Reply to MCPS Reaches Agreement with MCEA to Raise Teachers' Wages

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]I don’t, in principle, have a problem with paying teachers more. I just think it's counterproductive to do large, across-the-board raises when older teachers already make well above the median income. Heck, they make more than the median household income on their own![/b]

Pay is a serious issue for starting teachers, who in many ways have even harder jobs as they adapt lesson plans and materials for themselves. They should get substantial pay raises. Similarly, some areas, like special education, should be on higher salary schedules due to the increased challenges with recruiting and retaining them in the field.

The real problem across-the-board is teacher workload. The MCPS salary agreement mostly helps veteran teachers, many of whom are nearing retirement. Not only will it do little to help the long-term challenge of attracting teachers, it could make it harder to fix the real problem. More money on higher salaries means there's less money to spend on more teachers.

Don't the vast majority of teachers agree that pay isn't the main problem?  So why is MCPS digging itself into a bigger hole? And why are the younger teachers letting MCEA throw them under the bus to help the old teachers?[/quote]

Throughout these posts, I see many people presenting that the fact that MCPS teachers make more than the median income in Montgomery County as the central argument that MCPS teachers should be happy to get what they get. What is the median household income in Montgomery County for someone with a masters degree or a doctorate degree and how does that compare to that of an MCPS teacher with a masters or doctorate degree? I couldn't find that data specific to our county, but the Economic Policy Institute has tracked this data on a national level and the difference between the earnings of teachers as compared to other professionals with the same level of education has increased over time.  In 2021, Teachers earned 23.5% less than comparable college graduates.

Here is the article: 
https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-penalty-2022/
And here is a summary of the article: "Simply put, teachers are paid less (in weekly wages and total compensation) than their nonteacher college-educated counterparts, and the situation has worsened considerably over time."

The fact of the matter is that many schools have teaching & paraprofessional vacancies that have not been filled. If the job was so cushy and well-compensated as some of you here suggest, there would not be so many vacancies. Many teachers have left or are planning to leave for jobs that are not as emotionally taxing on them or their families. For some it is worth it move into another less stressful job (even if that means a paycut).

[/quote]

I'm the person who has cited the county's median income and I never said I think teachers should be happy to get what they get. I actually do hope teachers get a big raise, they deserve and need it. I cited  the county's median income because MCPS/MCEA etc. are PISSED that the Council will not be raising property taxes by 10%. That is the epitomy of entitlement. You all seem to think everyone in MoCo is making $200k+ and that is simply not the reality. Absorbing a 10% increase will be hard for a lot of people (including renters, who get those costs passed on to them) Please try to stop misrepresenting what people are saying, it's not helping your case, I promise you.

The median earnings for a person with a graduate or professional degree in Montgomery County in 2021 was $105k according to the American Community Survey. It's possible/likely that's a mix of part time and full time workers (it also includes people with law and medical degrees). I don't know what the median age is for this group, I believe the median age for people in the labor force is about 40, so I think it's reasonable to assume that a person earning that median of $105k would have about 15 years of experience. Looking back at the salary schedules for 2021-2022, teachers with 15 years experience were making a little less than that (though it's probably about equal when you consider the value of the pension, which is considerable). It doesn't strike me that teacher salaries are that far out of line with what people with graduate degrees actually earn (vs the outlier examples that are trotted out on these boards as if they are the norm). That being said, teachers definitely need a raise, number 1 because inflation is real and brutal and number 2 because there is a massive teacher shortage. At the same time, I think addressing the root causes of the shortage will probably help more than the raise. Hearing Jennifer Martin talking about the teacher who got stabbed, called for help and nobody came made me wonder, what is the school system doing to address that? Because if I were in that situation, no amount of money would convince me to stay.[/quote]

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