3% raise for teachers? What a joke FCPS!

[Anonymous]

There are fewer and fewer options out there for jobs that provide for a defined benefit pension and great health care benefits in retirement. It's sort of a no brainer if you have been there 10 or more years. But if you are new in your career, I think it just does not seem worth dealing with everything that comes with the job for the pay that is offered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are fewer and fewer options out there for jobs that provide for a defined benefit pension and great health care benefits in retirement. It's sort of a no brainer if you have been there 10 or more years. But if you are new in your career, I think it just does not seem worth dealing with everything that comes with the job for the pay that is offered.

Just so we are on the same page, how is this defined? What would be the example? I’m just curious what “great” looks like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much is a step? What is the average step?

How does the pension figure into the salary?

Steps:
Since I have been hired, we have gotten steps about 75% of the time. They are around $2-2.5k
https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY24-teacher-195-day.pdf

Pension:
Someone hired today gets 1% pension per year of service based on the average of your highest 5 years, and for full benefits you must be 60 with 30 years of service.

Someone hired before 2010 gets 1.7% and could retire with full benefits at 50 with 30 years of service.

What do you mean by full benefits? We don't get free healthcare or anything like that.

We don't get full retirement at 50, with 30 years of service. Even if we did, how many people started working for FCPS at age 20 or lower? Very few, I'm sure. Most people who have spent their career in FCPS probably started between age 22 and 30. Even most of those in non-instructional positions probably didn't begin at age 20 or younger.

It typically means full salary. Why don’t you know this? And what do you mean about working at age 20 or lower? I’m sure you can get full benefits as soon as you hit the 30 year mark. The number 50 or 60 is just a starting number. I’m sorry but your comment was really really dumb. Even at 60 you could easily live another 20 years and get a full salary equal to the last five years. That is huge.

The comment to which you are replying was not "really, really dumb" at all. It was pointing out incorrect information in the verbiage of the previous post.

Teachers also don't get a full salary equal to the last five years. I'm not sure where you got that information.

I got it from the poster that person was responding to that listed this (see also above):

"Pension:
Someone hired today gets 1% pension per year of service based on the average of your highest 5 years, and for full benefits you must be 60 with 30 years of service."

If it's wrong, they don't know their own benefits.

I thought the person was dumb because they didn't seem to understand that the pension just gets delayed if you start older. They acted like if you didn't start at 20 the benefit didn't exist. There is no magic benefit to starting at 20 other than that you could pull retirement at the first age eligible which used to be 50. Now it's 60 so someone starting at 30 can reach 60 and claim the benefit without waiting. If they started at 31 they would have to wait a year to pull full benefits. The benefit doesn't go away. It just gets delayed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much is a step? What is the average step?

How does the pension figure into the salary?

Steps:
Since I have been hired, we have gotten steps about 75% of the time. They are around $2-2.5k
https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY24-teacher-195-day.pdf

Pension:
Someone hired today gets 1% pension per year of service based on the average of your highest 5 years, and for full benefits you must be 60 with 30 years of service.

Someone hired before 2010 gets 1.7% and could retire with full benefits at 50 with 30 years of service.

What do you mean by full benefits? We don't get free healthcare or anything like that.

We don't get full retirement at 50, with 30 years of service. Even if we did, how many people started working for FCPS at age 20 or lower? Very few, I'm sure. Most people who have spent their career in FCPS probably started between age 22 and 30. Even most of those in non-instructional positions probably didn't begin at age 20 or younger.

It typically means full salary. Why don’t you know this? And what do you mean about working at age 20 or lower? I’m sure you can get full benefits as soon as you hit the 30 year mark. The number 50 or 60 is just a starting number. I’m sorry but your comment was really really dumb. Even at 60 you could easily live another 20 years and get a full salary equal to the last five years. That is huge.

The comment to which you are replying was not "really, really dumb" at all. It was pointing out incorrect information in the verbiage of the previous post.

Teachers also don't get a full salary equal to the last five years. I'm not sure where you got that information.

I got it from the poster that person was responding to that listed this (see also above):

"Pension:
Someone hired today gets 1% pension per year of service based on the average of your highest 5 years, and for full benefits you must be 60 with 30 years of service."

If it's wrong, they don't know their own benefits.

I thought the person was dumb because they didn't seem to understand that the pension just gets delayed if you start older. They acted like if you didn't start at 20 the benefit didn't exist. There is no magic benefit to starting at 20 other than that you could pull retirement at the first age eligible which used to be 50. Now it's 60 so someone starting at 30 can reach 60 and claim the benefit without waiting. If they started at 31 they would have to wait a year to pull full benefits. The benefit doesn't go away. It just gets delayed.

I'm the one who said full benefits, and I typed without thinking. It's full pension. If you have been employed continuously with FCPS for 15 years, you can still buy into benefits after retiring but you pay a much higher rate.

Retirees: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/retiree-benefits-premiums.pdf
Current employees: https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/employee-benefits-premiums.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t there like one non teaching position for every teacher position in FCPS? That seems like a lot of administrative positions with nothing to do. I would cut some of them first.

You're overstating how many noneducators there are. But just so we are clear - you would like to cut: Bus drivers, Custodians, Librarians, IT specialists. Anything else?

I think a lot of money is wasted on PSLs, SOL specialists, so many Math Specialists, so many Reading Specialists (who don't teach a science backed reading program) and all these support positions that are redundant and don't get anything done on time. Isn't there another post about families waiting months and months for reimbursements?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t there like one non teaching position for every teacher position in FCPS? That seems like a lot of administrative positions with nothing to do. I would cut some of them first.

You're overstating how many noneducators there are. But just so we are clear - you would like to cut: Bus drivers, Custodians, Librarians, IT specialists. Anything else?

I think a lot of money is wasted on PSLs, SOL specialists, so many Math Specialists, so many Reading Specialists (who don't teach a science backed reading program) and all these support positions that are redundant and don't get anything done on time. Isn't there another post about families waiting months and months for reimbursements?

What is an SOL specialist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My private sector company is also giving 3%.

I’m sure your salaries are much higher to begin with.

But that's their career of choice. They know the starting salary is mid 40s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My private sector company is also giving 3%.

I’m sure your salaries are much higher to begin with.

But that's their career of choice. They know the starting salary is mid 40s.

Well clearly not anymore. If we want to attract and retain good teachers, we need to pay them at least competitively with other professionals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My private sector company is also giving 3%.

I’m sure your salaries are much higher to begin with.

My child's teacher makes $80k+

That is nice salary for not full year of the working.

Summer time job maybe close to the 100k?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My private sector company is also giving 3%.

I’m sure your salaries are much higher to begin with.

My child's teacher makes $80k+

That is nice salary for not full year of the working.

Summer time job maybe close to the 100k?

20k in 2 months? Unlikely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are fewer and fewer options out there for jobs that provide for a defined benefit pension and great health care benefits in retirement. It's sort of a no brainer if you have been there 10 or more years. But if you are new in your career, I think it just does not seem worth dealing with everything that comes with the job for the pay that is offered.

Just so we are on the same page, how is this defined? What would be the example? I’m just curious what “great” looks like.

What are the "great health care benefits in retirement"? Is it that the retiree can keep the same plan at 3 to 5 times the cost as when they were an employee? It's ok, but I don't know that I'd say it's "great".

[Anonymous]

3% is fine. They get generous pensions and extra vacation time. There are millions of teachers. They are not all walking out. The shortage is in special education where the number of students requiring sped service’s continues to rise.

[Anonymous]

The shortage is not just in special education. Here are the areas where the shortage is the worst: special ed, bilingual, math, science, ESL, counselors, rural areas, low paying areas, the south, high COL areas (California has a lot of trouble finding teachers). And while most primary gen ed rooms in higher paying districts can still find teachers, instead of getting a 100 highly qualified teachers, they're getting 2-4 applications which may or may not be decent applicants. But the other thing we're seeing is that the number of teachers leaving mid year has risen quite a bit. It used to be very rare and it is much more common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The shortage is not just in special education. Here are the areas where the shortage is the worst: special ed, bilingual, math, science, ESL, counselors, rural areas, low paying areas, the south, high COL areas (California has a lot of trouble finding teachers). And while most primary gen ed rooms in higher paying districts can still find teachers, instead of getting a 100 highly qualified teachers, they're getting 2-4 applications which may or may not be decent applicants. But the other thing we're seeing is that the number of teachers leaving mid year has risen quite a bit. It used to be very rare and it is much more common.

Want some cheese for that whine?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The shortage is not just in special education. Here are the areas where the shortage is the worst: special ed, bilingual, math, science, ESL, counselors, rural areas, low paying areas, the south, high COL areas (California has a lot of trouble finding teachers). And while most primary gen ed rooms in higher paying districts can still find teachers, instead of getting a 100 highly qualified teachers, they're getting 2-4 applications which may or may not be decent applicants. But the other thing we're seeing is that the number of teachers leaving mid year has risen quite a bit. It used to be very rare and it is much more common.

Want some cheese for that whine?

You'll be whining next year when your kid is dealing with a rotation of warm bodies teaching them. We can hear you already.