Spoiled by Collective Bargaining Power, Teachers are Always the First to Strike and the Last to Make Sacrifices - It's for the Kids, They Claim

Decades of dealmaking between districts, states and the NEA and AFT have also saddled school systems with teacher pay plans -- including defined-benefit pensions and near-free healthcare -- that have become too expensive to bear. State laws that govern how school districts manage spending and labor -- including collective bargaining rules -- are part of the problem. [Return of the One-Room Schoolhouse, The American Spectator, March 29, 2011]

When considering teacher pay, policymakers should be aware that public school teachers, on average, are paid 36% more per-hour than the average white-collar worker and 11% more than the average professional specialty and technical worker. They should be aware that the higher relative pay for public school teachers exists in almost every metro area for which data are available. Finally, they should be aware that paying public school teachers more does not appear to be associated with higher student achievement. [What to Know About Illinois Public School Teacher and Administrator Pay, Family Taxpayers Foundation, March 8, 2007]

Ballooning teacher pensions will cost Maryland roughly $924 million in fiscal 2011, up 165% from $348 million in 2002. Maryland's total pension contributions -- including state employees, police, judges, lawmakers and teachers -- will add up to $1.4 billion for fiscal 2011. [Montgomery teacher pensions cost Md. $181 million, Examiner.com, November 23, 2010]

In Frederick County, the average public sector employee makes about the same as the average private sector employee; however, this is not the case for Frederick County school employees. And not only are public school employees paid much more than the private sector (as well as others in the public sector), they have generous benefits and retirement packages. Plus (like others in the public sector) they can retire after 30 years, regardless of their age, with a taxpayer-guaranteed annuity that lasts a lifetime and which is not affected by fluctuations in the stock market. These lavish pension plans have bankrupted the 50 states.

On February 3, 2011, on the Blaine Young Show on WFMD in Frederick County, Maryland, a public school teacher with 26 years on the job, and making $86,000 per year, defended the salaries of public school teachers and administrators. Let us compare his salary of $86,000 with the rest of Frederick County and the U.S. in general:

His Salary Minus the National Average for Federal Workers	$86,000	-	$79,197	=	$6,803
His Salary Minus the Local Average for Federal Workers	$86,000	-	$73,060	=	$12,940
His Salary Minus the Local Average for Teachers	$86,000	-	$67,150	=	$18,850
His Salary Minus the State Average for Teachers	$86,000	-	$57,000	=	$29,000
His Salary Minus the Average for Local Government Workers	$86,000	-	$45,344	=	$40,656
His Salary Minus the Average for State Government Workers	$86,000	-	$42,120	=	$43,880
His Salary Minus the Local Average for Private Sector Workers	$86,000	-	$42,380	=	$43,620

Frederick County Maryland Teachers: We Won't Work Off the Clock

March 20, 2012

Frederick News Post - Frederick County teachers are upset with budget decisions made by the Board of Education, and beginning March 30 will "work to the contract," according to Frederick County Teachers Association president Gary Brennan.

Brennan,Gary W

FCTA President

Hired: 08/28/86

Human Resources Administration

Salary: $86,420.00

Source: Frederick County Maryland Teacher Salaries (Search By Name)

They'll put in 100 percent during their seven-and-a-half hour workday to teach and grade papers, but they'll take a duty-free lunch, as the contract stipulates, he said.

Editor's Note: Most salaried professionals (like public school teachers) in the private sector work well over 40 hours per week without overtime pay, and they work 250 days per year versus the 195 days per year that public school teachers work.

Once their workday is up, teachers will go home to their families, leaving any papers left to be graded at school, since they are supposed to have time during the school day for grading, according to Brennan.

Brennan said the action centers around budget decisions made at the Feb. 22 board meeting where the board decided to put in a request for extra funding from county commissioners while balancing the budget by slashing the proposed salary resource pool for employee raises in half.

The budget also includes possible furlough days dependent upon negotiations and the reversal of a 1.5 percent salary adjustment in fiscal 2012, which was a one-time stipend.

"We feel that both the BoE and the county commissioners have not shown the commitment to public education that employees have," Brennan said.

The decision to implement a work-to-rule action was made unanimously March 8 by the union's representative assembly, which includes members from every school, according to Brennan.

The teachers association is asking all of its nearly 2,800 members to participate in the upcoming work-to-rule. Teachers are going to work to the spirit and letter of their contract, Brennan said.

