Another in my series of op-eds to the local paper that attempt to reason with the reachable.
I spent a few hours last week calling people and informing them of the school levy election on Tuesday. I don't have any children in school but I know that a good education is one of those basic things that contributes to children being able to reach their full potential. Most people give lip-service to the importance of schooling but the reality is that it is a fairly low priority. Twenty years ago, this country ranked #1 in education worldwide. This has now slipped to 18th according to History.net. The Netherlands and South Korea received top rankings in the thirty-six country survey done by the Organization of Economic Development. Both these countries have different educational philosophies but there is common ground. Both countries respect teachers and pay them accordingly.
I talked to a person who works in the Teton County, Idaho, school system. This person figures that with proposed salary cuts, payroll tax increases, and mandatory insurance payments required by the school, his/her take home pay for the next school year would shrink to an amount way below the poverty line, an amount so small that it becomes an almost volunteer position. While this person is not an actual teacher, his/her position is one the school system is mandated to fill.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, teachers are qualifying for food stamps according to an article by Laura Clawson at Daily Kos:
"Teachers in Grand Rapids, Michigan, say that new paycheck cuts are leaving them with so little pay they qualify for food stamps. The teachers, working without a contract, have been hit by a 2011 state law that limited the amount public employers can pay for workers' health insurance. That's now being applied retroactively to these teachers, cutting as much as $300 from each paycheck." Clawson quotes one of the teachers: "I am a five-year teacher who brings home $555.39 for two weeks and who currently qualifies for a Bridge Card (Michigan's form of food stamps)," Ratliff told the school board Monday to loud applause from her colleagues. "How is this possible?"
It is possible because we, as a country, have allowed teachers to become demonized and unworthy of decent compensation.You usually get what you pay for and our fall to 18th place in twenty years bears that out.