, raising teacher pay is unlikely to have any meaningful effect on teacher quality.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_national_rev-five_myths.htm
Comment by binkyboy [Visitor]

Sorry, Adam, but if you can’t even be honest enough to compare teacher’s salaries with other professionals, it really shows where you are leaning. They make far less, per hour worked, than any other professional (+4 years college) than any other profession.

So why would anyone want to be a teacher? Mainly because they feel that it would be a service to the community, not because they “bring in the big bucks”.

Oh, and all those seminars and such don’t just pay for themselves. Summer months are usually full of extra training and studying for teachers, time that most other professions would be paid back for.
Comment by Adam Graham [Member]

Nobody said they make “big Bucks.” But they’re hardly underpaid compared to the average Idahoan.
Comment by binkyboy [Visitor]

Thats because they arn’t average Idahoans you dumb turd. They are degreed professionals and your ignorance of that is why you are so incorrect in your assessment.

Open your eyes and ears before you speak or you risk proving how damn stupid you really are.