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Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

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Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#51
post #2

Teachers don’t work year round. So that 60k salary if adjusted to days worked + pension benefits is equivalent to six figures in the private sector.

Good? If you want maths taught by actual maths grads, then you will need six figure salaries to attract them.

This. A lot of districts are also trying to add some computer science curriculum but can't find anyone to teach it.

60k is extremely low for CS grads in any moderately-sized city but they might be willing to make that trade for two months off in the summer.

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#52
Education expenditures compares the public expenditure on education as a percent of GDP. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/education-expen...

Education Expenditures by Country https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cmd

Government expenditure on education, total (% of GDP) https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.XPD.TOTL.GD.ZS

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#53

I'm in NJ where we value public education, for the most part. According to National Center for Education Statistics our average teacher pay was $77,489 in 2022. This is excluding benefits/pension. Well worth it.

If you value education, why does your state have unions that force pay based on seniority and not outcome?

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#54

I'm in NJ where we value public education, for the most part. According to National Center for Education Statistics our average teacher pay was $77,489 in 2022. This is excluding benefits/pension. Well worth it.

it is 100% worth it but most states also don't have the property tax like NJ does. Imagine if California somehow voted to drastically up the property tax. The homes might become semi affordable.

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#55
post #10

Instead, allow for a voucher system where parents can apply the equivalent amount of money the public school spends and apply it towards private schools. Make it easy for teachers to start their own school or coop to compete for vouchers. Definitely a pipe dream but it might work.

Isn't the typical argument against such vouchers in Housing that companies will simply bake the voucher amount into the price, leaving us in the same place without a public option?

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#56

[flagged]

“The two parties are the same, it doesn’t matter who you vote for”

This is the polical equivalent of "the allies committed warcrimes in ww2 too".

One "side" is a whole lot worse than the other hahaha

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#57
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

teachers still have to exist in society all year round though

Then they get a summer job. I remember an elementary school teacher from when I was a kid who was a park ranger in the summer.

Attempting to get a seasonal job, year after year, for just 2-3 months a year would be difficult.

My wife is a former school teacher and she spent a considerable amount of time planning and working on things for the next school year. If teachers are expected to all work over summer break to make ends meet then their performance will suffer.

I'd argue that a better approach for teachers and education in general would be to move to more year-round schooling.

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#58
I'll just throw out there that the elementary school bear where I live pays teachers around 20-25k. It is a LOC area for now, and it works out for the most part because most of the teachers there are doing it as a second job while their husband works (and yes the fact of the matter is where I live it is heavily cultural for the man to be the primary breadwinner in a home) but I worry about it shifting as we are seeing more and more people move in and it straining teaching resources more and more.

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#60

My first “real” job after college (2013) I started at $60k. It was more than my mom, an elementary school teacher, ever made. It felt embarrassing. Teachers are at least as valuable as software developers (probably more), given their impact on society. Why do they make so little?

Supply and demand, like always. The market cares not one bit about what someone “should” be paid, it cares about the price where no one is left willing to do the same job for less.

If you want teachers to be paid more, increase the requirements to be a teacher. I’m a proponent of requiring at least n years experience in real world work, plus education in a hard science or trade.

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