The expectation during the action is that teachers will perform up to contract expectations, but it may take longer to assess student work and to get back to parents, as teachers will have to prioritize their core functions, he said.

"What they really want from the community and the elected officials is appreciation," he said.

Editor's Note: The generous salaries, benefits and retirement plans funded by the taxpayers obviously don't satisfy the public school teachers.

Ballenger Creek Elementary School will cancel its annual talent show because teachers volunteered their time for the event and were not compensated, according to a letter sent home to parents Friday.

There's probably a laundry list of similar situations in the county where after-school programs will need to be canceled, Brennan said.

He said this action is "horribly negative," but teachers have come to be taken for granted.

"It's not a positive thing, but what I hope comes from it is a recognition of how much educators in this county do to see children succeed," he said.

School Board President Angie Fish said she is not a proponent of work-to-rule because of the negative impact it has on children. She said the board is still advocating for additional funding from the commissioners after meeting their deadline to submit a balanced budget March 1.

"This is not a budget that we think is truly representative of what the school system needs," she said.

Fish said the proposed budget is based on what commissioners have agreed to fund, meeting the required maintenance of effort, but both boards are still waiting on funding numbers from the state and the result of possibly shifting a portion of teacher pensions to the county.

"There's still so many moving targets that the budget is far from final," she said.

Board of County Commissioners President Blaine Young said he was surprised and taken aback that teachers would take this action.

County commissioners "absolutely" respect teachers in Frederick County, but they also respect the taxpayers in terms of understanding the current economy, Young said. "That's often overlooked and taken for granted," he said.

Young said he is frustrated with the teachers association because they haven't brought forth any proposals to save money or find efficiencies to fund their requests.

"They want more money. That's all this is about," he said.

The last time county teachers posed a work to rule was in 2008, but that was only a partial action, according to Brennan. Teachers would work to the contract one day about every two weeks, he said.

The teachers association is at a point now where they need to take a clearer position, according to Brennan.

"The morale in the school system is as low as I've ever seen it," said Brennan, who has worked in the school system for 26 years.

The last work-to-the-contract action lasted about six months in 2008, but Brennan said he couldn't predict how long this will go on.

"I hope the board and county commissioners give us a reason for it to be an extremely short one," he said.

On That Whole “Teachers Work Long Hours During the School Year” Thing

February 25, 2011

Roxeanne de Luca, Haemet - In the Great Union Debacle of 2011, one of the things mentioned is that teachers work about 195 days a year, compared to the 250 days a year that are expected of workers in the private sector. Obviously, people trade time for money, and money for time, so it is expected that teachers will be paid a bit less for this. (Also, for any teachers with children, this is a huge bonus – the amount of money that they save on child care, summer camps, and babysitters is a huge benefit.)

Teachers usually respond that they work more than 40 hours a week when they are in class, and they have continuing education requirements, so they work the same amount of time as someone in the private sector.

To which I must reply… If teachers had to work at least one year in the private sector prior to being certified, we wouldn’t be having this debate. The only time that I had ever gotten away with a mere 40-hour workweek is when I’ve done temp work. (I worked as a receptionist while I studied for the bar – an idea I would heartily recommend to anyone who doesn’t feel like taking out yet more loans for that infernal exam.) Engineering intern – yes, intern - easily closing in on 60 hours a week some weeks. Legal intern? Billing 40 a week. Political work? Close to 80 in the weeks leading up to elections. Litigation? Life? what life? I look at my parents – in sales, banking, and as small business owners – and know that they pull in sixty or seventy a week on a regular basis.

Awww, poor babies, you sometimes have to work fifty hours a week, and maybe sixty a week when you’re in your first year or teaching a course for the first time? Try that every week, every year, for the rest of your life, which is totally normal in the private sector. People in the private sector do that every week, except for their two-week vacations every year. They work as long hours as you do, with a much less flexible schedule (no grading papers at home after the kids are in bed), and without three months off.

While any decent teacher works longer than 7:30 am to 2:30 pm, they do not work nearly as long hours as people do in the private sector, and their time is much more flexible. While I thoroughly respect the work that teachers do, and have done quite a bit of teaching (private sector and my own company) myself, I deeply resent the idea that teachers have in their heads that they are the only professionals out there who work more than forty hours a week.

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