It’s Labor Day
weekend, the schools have been in session about a week, and the disgruntled
voices of a minority drone on. Their screeching refrain, often in letters to
the editor and talk show call-ins, is familiar:
--Teachers only
work half a year.
--Teachers are
overpaid.
--Local school
districts and their taxpayers shouldn’t have to hold the burden of teacher
salaries.
Often, those
who complain the most are those who were average or below-average students who
blame teachers, not themselves, for their mediocrity. Although most claim to be
strong free-market capitalists, they believe teachers should not have much
higher wages and benefits than they do, a philosophy bordering on socialism.
Let’s look at
each of the claims.
First, the work
year. Public school teachers generally work a 180-day school year. Each day is
about six hours. That leads the uninformed to believe teachers only work half a
year. But, let’s do the math. There are 365 days in a year. Subtract two days a
week, which the average worker does not work, and that leaves 261 days. Next,
remove 10 days of vacation; some get as many as 20 days a year, but 10 days is
the usual vacation time. That leaves 251 days. Next, there are state and
federal holidays, bracketed by New Year’s Day and Christmas. Generally, most
businesses accept the 10 federal holidays. That leaves 241 days.
The critics may
claim that teachers still work 61 days less than the average worker. But let’s
look at the hours. Most public school teachers may be in class only six hours a
day, but they have to be at work before classes, most stay after classes to
assist in extracurricular activities and then,
at home in evenings and weekends, grade papers, read current information about
teaching practices and their own academic specialties, and prepare lesson plans
for five to seven classes. With schools shoving more students into each class,
teachers don’t have the option of working less—they still have to grade papers,
talk with individual students and their parents about performance.
Most teachers
don’t spend the summers lying around beach houses. Summer is when most develop
lesson plans for the coming academic year, attend professional conferences, and
take additional college classes to keep their certification and improve their
knowledge of teaching methods and their own academic disciplines. Now, let’s
look at those “overpriced” teachers. The average wage of a teacher—who must
have at least a college degree, and additional coursework, often a graduate
degree—is about $56,000, according
to the National Center for Education Statistics. The range is about $40,000
(South Dakota) to about $75,000 (New York). While this may seem generous to an
overburdened taxpayer earning only $35,000 a year, it isn’t a wage that is
comparable to those with similar education and work experience. The non-partisan
Economic
Policy Institute says public school teachers are paid about 19 percent less
than professionals with similar education and experience. Some, especially in
the sciences and math, may be paid less than half of what others with their
backgrounds are paid.
Finally, taxpayers do have a
valid point about the burden on local school districts. Most school funding
comes from local taxpayers. When the federal stimulus funds were eliminated, Pennsylvania
Gov. Tom Corbett chose not to replace it. Corbett also cut about $500 million
that was not federal stimulus money. Corbett did restore federal stimulus funds
for corrections and certain areas of health care, but not to education.
Further, while cutting education budgets and putting greater burdens on local
districts, he generously gave out more than $3 billion in corporate tax breaks.
Many politicians may say they believe in education, that the future of America
is in the students of today, but the reality is their words are little more
vacuous babbling.
Because of Corbett’s
low priority for education, about $350 million has not been restored, leading
to about 30,000 layoffs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He is not
unique. Other conservative administrations have also chosen not to increase
educational funding. The layoffs have led to larger class sizes, significant
cuts in arts and music programs (while not cutting athletics), and fewer
critical programs, including those that target at-risk students from dropping out
of school. Layoffs also mean that taxpayers are burdened with helping pay
unemployment benefits and some welfare benefits. It also means that teachers,
teaching assistants, and others who directly work with student are less able to
financially contribute to local business and the economy or to pay the higher
level of local, state, and federal taxes they contributed when fully employed.
Inner city and
rural areas do not have the property tax base as the affluent suburbs, but
there are numerous costs that are fixed, including buses, and the physical
plant. Thus, the burden on individuals is greater in the inner city and rural
areas. Some of this is political—the impoverished don’t contribute as much to
political campaigns as do the affluent. Because of the failure by the state to
provide adequate assistance to local districts, in Pennsylvania the 50 poorest
districts have seen a $475 per pupil cut this past year, while the 50 most
affluent districts have seen only a $95 cut per pupil, according to data
compiled by the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) from state
documents. This disparity strongly affects the quality of education in the
rural and inner city schools.
The concept of
school taxes based upon value of property is archaic and needs to be modified
to allow students from the least affluent districts to have the same quality of
education as those in the most affluent districts.
Critics of
teachers also wail about the high cost of pensions. In Pennsylvania, the
problem is not the teachers, but the failure of the Tom Ridge, Ed Rendell, and
Tom Corbett administrations to make the minimum payments to the pension system.
Wythe Keever of the PSEA suggests that what the three administrations did was
similar to consumers who max out their credit cards and refuse to make even the
minimum payments.
There are
slackers in the education profession, those who do the minimum work, give high
grades, and just shove students along. There are also incompetent teachers who
can, and should, be terminated. Contrary to what many believe, tenured teachers
can be fired for just cause, as long as their rights are protected. There are
slackers and incompetents in every profession. Education isn’t unique.
And, there are some parents who do little to help their
children learn as much as possible, who instill a hatred of teachers and
education by constantly complaining about overpaid and underworked teachers.
Starting this
Labor Day, it would be nice if those who run a constant criticism would look at
the facts—including facts that could suggest better ways to teach our children
and to pay for their education. When they do, they will realize that teachers
are not overpaid relative to others with the same education and experience,
that they work more than the average workers—and only because of unions do
teachers have the support to keep education from disintegrating into
mediocrity.
[In a 31-year career as a university
professor, Dr. Brasch usually worked about 60 hours a week, as documented by
reports mandated by the Pennsylvania legislature. He wasn’t unique. He is the
author of 20 books, the most recent of which is the critically-acclaimed Fracking
Pennsylvania: Flirting With Disaster.]
