Reply to The wisdom of rewarding Montgomery’s school employees (Washington Post)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]As for the police/FF comments, I can't even get into that. They HATE teachers, in fact, their unions tell them to. We are always the scapegoat when it comes to budgets (which is funny since I have never heard a teacher talk badly about a FF or PO, or really any other jobs as much as we are targets). They make us out to be the bad guy. [b]One point I will bring up as to why we are compensated more is because of our degrees. Teachers are required to have a Masters after a certian point, you don't even need a college degree to be a fire fighter or police officer.[/b] [/quote]

I have no problem with teachers being paid more than police or firefighters, based on education or a host of other factors.  In fact, for the most part teachers in MoCo ARE better paid than police and FF.  But that's not the issue here.  The issue is, in a difficult economic climate, where many people in the private sector haven't received raises (and in fact have had salaries cut), AND where other municipal employees, including FF and cops, are not getting raises (but $2000 bonuses), why should teachers be treated differently?  Would the population scream and holler if the cops, FF, and county offices cut services in order to give raises?  You bet they would. But that's what is happening in schools.

The obvious answer, as a PP pointed out, is that the money had been allocated to the schools, and the internal budgeting process is at the superintendent's and Board's discretion (I think).  So it's not like the same decisionmaker preferred teachers over other municipal employees.  But regardless of who made the decision, the reality is that some employees who are paid by tax dollars got raises, while others didn't.

No one's saying teachers don't work hard, or deserve raises (well, at least I'm not).  But working hard and deserving something isn't the end of the equation.  The money has to be there, and the schools have decided reducing services is an acceptable tradeoff to finance the raises (whatever they are).  Other government entities haven't made the same choice, and that's why people are puzzled (and perturbed) by this.  Add to that people in the private sector who are working just as hard (if not harder) than they were 4 years ago, and who are making the same (or less) money, and whether you agree with it or not, the reaction is understandable.  [/quote]

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