The front page picture of the local newspaper showed an angry state congressman raising his finger to punctuate a point, as he seemed to spit his words at the audience member following a hearing. The hearing concerned funding education, and the audience member was biting her lip. She was identified as a teacher who might lose her ability to negotiate her salary.
I was sitting in the Nashville, TN, airport reading and waiting for a plane. On the TV overhead, CNN was covering irate audiences in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. The reason they were upset? Education cuts in their state budgets.
When I landed in Austin, TX, education was also in the headlines, and it wasn’t good. Add New Jersey and its governor to those recently featured for their education issues.
A San Antonio Express-News columnist included the following information in his column this weekend:
● A 2006 study conducted by the State of New York said that a 14% decrease in education spending correlated to a 17% decrease in the graduation rate
● A 2003 University of California at Berkley study linked graduation rates to crime rates and incarceration costs. For every 1% drop in the graduation rate, they found a social cost of $1.4 billion.
According to the National Education Association (NEA), “The House is set to take up this week a “continuing resolution’ for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011 that would slash education funding. Proposed cuts include:
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) state grants would be slashed by $557 million, shifting to states and local districts the costs of educating 324,000 students with disabilities, therefore, increasing local tax burdens. In addition, the cuts could result in the loss of over 7,000 education jobs.
• Pell grants would be cut by $5.6 billion, making it more difficult for low- and middle-income families to pay for college. These cuts would eliminate or reduce aid for almost 1.5 million students.
• Head Start would be cut by over $1 billion, leading to elimination of enrollment slots for 127,000 poor children and the potential loss of over 14,000 jobs.
• Title I would be cut by $693 million, reducing or eliminating services for 957,000 high-risk children and potentially causing the loss of over 9,000 education jobs.”
Sounds like cutting off your potential and raising your prison costs! Salaries and jobs are also an issue.
Overpaid teachers? If we only give them $3 an hour and only for the hours worked, not any planning time. That would be $15 a day. Each parent should pay $15 a day. With 25 students, that’s $15 x 25= $375 a day. If we don’t pay for planning, grading time, vacations or holidays, that would be about 180 days a year. $375 x 180 = $67,500. What about teachers with special certifications or master’s degrees? At $6 an hour it would cost $135,000 a year!
Let’s try the math with $7.25, the U.S. minimum hourly wage… $163,125.
Yet, according to the NEA,
Texas Salary Info
Beginning Teacher Salary: $32,868
Average Teacher Salary: $47,157
Tennessee Salary Info
Beginning Teacher Salary: $32,525
Average Teacher Salary: $45,549
Ohio Salary Info
Beginning Teacher Salary:
Average Teacher Salary: $62,557
Educators know that this is about more than salaries. Adding to class size ties the hands of instructors at all levels. Try keeping up with 30 vs. 25 first graders for that 180 days. Climbing under tables, patting tears dry, finding dry pants for “Tommie” to wear or getting everyone to listen for 10 minutes. Try keeping the attention of 35 vs. 25 pre-teens with raging hormones and untold electronic distractions. Or try keeping the attention of 35 vs. 25 teenagers who are worried about when the baby is due, where to get their next “hit,” if dad will beat mom again tonight, if they will be able to keep their job or how to tell mom about the dent in her car door. Try lecturing to 250 vs. 150 freshmen with no assistants to grade papers and no office hours to answer questions.We won’t go into metal detectors, police security in schools and other society overflow into the classroom and onto the campus…
Numbers and money add up for those working in education. Each year educators provide pens, pencils, paint, markers, paper, CDs, DVDs, paper clips, tape, books and numerous additional materials to help make their classrooms work. When tracked, the expenditures reach hundreds of dollars per teacher. Stipends for sponsorships, publication advisors, debate coaches, etc. result in pennies (or less) per hour for the extra time vs. the extra money.
Educators at all levels give. From pre-K-12 teachers, counselors and administrators to university professors and presidents, educators give time, money, supplies and spirit to the youth of the country. Belief in self, love of art, appreciation of music, understanding of algebra and a relationship to Shakespeare…come from educators. We must invest in our future or we will implode, if we are not destroyed first.
