UPDATE 7/29: Was the State Board right to approve furloughs?
UPDATE 7/29: Atlanta Public Schools joins several others districts in saying they wont furlough teachers. Read the story here.
UPDATE: As expected, state board members cleared the way for school districts to furlough teachers. Wait there’s more: the unanimous vote gives school districts the opportunity to use up to seven more furlough days.
The State Board of Education is meeting today to vote on amending rules so that any of Georgia’s 182 school districts could change the terms of the teachers’ contracts to allow for furloughs.
Last week, Gov. Sonny Perdue requested that public school districts furlough teachers for three days to save the state about $100 million.
State employees will be furloughed three days and state agencies must cut their budgets by 5 percent because of a $900 million hole in the budget.
Perdue can’t make the districts furlough teachers. But he told system leaders that the amount of money they receive from the state will be cut to reflect furloughs. If schools systems don’t want to furlough, they have to find other places to cut.
Of course, school districts have been slicing and dicing their budgets for years because of austerity cuts and other reductions in state funding.
Some school districts – such as Gwinnett, Forsyth and Cherokee – decided to furlough. Many other systems have done the same, cutting into teachers’ pre-planning time as they prepare for the new school year.
Other systems – such as Cobb and DeKalb – have found other places to cut.
Several systems that furloughed teachers told them not to come in yesterday or today. Teachers, are you still doing work from home?
It’s expected that the state board will approve the change to allow for furloughs. But what message would the board send if they voted it down?
NOTE: The State Board of Regents is expected to take up furloughs and budget cuts for Georgia’s public colleges and universities when it meets Aug. 11 and 12.
STORY HELP: Reporter Nancy Badertscher is looking to speak with private school parents who are using scholarships funded by the tax credit approved by the General Assembly in 2008. If you would like to participate in this story please contact Nancy at nbadertscher@ajc.com.
MORE STORY HELP: A co-worker is writing a back-to-school story looking at who is volunteering in schools. If your PTA or school has an interesting group — whether it be all fathers or all grandparents or employees from a local company — we want to hear from you. Send a note to gstaples@ajc.com if you’d like to participate.
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322 comments Add your comment
tc
July 29th, 2009
1:12 pm
GA Educator, its not a union, its an association as it has no bargaining power. GAE, PAGE…what a waste of membership money…
Obviously Perdue could care less now that he’s in his 2nd term. Whatever happened to Saturdays w/ Sonny and his Sonny money?
Corruption is everywhere, North and South. For the most part up North, criminals cover their tracks. In the South, they are blatant.
Job #1
July 29th, 2009
1:25 pm
Look at PAGE, GAE, and MACE and there’s one thing that immediately jumps out. MACE is the only group that limits it’s membership to teachers. Job #1 is advocating for teachers, and unlike PAGE and GAE that job isn’t diluted by having protect the administrative bureaucracy. Even if you have been turned off to MACE by the way the media, and especially the AJC portrays them, that doesn’t change the irrefutable facts about GAE and PAGE.
As much as MACE is criticized in some quarters, if MACE goes away tomorrow, PAGE and GAE are still left with the almost impossible task of fighting for teachers while balancing the need to protect the administrative bureaucracy. The sad thing is, you read the responses on this blog, and it doesn’t appear that many teachers have truly incorporated that dynamic into their thinking.
But that dynamic is exactly why MACE is the only one with the courage to suggest the one thing that would balance the books and not hurt students, which is making significant cuts in administration.
Do you think the head of GAE, who is a Clayton County administrator, can truly advocate for his teachers that way, by suggesting much needed cuts, but cuts that would affect his membership and quite possibly, even his friends and peers?
Have GAE teachers thought about this? There are thousands of them; you’d think at least one could come on this blog and explain how they think they are being advocated for by a president who is an administrator.
One weakness of MACE is that they simply don’t have the numbers of GAE and PAGE. They don’t have the money to lobby the legislature like GAE does. But teachers have to ask themselves, are they happy with the lobbying efforts that have been made with the dues they have paid with their hard earned money?
What good is it for teachers to have a lobbying force if, when a situation like this arises, that force can’t truly lobby in your behalf, because they have to balance your interests with administrative interests, even if it cost you the ability to balance your checkbook?
