Do teachers "really" have it that bad???

[Poke78]

Do teachers receive paid medical insurance and retirement in addition to their salaries?

I see you've not received a reply on this question yet so thought I'd chime in.

Like most employment questions, the answer is "it depends." School boards have flexibility in these areas to a certain degree. Paid medical for the teacher/employee - the answer is typically yes, there may be some division of cost, and it is a negotiating point for those represented by an association/union. They do not pay for spouses/dependent coverage.

Retirement can also be a shared contribution and varies by district. It would require some research but I think most districts pay all of this but there may be some that don't and state law allows that. All teachers and administrators MUST be a member of the teacher retirement system but support staff is optional under the law.

Using my wife as an example: she is a retired speech pathologist that worked for a school district for 29 years. Her retirement contribution was fully paid by the district. For many years, she declined school medical insurance and was under mine when I worked for a private employer. During her final 10 years, I worked in a career-tech school so my wife picked up her own medical coverage through her school. This also ensured her ability to get that same coverage as a retiree. At that time, I recall it was a 50/50 split of the cost but I could be wrong about that. In retirement, she pays it all. When she goes under Medicare at age 65, she can convert the coverage to Medi-Gap.

Using myself as an example: I continue to work for a career-tech school (18 years but not in the classroom) and the retirement contribution is fully paid, as is the health insurance. A stipend is offered for dependent coverage and I take that as salary (taxable).

 

[saddlebum]

I'm all for teachers making ,$100,000 a year if they earn it. May problem is when they consitantly produce low performing students ,but think the all deserve raises. I say pay the good ones good money and the bad one send them packing like private industry does. For some reason teachers and public employees in general think they should all get good money whether they earn it it not

 

[Pokinfun]

teachers are not producing under achieving students parents are.

I'm all for teachers making ,$100,000 a year if they earn it. May problem is when they consitantly produce low performing students ,but think the all deserve raises. I say pay the good ones good money and the bad one send them packing like private industry does. For some reason teachers and public employees in general think they should all get good money whether they earn it it not

 

[Okie4570]

I'm all for teachers making ,$100,000 a year if they earn it. May problem is when they consitantly produce low performing students ,but think the all deserve raises. I say pay the good ones good money and the bad one send them packing like private industry does. For some reason teachers and public employees in general think they should all get good money whether they earn it it not

You can say this same thing about 1000 more times, and you still won't get it...................did you raise your children, or did their teachers? Your idea of performance pay with teachers is simply ridiculous. If you had it your way, would it vary from year to year, based on student performance...........sucky kids one year results in a pay decrease, awesome kids the next year and get a raise? What would be your method of determining performance? Who would do that? Start a new position within the school as performance judge? Or just add that responsibility to some admin who has a full plate already? It's not that black and white.

 

[saddlebum]

I don't have any kids ,but I still get the privilege of having to pay taxes to support the schools and teachers. But year after year Oklahoma schools produce students who perform near the bottom. Then teachers blame all kinds of problems like those problems don't exist in states that produce high performing students.
Then they say if we had more money we could do better. Well in private industry you get more money by performing better first. The notion that teaching is such a noble profession that you deserve pay raises whether you do a good job or not is hog wash

 

[JD8]

I don't have any kids ,but I still get the privilege of having to pay taxes to support the schools and teachers. But year after year Oklahoma schools produce students who perform near the bottom. Then teachers blame all kinds of problems like those problems don't exist in states that produce high performing students.
Then they say if we had more money we could do better. Well in private industry you get more money by performing better first. The notion that teaching is such a noble profession that you deserve pay raises whether you do a good job or not is hog wash

Actually, in private industry, the company with better pay, benefits, logistics, tools, and overall support typically get the best employees, resulting in better products.

Granted I don't think you're going to understand all the variables at play in student performance, many are just requesting that they be paid a competitive wage that doesn't force them to find work in other states and...... get them some funding to where they don't pull money out of their own pocket for supplies the state should supply.

 

[alank2]

Then there are those like myself and there are a lot of us, that believe in what we do enough to give everything we have to make this better. I believe in my students and in special education so much that I give everything of myself so much that at times my own daughter just get what's left each night and that's not much.

If we had more teachers like you cooljeff, the educational system would be entirely different.

I happen to think the problem with the education system is that the left/liberals/communist have infected it with their line of thinking that does not work. Then when it all fails, they start to point fingers at everything except the very ideas that got them there in the first place. Go ahead and pay everyone the same irregardless of their job performance and then check the result 5, 10, 15 years later. We are living the result. Who is against any kind of teacher grading/performance/evaluation? The unions, associations, etc. They are doing teachers no good either by keeping the dead weight.

Hard working good teachers like cooljeff should be rewarded for what they invest, and the bad teachers should be given the base until they are weeded out or seek to improve themselves.

I don't think the excellence issues or lack thereof can be placed squarely on the teachers, the students, or the parents. I think it all goes together. There are a lot of non functioning kids now that just can't do things, with the stock answer to that is to medicate them. I have a niece who just turned 18 and she is on 5 or 6 meds for anxiety. What ever happened to sitting a kid down and saying, hey, you had a bad day, it is probably going to happen again, let's learn how to deal/cope with it. I know there are some kids/people that need a med and are much better on it, and that makes sense for them, but I think there is a gulf between saying what is necessary and just keep throwing more and more and more at them.

 

[saddlebum]

Actually, in private industry, the company with better pay, benefits, logistics, tools, and overall support typically get the best employees, resulting in better products.

Granted I don't think you're going to understand all the variables at play in student performance, many are just requesting that they be paid a competitive wage that doesn't force them to find work in other states and...... get them some funding to where they don't pull money out of their own pocket for supplies the state should supply.

Those employees had to prove they are the best some where.
Education already gets 40% of the state budget more than any other segment

 

[Lakenut]

Love it. No kids....but all of the answers about raising and educating them. How hard can it be?

 

[saddlebum]

Love it. No kids....but all of the answers about raising and educating them. How hard can it be?

I'm not a proctologists either but I Know an ass hole when I see one