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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

#91
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why shouldn't teachers make six figures? I mean after all, half the people here just put buttons on websites and get paid six figures.

Because teacher salaries, like the salaries of people here, should be determined by the market not by warm and fuzzy feelings.

The market is too cruel to be left to take care of America's children.

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

#92
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“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

I agree, and also very much doubt we are talking about the same side. Funny how that works.

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

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

How is outcome measured?

School choice via vouchers, etc would allow parents to decide for themselves how outcome is measured

Edit: why the downvotes? If you are uncertain of or unamenable to the way outcomes are measured, vouchers are a reasonable solution that puts the power in your hands

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

#94

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?

I'm sure your mom is great, but teachers have low value over replacement. Teaching is not a particularly high skill or difficult job.

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

#95
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.

A random teacher in any school across the US has done more for society in real terms than you have in a decade.

You could be part of the open data movement and a researcher in your spare time not stocking grocery store shelves.

Yes I’m suggesting your credentials are worthless. Why do we need full time university researcher role play when millions the world over are “researching” software engineering?

There are far fewer teachers. Sounds like a pay rebalancing given market realities is in order. Coders are everywhere. Minimum wage for them!

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

#96
post #70

The minimum starting salary for a teacher in Chicago is $60,000 (cost of living adjusted), the highest in the country. It hasn't solved Chicago Public Schools' problems. Source: https://wirepoints.org/chicago-teachers-are-paid-some-of-the...

> It hasn't solved Chicago Public Schools' problems.

sure but it probably has solved many financial problems for Chicago teachers, which is a good enough reason to implement a tool like this.

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

#97
This Raj Chetty paper on teacher quality makes a strong case for doing whatever you can to get as many good teachers as possible (and as few bad ones).

https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/aer.104.9.2633

They claim replacing a bad teacher with an average teacher is worth like $250k in earnings per classroom. It's unclear what effect a blanket minimal salary would have on teacher quality. I'd be worried that it might make bad teachers stick around with good ones already making more than that.

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

#98

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.

Yeah but in NJ, that's 35k-45k in most other states. Not really worth bragging about. If it was over 100k for NJ, I'd say it was an leading. 75k there just barely pays rent on a small apartment.

60k is okay in some areas, personally I think the average salary should be 85-90k and over 100k where cost of living is much higher.

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

#100

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?

Because of targeted propaganda and attacks by an organized political group that holds, as an ideology, that public institutions should not exist and everything should be done by the private sector.

If this were true, wouldn't private school teachers be paid considerably more? In my area, they are paid considerably less.
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