Anonymous
01/27/2012 14:16
Subject: What do you think a MCPS makes a year?
If you really want to get infuriated (current MCPS teachers): My mother recently retired as a middle school teacher in a small community up North. She retired making $130,000 (as a classroom teacher, with no add-on responsibilities), was paid add'l monies to "attend" professional development classes, and is collecting an 85% pension in addition to social security. Bus drivers average about $85,000 per yer in her district.....
Anonymous
01/27/2012 12:28
Subject: What do you think a MCPS makes a year?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
Oh, I think someone called me that last year during budget as well. Sorry, not her. But I understand how budgets work. Asking for a raise and not getting it does not equal a pay cut. If my daughter asks for 5 toys for Christmas and only gets 3, she has not suffered a 40% reduction in toys.
FYI quasi-Janis, teachers didn't "ask" for a raise and then didn't get it. Teachers had a CONTRACTED raise of 5.3% that they GAVE BACK to the County. So yeah, the person who talks about a pay cut is correct. Teachers haven't received their CONTRACTED salaries for the past three years. That's a pay cut!
Now go on back to lapping up everything Janis has to say over on her blog. She loves the attention!
I know all about the contract. Something tells me, however, that you yourself have never read it. Otherwise you would know that it has a provision in it specifying that any item in the contract that is dependent on public funding (like negotiated raises) is subject to and contingent upon funding approval by the County Council. No contract was broken.
Basic civics lesson: in this county, the Council has complete appropriation authority. Any contract with the government is subject to appropriation of funds by the Council.
Anonymous
01/26/2012 21:37
Subject: What do you think a MCPS makes a year?
Anonymous wrote:
Oh, I think someone called me that last year during budget as well. Sorry, not her. But I understand how budgets work. Asking for a raise and not getting it does not equal a pay cut. If my daughter asks for 5 toys for Christmas and only gets 3, she has not suffered a 40% reduction in toys.
FYI quasi-Janis, teachers didn't "ask" for a raise and then didn't get it. Teachers had a CONTRACTED raise of 5.3% that they GAVE BACK to the County. So yeah, the person who talks about a pay cut is correct. Teachers haven't received their CONTRACTED salaries for the past three years. That's a pay cut!
Now go on back to lapping up everything Janis has to say over on her blog. She loves the attention!
Anonymous
01/26/2012 07:53
Subject: What do you think a MCPS makes a year?
I just think there are lots of people making $80K around here that wouldn't consider that a "barely making ends meet" salary. Sure, I think in many cases teachers deserve more and I would like for them to get more, to attract the best quality people.
but I think, in economic times like these, that teachers alienate other people who would otherwise support them when they talk about barely making ends meet, equating no raise for a few years with huge paycuts, and complaining about working more than eight hours a day. Those are realities for Americans in most professional capacities and they aren't going to engender any sympathy.
Rather, teachers should talk about their professional competence and how they deserve to be compensated at a higher rate. And they should accept -- as do all other professions at this level -- that compensation should be based on performance, not tenure.
You really can't have it both ways. If you want to be professional and well compensated for it (which I think you should be), you need to embrace what all professional Americans embrace in exchange -- a little bit of risk. People who make more money have higher visibility and more risk in their jobs, and they work longer hours and take more responsibility. People who want total security and the impossibility of being fired are, by nature, working a lower salary into the equation.
If I were a teacher (and I freely admit I could never be one, and I admire those who can), I would want more money in exchange for my professional excellence, but I would be willing to take more risk in exchange.
but I think, in economic times like these, that teachers alienate other people who would otherwise support them when they talk about barely making ends meet, equating no raise for a few years with huge paycuts, and complaining about working more than eight hours a day. Those are realities for Americans in most professional capacities and they aren't going to engender any sympathy.
Rather, teachers should talk about their professional competence and how they deserve to be compensated at a higher rate. And they should accept -- as do all other professions at this level -- that compensation should be based on performance, not tenure.
You really can't have it both ways. If you want to be professional and well compensated for it (which I think you should be), you need to embrace what all professional Americans embrace in exchange -- a little bit of risk. People who make more money have higher visibility and more risk in their jobs, and they work longer hours and take more responsibility. People who want total security and the impossibility of being fired are, by nature, working a lower salary into the equation.
If I were a teacher (and I freely admit I could never be one, and I admire those who can), I would want more money in exchange for my professional excellence, but I would be willing to take more risk in exchange.
Anonymous
01/26/2012 06:52
Subject: What do you think a MCPS makes a year?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of respect for teachers and think they should receive good salaries and benefits.
That said, I am frequently amazed at the claims some teachers I know make. Just about anyone in an $80K professional job brings work home sometimes and works extra hours without overtime. It's just standard.