If teachers have failed themselves, and you can see it by the lack of discussion on this blog, it’s that they really haven’t taken a studious look at how the different organizations operate, what their philosophies are and how those philosophies translate specifically into supporting the classroom teacher.
Unless teachers are truly happy with the way that Sonny Perdue, Kathy Cox, GAE and PAGE are defining their role in education, they may want to take some ownership define the role themselves. One of the first places they may want to look is to see what they are getting in return for their hard earned money in terms of advocacy from the various organizations.
Ernest
July 29th, 2009
1:44 pm
Yesterday @ 1:50p I asked the following question,
Anyone want to talk about a tax increase during a recession?
This is the only way I’m aware of to increase revenues. Is there another way?
Rosie
July 29th, 2009
1:47 pm
Teachers should show up to school at the last possible minute, leave the school as soon as the official school day is over and never work on nights and weekends. Stop doing all extracurricular activities if you are not compensated for your time. Maybe someone will appreciate teachers if we stand up for ourselves.
Tim
July 29th, 2009
1:52 pm
I just got off of the MACE website (www.theteachersadvocate.com) and it was refreshing to see a group so unabashedly FOR teachers. I agree with Dr. John Trotter and MACE on the budget crisis. Dr. Trotter told Perdue that he should get rid of 25 to 35 percent off all of the administrator in Georgia. Now that would balance the budget and free up teachers to teach! Go MACE! I don’t care what they say about MACE, I am a MACE fan now. I just downloaded an app from their website. I have only been in Georgia for four years. I taught 12 years in Indiana. I had briefly seen MACE on TV a time or two but never really took the time to check MACE. A lady at church who teaches in DeKalb had told me about a year ago that I had better not teach in Georgia without being a MACE member. I am sending in my MACE application today!
Art teacher
July 29th, 2009
2:06 pm
I have never heard of MACE, but I just looked at their website. I did like the fact that I saw the term “candy ass” used on a protest sign, but is this for real? I just don’t know how professional this association seems. It looks a little too punk rock for my colleagues- I can’t see the average Georgia teacher responding to that irreverent style.
What are we to do? Ask GAE to change? Revoke our memberships from all professional associations? I mean, what are they really providing- liability insurance and a magazine subscription. Shouldn’t our member dollars go farther than that. Is the advocacy that these associations provide worthwhile?
Art teacher
July 29th, 2009
2:24 pm
Maybe Tim is right. GAE is looking like the man compared to MACE.
gw.teacher
July 29th, 2009
2:28 pm
A few of you made reference to your system having you take the furlough days on days you were already scheduled to be off… how does that work? Those are not figured into your 190 days anyway… how can they just decide that you will work all days you were already scheduled to work and then not pay you on a Thanksgiving break when you were not schedule to work anyway? Please answer… curious as to how they can justify that as being legal.
Job#1
July 29th, 2009
2:48 pm
Art teacher, there is something you should know. Liability insurance is a bogus benefit. Teachers are covered by sovereign immunity in Georgia, and liability insurance isn’t needed.
MACE goes into great detail about this on their website. You have to look past the “candy ass” sign. Look for the link that says Liability Insurance is a SCAM. How’s that for polite? LOL Yes that might offend the sensibilities of some teachers, but what should truly be offensive to teachers.
A “candy ass” sign, or an organizations that takes hundreds of thousands of teachers’ well earned money, and then doesn’t truly stand up for them, because they always, always, have to balance the needs of the administrative bureaucracy with the best interests of teachers?
If teachers are truly happy with what Perdue, Kathy Cox, GAE and PAGE are giving them, they can go into their classrooms during the furlough days, and then prepare for yet the next insult to their profession.
If they aren’t happy with what Perdue, Kathy Cox, GAE and PAGE are giving them, they may need to embrace a more radical approach. If they aren’t ready to do that, then they really shouldn’t complain, and as much as their plight deserves empathy, it should be reserved for those who are willing to stand up for themselves, not participate in their own demise.
Budget worries for private and charter schools? « iThinkEducation.net!
