Income inequality for Teachers!
 

IMHO...Can not understand why we are arguing about a McDonald's employee making an increase up to $15.00 an hour, when the backbone of our childrens future are in the hands of our under-paid new teachers making $35,000...Where is the incentive for our college bound students to teach when they can make the same flipping hamburgers!....In the meantime our politicans are
spending millions on sports stadiums and at the same time laying-off our teachers....I don't get it!

I think in teaching and many other career choices salary is not the only incentive for making the decision.

As you stated, the $35,000 figure is for a new teacher. Some make over $100,000. I seriously doubt that a McDonalds worker will ever approach that figure even with a $15 starting wage.

I think $15 might be okay for a fast food worker in New York City, but not in little town USA.

Probably because the average Joe Sixpack thinks they or anybody could manage a classroom full of 20-30 kids plus teach them subjects they think they don't need, like arithmetic, algebra, and English grammar.

And because they probably think teachers actually "punch out" when the final bell rings, and that they leave all classroom tasks there until they return while instead, they work 2-3-4 hours at home every night.

The fact that the burger flippers are making that their "career" instead of an entry-level "springboard to earning their way upward" to a better job/career/schooling, shows their unwillingness to sacrifice in order to earn what teachers and management/owners earn.

Don't forget the pension benefits when you evaluate pay.

Income inequality for teachers is the main theme here. However the OP also alluded to the fact that people are arguing over McDonald workers getting$15.00 per hour.

In my view there is not an argument about a McDonald's employee or any other position earning $15.00 per hour. The discussion is centered on whether or not raising the minimum wage to $15.00 helps or hurts. Most economist believe it will have a negative affect because it will create a reduction in staffs around the country.

As to income inequality among teachers it is in the eye of the beholder. I have done enough market surveys of job positions over the years to know that you can't simply make cursory observations . As to quality our students are failing and falling behind other developed countries at a fast clip despite the billions taxpayers pour into schools. further there is now evidence, something I long suspected that teaching college are failing teacher students.

Not in Florida.
Highest salary around $65,000.........with a doctorate degree!
Florida Teacher Salaries

Never meant to imply that Florida teachers were making over $100,000 but on reviewing the document you linked I see quite a few counties have high salaries over $70,000, and at least one over $80,000.

But back to my original statement on the subject: "salary is not the only incentive for making the decision".

I stand corrected.
However, they still have to support a family.................

And 3 months off in the summer and Christmas break then winter break, then spring break then....

Well...if you did the math...something a teacher should have taught you... You'd see that your McDonalds worker making $15 an hour when working the SAME number of hours a typical teacher contracts for in a year...makes a grand total of $21,600 That assumes 8 hours a day for 180 days, a normal teachers contract. So, the teacher is making substantially more per the same number of hours worked. A teacher making $35,000 a year earns $34 an hour. A teacher making $80,000 a year is making $55 an hour. And I don't think a typical teacher is "working harder" than a typical McDonalds worker. Depending on your definition of "work". They're both dealing with unruly idiots all day...

Teachers have quite a racket already, I sometimes wonder why they make all the noise about how "unfair" they have it. Who else gets a couple of months off every summer? Two weeks off here...two weeks off there... Weekends, holidays off... I don't get why you're always complaining...

If I ran things, schools would be open Mon-Fri only closed during federal holidays like most people have it. Parents go through hell trying to arrange day care during all your holidays and vacations.

Don't know what area your teachers make 35K. The teachers where I live are overpaid in salary and benefits, at the expense and sacrifice of the taxpayers. I would take all of them, cut their pay and benefits, and if they did not like it, they could look for other jobs. We have senior kindergarten teachers making 90K a year plus tremendous pensions....unlike any other public service job. And yes, if the college bound prefer, let them flip burgers at $15.00 per hour....the people who work hard at those jobs can't even make a living wage and often are on public assistance, at no fault of their own. They deserve $15.00 per hour!

Based on the amount of time and money that it takes to become a teacher vs the requirements to become a McDonalds entry level emp - that salary disparity seems quite justified!...not to mention the fact that the McDonald's emp gets to make lots more mistakes at filling orders than a teacher gets to make providing a teaching experience before being reprimanded. And as was mentioned before - a teacher will take their job home with them, whereas, a McDonald's emp will not.

Can you define what is a 'living wage' and why it should be paid to someone without a high school degree in any entry level position?

A living wage should be a wage where as a full time employee can at least provide a modest shelter for themselves without depending on public assistance, be able to purchase basic food items to feed themselves, purchase basic clothing items. This country was built on the backs of a lot of individuals who provided a much needed service to our country, and yes, many only had high school or less than high school educations, and yes, many did the jobs that others would not do. Does this mean that they should not have a quality of life for the fruits of their labor, that only college grads deserve this? Some are very fortunate to have college degrees because they are from a family that provided for them. There are many, many individuals in our country who are very brilliant, but never had the opportunity for higher education. Our country was built from a very deverse work force....both college and non college grads, but all were important in the success of our country.

Our pensions are very quickly disappearing! Illinois just voted to pay back the state pension coffers, which our last 2 governors, who are in jail, robbed, by docking present and future pensions of retirees. They also raised the retirement age to 67 for teachers who are now in their 40's and :cus: