Spare_change
Gold Member
- Jun 27, 2011
- 8,690
- 1,293
- 280
The American Federation of Teachers pays its chief executive $360,000 each year and spent $19,499,848 in membership dues to influence elections in 2014 alone. However, a just-released national survey shows rank-and-file members are deeply unhappy — with stress levels, working conditions, government insistence that students learn more and much else.
The union has responded to the gloom among its constituents by asking the federal government to intervene with a formal study of how difficult and hazardous it is to be a schoolteacher.
The survey of over 30,000 teachers and school administrators was released on Tuesday by the American Federation of Teachers and a group called the Badass Teachers, according to a press release sent to The Daily Caller.
The dire results show that just one in five of the teachers and administrators who completed the 80-question survey believe government officials and members of the media sufficiently respect them.
Almost 95 percent of teachers say they “often” or “sometimes” find teaching stressful. (The “often” figure is 70 percent.) Almost 80 percent say they feel emotionally and physically exhausted at the end of their workdays — which make up approximately 75 percent of each year.
Almost 60 percent of the survey takers complain that their jobs interfere with quality family time on at least some occasions.
Less than 15 percent say they strongly agree with the statement that they trust their bosses.
Over 75 percent claim there are not enough people on staff to get all the necessary work at their schools done.
Union officials say the voluntary, online survey conducted during the last third of April shows the need for “a scientific study” conducted at taxpayer expense by the Department of Education.
“Right now in classrooms across the country, they are facing incredible challenges from stress, from standardized testing, from being thrown lots of requirements where they don’t have the time or the tools to actually implement,” AFT president Randi Weingarten told the Chicago Sun-Times and other media outlets during a Tuesday afternoon telephone press conference.
She also criticized “higher class sizes that have not been reduced since the recession.”
Weingarten, a frequent critic of economic inequality, makes at least $360,000 per year. This salary puts her squarely in the top 1 percent of all Americans.
She brings home $30,000 each month — or about $7,500 per week, or $1,500 per workday.
By way of comparison, a typical American elementary school teacher earns $56,130 annually.
Along with the National Education, Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers is among the biggest of all spenders on U.S. elections.
The $19,499,848 the AFT spent in 2014 included $2,089,720 the union contributed directly to candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Just $21,000 — 0.01 percent — went to Republicans.
The top recipient of the teachers union’s cash was its very own 527 group, AFT Solidarity, which received $13,300,173.
Other groups receiving AFT money include EMILY’s List Non-Federal and American Bridge 21st Century. EMILY’s List is a group dedicated to expanding abortion rights. American Bridge 21st Century specializes in digging dirt on Republican candidates for the benefit of Democratic candidates.
The union has responded to the gloom among its constituents by asking the federal government to intervene with a formal study of how difficult and hazardous it is to be a schoolteacher.
The survey of over 30,000 teachers and school administrators was released on Tuesday by the American Federation of Teachers and a group called the Badass Teachers, according to a press release sent to The Daily Caller.
The dire results show that just one in five of the teachers and administrators who completed the 80-question survey believe government officials and members of the media sufficiently respect them.
Almost 95 percent of teachers say they “often” or “sometimes” find teaching stressful. (The “often” figure is 70 percent.) Almost 80 percent say they feel emotionally and physically exhausted at the end of their workdays — which make up approximately 75 percent of each year.
Almost 60 percent of the survey takers complain that their jobs interfere with quality family time on at least some occasions.
Less than 15 percent say they strongly agree with the statement that they trust their bosses.
Over 75 percent claim there are not enough people on staff to get all the necessary work at their schools done.
Union officials say the voluntary, online survey conducted during the last third of April shows the need for “a scientific study” conducted at taxpayer expense by the Department of Education.
“Right now in classrooms across the country, they are facing incredible challenges from stress, from standardized testing, from being thrown lots of requirements where they don’t have the time or the tools to actually implement,” AFT president Randi Weingarten told the Chicago Sun-Times and other media outlets during a Tuesday afternoon telephone press conference.
She also criticized “higher class sizes that have not been reduced since the recession.”
Weingarten, a frequent critic of economic inequality, makes at least $360,000 per year. This salary puts her squarely in the top 1 percent of all Americans.
She brings home $30,000 each month — or about $7,500 per week, or $1,500 per workday.
By way of comparison, a typical American elementary school teacher earns $56,130 annually.
Along with the National Education, Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers is among the biggest of all spenders on U.S. elections.
The $19,499,848 the AFT spent in 2014 included $2,089,720 the union contributed directly to candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Just $21,000 — 0.01 percent — went to Republicans.
The top recipient of the teachers union’s cash was its very own 527 group, AFT Solidarity, which received $13,300,173.
Other groups receiving AFT money include EMILY’s List Non-Federal and American Bridge 21st Century. EMILY’s List is a group dedicated to expanding abortion rights. American Bridge 21st Century specializes in digging dirt on Republican candidates for the benefit of Democratic candidates.