July 29th, 2009
3:01 pm
[...] I look through comments on yesterday’s post about furloughs, many teachers from private schools, charter schools and even home school parents wrote to say how [...]
gwinnett teacher
July 29th, 2009
5:05 pm
So, why do we even have contracts if the state and the county can “openly” change it to reflect furloughs at will? I have been in my class room for roughly eight hours this week unpacking and setting up, things I cannot do from home and must be done prior to Aug. 10. As a teacher, I know I’m going to put in a tremendous amount of extra hours above and beyond what I’m “contracted” to work without compensation, and now, I have to lose money during the year. I love teaching,and I’m here for my students, but I also have bills and a family to care for and losing money hurts. I have to laugh at our president and his ridiculous comment today that the recession is improving and the stimulus is working…not where I’m sitting it’s not!
Sparty
July 29th, 2009
5:23 pm
I understand everyones frustrations with the furloughs and how we may feel slighted but lets have some perspective. Its not like Sonny Wants to cut our pay for fun. If the money is not there its not there. No other options other than what corporate america does when they lose money, layoffs.
Pick up a newspaper, In case you have not noticed we had a near economic collapse a few months back and are in the middle of the worst recession in 25 years. Countless people have lost their jobs or have had their work/pay reduced. My wife was unemployed for the past 3 months. Yes my paycheck will be smaller but a couple hundred bucks off of a paycheck is a hell of a lot better than no paycheck at all.
As a Teacher I care about doing my job well even if that means that I work 5-10 hours a week extra without pay. I have already spent 5-6 days unpaid this past week getting ready for the year. Yeah “ideologically” it sounds unfair to work for no pay but honestly in the grand scheme of things a few days makes little difference. I am not a laborer I am a teaching proffessional hired on salary to do my job and consider it important to put in the time required. Its not like we are slaving to make our company or sonny perdue rich. We work to help children. I am willing to take a 3 day pay cut so that the new teachers they hired at my school last year can keep their job and so next year I can hopefully keep mine. I know our jobs got a little bit harder (seems like a yearly trend huh) but in this day and age I LOVE that I have a JOB. My hometown near Detroit just hit 17 percent unemployment. That is not a typo or exaggeration. It is why I had to move here. Schools are closing and laying off thousands, yes thousands of teachers. So a little perspective can go a long way in making it through these times. Save some money and appreciate that even though theres less there. At least theres something because who knows how long it will last.
thomas
July 29th, 2009
5:32 pm
Sparty,
I hope more people are rational like you.
Gov'tTchr
July 29th, 2009
5:41 pm
It is more than “the money is not there.” Trust me, go to the open records web site and look up the salaries of the higher ups in gov’t and see how the momey is miraculously there for their salaries and travel expenses. I have no problem chipping in but not when its not spread equally. Look at some of the tax breaks given large corporations and then look at how much money they gave our politicians. This isn’t totally a case of the money not coming in, it is fiscal mismanagement. And its OUR money they are mismanaging.
We really aren’t salaried like same say we are. We have daily hours on our contracts so they don’t abuse our generosity and try to force us to work a million extra hours. We are contracted to work 190 days from certan hours (mine is 7:45-3:45).
I work at least 4 evening football games a year (for no compensation) from 5:30 – 11:30 pm. I do this to support my students. They try to tell us we have to work 3 sporting events a year but its not in our contract anywhere (there is a space for it but ours is always blank) but we do it to do our fair share.
Lastly, its really more the principle of the thing. If we take this (changing our contracts after we signed them) then it set a precedent. They will continue to chip away at us and education. This year Perdue cut $500 MILLION dollars from education.
mocha momma
July 29th, 2009
5:47 pm
Sparty:
As beautiful and elegant as what you said is, there is a professional element to what you do. Working for free is idiocy unless you’re doing volunteer work. The economy is bad, we all understand that. But a contract is a contract, and if you decided to walk out on yours you will see how ‘professional and business-like’ the GPSC gets with you. Teachers need to understand that as long as you keep treating your job as a ‘calling’, you will always get called on with the short end of the stick.
If they had called for the furlough days when summer ended, teachers could have at least planned accordingly. But they decide to wait until the very last moment to spring this crap on your guys. That’s not right, fair, or legal. My husband is a teacher, and he’s been advised he’ll get couch duty if he steps foot on school grounds outside the days he being paid for. Have some self-respect. This economy should have already taught you that towing the company line and taking one for the team won’t necessarily save your job, and may in fact make your life harder in the long run. There is life after recession, and how teachers respond to issues like this will determine the future of the profession.
History1
July 29th, 2009
6:04 pm
Vouchers are not practical. I don’t think private schools want anything to do with them and they probably won’t pay for the total cost of a private school education anyway. I think vouchers are really an attempt to end public education.
Some other perspective
July 29th, 2009
6:09 pm
Sparty there is some merit in what you say but there are options, and one that seriously needs to be explored is layoffs. When a system like DeKalb can have one hundred million extra in salaries than a similarly sized Fulton, it is inexcusable to not talk about paring deadweight administrative staff.
Inexcusable that is to everyone except Crawford Lewis and DeKalb GAE, who wouldn’t put that issue on the table, instead preferring to make cuts to teachers retirement.
If you’re a teacher who is a DeKalb GAE member, and you haven’t asked your leadership why DeKalb GAE hasn’t made that a major point of contention, and been extremely vocal about it, then when you look at your rapidly shrinking retirement, realize that with your silence, you did your part to make it happen.
Dondee
July 29th, 2009
6:34 pm
I like Bartow County’s approach of adding 12minutes to the day….of course, the teachers are still getting paid, so there is no real money savings to the state.
I have just finished working on my classroom…..spent 4 days of varying amounts of time, from 2 hours to 6 hours, but I have done what needed to be done….added up, it is more than the time I will be furloughed for the first two days. Will I be at the school on Monday and Tuesday? Uh, no!
GAE afraid to express administrative bloat?
July 29th, 2009
6:45 pm
This is straight from the GAE press release on the subject.
Some suggestions Hubbard’s organization proposes are reexamining the state’s tax incentive and tax-free programs. “At a critical time when our state’s coffers are not where we need them to be, it would be negligent to not look at methods to bring in much needed tax monies such as temporarily suspending the upcoming sales tax holiday, examining our corporate tax structure to see if they are paying their fair share, and looking at the feasibility of tax incentive giveaways such as those provided to motion-picture companies. Georgia desperately needs a fair and equitable taxation system. The recession has only served to highlight this need.”
If you’ll notice not a word about addressing administrative bloat.
I wonder if any of the other professional organizations had the courage to address administrative bloat, in order to protect teacher’s contracts?
HS Teacher
July 29th, 2009
7:06 pm
Did anyone ever answer the question Elaine posed earlier?
“Metro districts pay teachers much more than the state base. For most veteran teachers, the state’s portion of his/her salary is roughly half (a higher percentage for new teachers, and even lower for seasoned veterans). So, If the state yanks three day’s pay, it’s not really three full days’ pay. The counties are already paying the rest. Systems like Cherokee and Fulton need to be transparent about where their share of the savings from these furloughs will be going. Is it to something more important than paying teachers to prepare for the school year? And why not cut 1 1/2 days instead of all 3?”
Where exactly is that money going? Please don’t tell me these counties might be profiting from this furlough!
Art teacher
July 29th, 2009
7:41 pm
Sparty-
I grew up in Michigan and am a proud Spartan. I agree that a little perspective goes a long way in these difficult times. However, what you need to address is the fact that we have no real representation. We don’t have a MEA. We have a cobbled together hodgepodge of worthless associations. So we don’t know if these furloughs are needed or just easy. Without any real advocacy, we have no way of knowing which sacrifices we should accept with stoicism, and which we should raise hell over.
and gwinnett teacher- maybe instead of criticizing Obama, you should think back to the fact that Sonny didn’t want to accept any of the stimulus money. And by the way- where did all that money go?
Art teacher
July 29th, 2009
7:45 pm
Spartan fan, I meant.
mocha momma
July 29th, 2009
8:11 pm
How about this? Anybody ask themselves how additional furloughs are requested from state employees but we have a tax-free weekend that will cost the state much needed sales tax revenue? What about Sunday liquor sales? The proposed casinos in Underground Atlanta?
When you (as a govt. official) turn down possible additional revenue streams because of personal convictions, you leave every fiscal decision you make to be questioned.
verdi73
July 29th, 2009
8:19 pm
It will be interesting to see how much state tax collections will be down for the next few months as all of these state worker families begin to clamp down on their spending. We are a two teacher family, and I assure you that spending will be a bare minimium in our household. I have already told my wife that we will not spend any of our money on our students this year because we just can’t afford to.
south georgia
July 29th, 2009
8:53 pm
My state senator says they might have to go fix the budget mess, but he’s not planning to add or raise taxes – just cut spending.
Sparty
July 29th, 2009
8:55 pm
GO GREEN!!! Yeah a lot of us spartans down here, which was kind of my point and where my perspective comes from. I graduated 2 years ago and most of the people I knew were were still looking for their first job last year. I remember Grand Ledge had a job opening that they closed after three days. They had over a thousand applicants. Insane. It was pretty deflating to see them throw my resume into a box full of hundreds of others. I try to stay positive so I can keep my sanity I suppose but at the same time I see where other people are coming from. I guess I assumed that next year things go back to normal if the money comes back but at the same time maybe it would send the message that they could get away with whatever they want if we show up on furlough days. Even if I already went in this week and have been working on plans all night, just simply having an empty building will send the message you gotta pay us to have us. If it was any other job I would be saying in a heartbeat screw off. If I don’t get a dime you don’t get my time. Teaching is one of those things though where you are working for something other than “the man” My time is not geared towards someone elses profit. I am not building something for someone else to sell. I expect to do a good job teaching and I know that if im not prepared for the first day I cant do my best. All these things about trying to show the administrators by not putting in an extra second and not putting in your best performance etc are all a detriment. You dont hurt the superintendent you hurt your kids and you hurt yourself. Thats why I’m gonna take my lumps do my job, and just posterity not show up on furlough days, however I’ll still make sure my kids get the best from me.
Veteran teacher, 2
July 29th, 2009
9:05 pm
I have thought about that, too verdi73. I also wonder if the fiscal been counters have factored in the loss of income tax revenue based on the salary cuts. If we make less, the state also collects less in income tax revenue.
Earl
July 29th, 2009
9:52 pm
I noticed that MACE talked about administrative bloat and did it quite eloquently. http://www.theteachersadvocate.com
thomas
July 29th, 2009
9:57 pm
Sparty,
I think you understand what it means to be a “professional.” Unfortunately, there are too many teachers who don’t. They confuse being a professional with “being paid” – i.e., the difference between amateur baseball players and professional baseball players.
I sure hope you will never lose your sense of professionalism – when there are more teachers with the true professionalism, our education system will be a whole lot better.
bitter
July 29th, 2009
10:06 pm
I wouldn’t complain so much about being furloughed if it meant I stayed home and didn’t get paid. Our county plans to have our school day extended so we can make up teaching time to students for furloughed days. How do you call in sick for a month to not work that time for free?
I would join a real teacher’s union if you had them here in the south.
TeacherF
July 29th, 2009
10:21 pm
How do we form a teachers’ union then???
Job#1
July 29th, 2009
10:28 pm
Has Kathy Cox ever talked about administrative bloat? Has Sonny Perdue? Has PAGE? Has GAE? Well there’s your answer, if you want to know why teachers are being furloughed.
If teachers are going to join organizations that, for all practical purposes, are marching in lockstep with Kathy Cox and Sonny Perdue, then why are teachers surprised, or even upset this is happening?
As much abuse as is being heaped upon teachers these days in terms of overwhelming demands for performance combined with less support for their position than ever before, people should be outraged at what is happening to the teaching profession.
But with teachers as a whole almost congenitally incapable for standing up for themselves, and teachers showing a complete unwillingness to hold those organizations who speak for them the least bit accountable when those organizations side time and time again with administrative bloat over supporting teachers, at what do you have to stop empathizing with them, and start telling them they need to take a long hard look in the mirror?
How can the public have any outrage for teachers, when teachers aren’t willing to express any outrage for themselves?
God Bless the Teacher!
July 29th, 2009
10:46 pm
The current economic situation is being used by moron Republicans to cut jobs and layoff folks all for the sake of a profit margin. It will take longer for them to rehire laid off workers or recreate cut jobs when the economy rebounds than it took for them to slash up everybody (banks and predatory lenders, you’re also part of the problem).
Consider the lack of relative decline in gas prices compared to the price of a barrel of oil. Or the non-reduction in the price of groceries despite the reduction in transportation costs (oil/fuel). Oh, wait! I almost forgot that the petroleum industry sleeps with W and Chaney and all those other Republican Antichrists. It’s all about politics. Sonny is just another Republican Antichrist who is taking care of his friends and allies at the expense of the average citizen.
PLEASE remember…DO NOT shop anywhere on tax free shopping days. The government needs our tax dollars. Maybe then the businesses will think about sending a message to Sonny of a @#$% that there is no sin in taxation if it means an improvement of the daily lives of the citizenry.
Judy Nation
July 29th, 2009
10:52 pm
Crawford Lewis has at his fingertips,a technical system that enables him to televise at any time to every school in the Dekalb system. Therefore, it is totally stupid and uncaring about money, when he decided that he would have 13,000 teachers bused to various locations around town-just so he could”speak face to face with every teacher”. It makes more sense,economically, to use his paid staff,the paid tv system,to broadcast his speech. Did he not consider that he will have to pay all the bus drivers and spend a fortune on gas for the buses.If he cannot understand Economics101, it is past time to replace him and everyone who is on the school board who votes with him on such wild ideas.There are many ways to save the money without punishing the teachers. Keep up with plans like this and DeKalb County will find no teachers in the schools except inefficient ones who should be released from there contracts, but the “good old boy’- that tend to stay forever. There has to be a better way to save money. Cut the administrative salaries,their expense accounts,and really look at the money-sucking programs that do not work.
Where is DeKalb GAE?
July 29th, 2009
10:57 pm
Has DeKalb GAE taken Crawford Lewis to task on this absolute insult to teachers and taxpayers to bus the teachers to a central location so he could glorify his own ego?
Or does DeKalb GAE count on so many of those bloated administrative salaries to feed DeKalb GAE’s coffers that they’d rather raid teachers retirement funds then address this obscene use of taxpayers’ money?
DeKalb teachers have you asked your GAE representative what their stand is on this? If you won’t stand up for yourselves and ask the representatives you pay for what they are doing for you, how can you complain when they don’t?
Nikole
July 30th, 2009
12:16 am
@ Thomas—Working for free is no show of professionalism. The working conditions at my school were not very professional either. Last minute meetings, parents cursing people out, kids throwing chairs at me….I maintained my professionalism by not joining in on the craziness, showing up to work each day, well prepared and teaching to the best of my abilities.
Gloria
July 30th, 2009
12:56 am
Why would anyone (teacher) join GAE and PAGE? MACE all the way! I have been GAE and PAGE member in the past. I joined MACE. No similarities. MACE is the one!
Blimper, Ph. D.
July 30th, 2009
2:59 am
I agree with Gloria. MACE is so superior for teachers than GAE and PAGE!!! I joined MACE in 1997 and have never looked back. All I know is that my administrators know that I am a member of MACE. They have counted the cost. They don’t mess with me.
Ernest
July 30th, 2009
7:37 am
Most school budgets are online and available for everyone to see. Salaries are online and available for everyone to see. Property tax revenues (primary funding source for school budgets) are declining partly due to increased foreclosures and properties being devalued.
Why is it that some teachers think this was an easy decision to make, especially if by doing research on could see that that money is not there? My question from earlier still stands yet no one has responded to it.
Anyone want to talk about a tax increase during a recession?
ScienceTeacher671
July 30th, 2009
8:03 am
Ernest, we could certainly talk about Dubose Porter’s proposal to collect existing taxes more efficiently – proponents say that would collect an additional $1 billion per year for the state government, as well as higher revenues for local governments.
We could have talked about eliminating the sales tax holiday while we were eliminating money from the paychecks of state workers. A sales tax holiday doesn’t save individuals very much money, but the cumulative effect is quite large – $10-13 million dollars of lost revenue.
We could talk about eliminating the CRCT in those grades in which it is not required for NCLB compliance.
We could talk about Sunday alcohol sales, which might generate more revenue for the state.
All of these things have already been suggested on this thread, all of them would help, and none require raising taxes or furloughing or firing personnel. It’s also been suggested that there is probably other “fat” in the state budget that could be eliminated, and that our professional organizations should be exploring those avenues.