And I know a teacher who told me that MCPS teachers got a 30% paycut. I was shocked and dismayed until she explained that she derived this number from counting up all the cost of living increases that weren't given in the last few years. This is an example of unrealistic thinking -- very few people got COLA increases in the past few years and I wouldn't think teachers would be exempt from this.
The paycut line is union propoganda. Too bad some teachers fall for it.
Janis Sartucci,
You have your own forum to run. Now move along, hater.
Oh, I think someone called me that last year during budget as well. Sorry, not her. But I understand how budgets work. Asking for a raise and not getting it does not equal a pay cut. If my daughter asks for 5 toys for Christmas and only gets 3, she has not suffered a 40% reduction in toys.
So you expect teachers to put in 120% on the job when they can barely make ends meet at home?
Put your money where your mouth is. An investment in education benefits the ENTIRE country.
You may not be THE Janis, but you certainly could be her twin. And that is definitely NOT a compliment.
Anonymous
01/26/2012 06:50
Subject: What do you think a MCPS makes a year?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:12:30, I am a teacher and I also get frustrated with posters/teachers who complain that they have to take work home without overtime pay and out of the other side of their mouths complain that they aren't treated as professionals. Teachers are professionals. It's a career, not a job. As much as I wish it weren't so, being a professional with a career means working outside of your prescribed work hours. Am I frustrated and disappointed that we haven't gotten step increases for two years or COLAs for three? Of course. But, while we're on the topic, I'm also frustrated that our pay scale is based only on how long you've been teaching. There are second year teachers and thirty year veterans who are remarkable at what they do. There are also thirty year veterans who have been teaching the same exact way for thirty years without any improvement to their performance. Why do they make twice as much money as I do?
Don't you understand that you are the cause of the county taking you for granted? Teachers are the most docile group that I have ever met. They are afraid to speak up in almost every matter. The thinking in most schools that if they are seen or heard protesting that they will not be viewed as team players.
Stop giving them your valuable off-duty hours. Its your life. Enjoy it. DON'T grade papers at home. [/quote
Have you ever taught IB or AP? There is no way NOT to grade papers at home.
What is your area? I'm assuming you're not elementary.
Anonymous
01/25/2012 21:36
Subject: What do you think a MCPS makes a year?
Actually, not getting a COLA is indeed equal to a pay cut. It's a reduction in the real purchasing power of your paycheck. If inflation is running at 3%, then $100 today buys $97 in goods next year, and about $94 worth of goods in two years. Just because "few people got COLAs" (Fed workers didn't get COLAs either), doesn't mean it's not a real pay cut.
And what's with the Heritage link to state teacher unemployment stats -- what does that have to do with the price of beans? And as for the incomprehensible blurb comparing DBs and 401(k)s, author Biggs doesn't exactly have a stellar reputation in the research world, so I'm willing to bet the estimates of the amounts required for a given payout don't include the cost of managing active investments in a DB or 401(k), which are much higher than the costs of managing index funds in a public pension system, and (b) accounting rules do make for important differences between pension plans, but accounting rules have very little to do with payouts and everything to do with financing, and in any case private DB and 401(k) plans have wonky accounting rules too.
And what's with the Heritage link to state teacher unemployment stats -- what does that have to do with the price of beans? And as for the incomprehensible blurb comparing DBs and 401(k)s, author Biggs doesn't exactly have a stellar reputation in the research world, so I'm willing to bet the estimates of the amounts required for a given payout don't include the cost of managing active investments in a DB or 401(k), which are much higher than the costs of managing index funds in a public pension system, and (b) accounting rules do make for important differences between pension plans, but accounting rules have very little to do with payouts and everything to do with financing, and in any case private DB and 401(k) plans have wonky accounting rules too.
Anonymous
01/25/2012 19:58
Subject: What do you think a MCPS makes a year?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of respect for teachers and think they should receive good salaries and benefits.
That said, I am frequently amazed at the claims some teachers I know make. Just about anyone in an $80K professional job brings work home sometimes and works extra hours without overtime. It's just standard.
And I know a teacher who told me that MCPS teachers got a 30% paycut. I was shocked and dismayed until she explained that she derived this number from counting up all the cost of living increases that weren't given in the last few years. This is an example of unrealistic thinking -- very few people got COLA increases in the past few years and I wouldn't think teachers would be exempt from this.
The paycut line is union propoganda. Too bad some teachers fall for it.
Janis Sartucci,
You have your own forum to run. Now move along, hater.
Oh, I think someone called me that last year during budget as well. Sorry, not her. But I understand how budgets work. Asking for a raise and not getting it does not equal a pay cut. If my daughter asks for 5 toys for Christmas and only gets 3, she has not suffered a 40% reduction in toys.