Baltimore County Teachers Out of Touch With Community
Baltimore County Teachers are in no position to be asking for raises when everyone is facing tough financial decisions and the county government is doing what it call not to furlough workers including teachers. The bottom line is, would county teachers rather keep jobs or get a raise? The truth is, most teachers will be getting raises anyway. Each year of seniority for years 1-15 provide a pay step increase. More senior teachers get steps every five years. With each advancement in degrees, 30 graduate credits, 60, and 90 up to PhD equivalent, teachers also get raises. Now this kind of advancement is the kind of advancement the public can appreciate the value of teachers receiving.
That the local teachers association called for a job action last year because the county could not afford raises for its teachers shows the kind of chutzpah, insensitivity, and out of touch from reality the rank-in-file mentality in the profession has created.
While teachers go to work each morning, they face students who might have a parent who just got laid off, perhaps faced a mortgage foreclosure, or had to make some other serious adjustments due to hard economic times. Sample the population of any classroom and see how many of the students’ parents got pay raises for nothing more than just showing up for work each day without having to demonstrate some special contribution to the company or employer. In many occupations, there are no pay raises what-so-ever aside from for the accomplishments of the employee being able to contribute to the employer’s bottom line. While even many politically liberal see the need for performance based pay for teachers, any suggestion of “merit” pay is not subject to consideration by any NEA shop such as Baltimore County.
Few would argue the teachers who accomplish the most for our children deserve tangible compensation worthy of their efforts, but those who are part of the rising tide of mediocrity, have no voice in this dialog. We should hope that schools find better ways to develop their talent to achieve good results and see to it that the teachers who truly are not doing their jobs and not driven out for their lack of conformity to the insane political climate that exists in public schools are promptly removed from service.
The public should take a look at the county school’s pay scale before they jump to the conclusion that teachers, in general, are not paid enough. Here’s the pay scale for 10 month teachers. Keep in mind, teachers receive a fully funded state pension, complete health insurance including vision and dental coverage, and tuition reimbursement for their advanced degrees.
PAY SCALE:
http://www.bcps.org/offices/payroll/pdf/scales/TABCO-10-Month-Payscale.pdf
ARTICLE FROM BALITIMORE SUN:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-md.co.schools11jan11,0,1372028.story
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