I personally wouldn’t be opposed to raising taxes on non-essentials, such as alcohol, tobacco, and cell phones, but others might disagree.
tc
July 30th, 2009
8:23 am
Sonny loves teachers…only in election years!
tc
July 30th, 2009
8:30 am
just say “no” to Senator Eric Johnson (the voucher man) as Governor!
tc
July 30th, 2009
8:41 am
Georgia needs a teachers UNION, not several silly associations that offer discounts to Six Flags!
Who is responsible for school supplies? | Get Schooled
July 30th, 2009
8:43 am
[...] time I wonder how many teachers will stop using their own money to pay for these items. Between the furloughs, no raises and increased health care costs, money is tight for [...]
tc
July 30th, 2009
8:45 am
Sonny Perdue is the teachers friend..during election years only!
tc
July 30th, 2009
8:48 am
Question: What occupation requiring malpractice insurance pays less than teaching?
Answer: None
gw.teacher
July 30th, 2009
9:02 am
I think a good point was made… and I am not sure the answer to it, but I would like to know. If the gov’t cut money equivalent to 3 days of teacher pay, I am assuming they based this on the state base… so, is that all they will be withholding from us? For example, my husband and I are both teachers. We both teach in Gwinnett, so we get the state BASE plus the county SUPPLEMENT, but on top of that, we are also paid for TWO Master’s Degrees, and One Specialist degree, which are also local supplements if I am not mistaken. The county funds all of these supplements with LOCAL money, right? That money does not come directly from the state, so it should not be a part of the money being cut. This would make a huge difference for us, so I would like to know the answer. IF the 3 days pay is from the state base only, it would be the same for all teachers across the state of GA (based on daily salary). For example, a 15 year teacher in south GA would pay the same 3-day amount as a 15 year teacher in Gwinnett. BUT…. if it is simply 3 days pay, I might would ‘give up more money’ persay since I teach in Gwinnett (with a higher supplement), and have 2 advanced degrees. This is something I have not heard. It is something that should be answered NOW, so that the counties don’t try to pull our supplements if the state is not messing with that money. The counties already figured that money, and if it is not going any where, we should still get it, right?
Ernest
July 30th, 2009
9:11 am
Thanks ScienceTeacher671! Those are the kinds of suggestions I believe many citizens could probably support and would help advocate for. If anyone is willing to take this as an assignment, perhaps some teachers could write a ‘Letter to the Editor’ with the suggestions you mentioned with hopes of reaching a broader audience than those on the blog.
WARNING: They Are Watching.
July 30th, 2009
11:14 am
Do NOT blog in your classroom — not even on your lap top. They are on to you. Seriously, you will be caught. Don’t say that we did not warn you. Your lap top CAN be confiscated for investigation. DON’t. I repeat. DON’T blog in your classroom no matter what the students are doing. Do you hear this…jim d, Art Teacher, d, tc, gw.teacher, catlady, Science Teacher 671, and all of the 200 or 300 “cousins” (same personality under different monikers)? Don’t let your blogging bring you down. Being a blogaholic is not unlike any other addiction. First, attend meetings…”Hi, one of my names is ‘jim d,’ and I am a blogaholic.”
mocha momma
July 30th, 2009
12:09 pm
@Thomas..I agree with Nikole. Working for free is idiocy, especially if you’ve already been doing it and are still not being recognized for your individual effort. Doctors are professionals and expect to be paid, attorneys are professionals and expect to be paid, CEOs are professionals and sure as heck expect to be paid. Why should teaching be any different?
Teacher are not volunteers, they are paid professionals. They chose their career knowing that the pay wouldn’t be great, but most have a passion for what they do (I know my husband and his co-workers do). They are asking that contracts be honored the same way they are expected to honor them. They are asking for forethought on changes made at the 11th hour.
My father has worked for AT&T for many years, and has received many attendance and performance awards. He is known for his outstanding work ethic. But he always told me that he expects an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. He will happily volunteer his time to good causes, but working for free is just crazy. I have the same mind. Going above and beyond the call of duty to advance or excel at your job is fine, but doing it just to get by is unacceptable.