Quote:
Originally posted by kddani
For those of you that come from areas where teachers don't get paid much... are the teachers unionized?
I don't think all counties in PA pay as much as my school does, but in my county the pay is good- the teachers have a VERY strong union and a lot of political power.
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The school where I graduated from is in the midst of a dispute between the board and the teachers' union that has been going on since 2001. The teachers have gone on strike I think 3 times, and at some point said they will keep going on strike every year until their demands are met - showing their lack of concern for the students. As comparison for salary scales, the union has used school districts mostly here in Pittsburgh where the cost of living is much higher. The thing is that the average teacher salary is STILL higher than all but one of the schools they used.
The teachers are some of the highest paid people in my hometown and there are many families where both parents teach. They live in some of the ritziest houses to be had. Meanwhile, the area in general is getting poorer and poorer. However, the teachers want the board to go to binding arbitration, which would probably rule in favor of the teachers, which would raise taxes, which would completely cripple the town.
I could rant about this at length but I won't because it's really upsetting. It's torn apart families and friends, ruined businesses (my grandparents' lawyer, who is a really really nice man, is on the board and has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of business due to this) and I don't even want to think about how cynical it's made the kids.
Teachers in many areas are not paid enough. But there are some places where they're getting away with murder.
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