- Aug 16, 2011
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Average pay in the state is $50k. Teachers make $70k. Police make $47k. Doctors make $100k. CEO's make $100k.
I understand defending your profession, but you are mistaken when it comes to my local. We give half a trillion dollars to the school district every year - They just told us they have a $15M budget gap right now, despite us giving them an extra $7M in the annual budget. They also over spent last years budget by $8M.
Teachers make $70,000 where?
I have been a teacher for over 20 years and I barely make $52K.
That's nice, you're clearly not in Alaska. Also, kudos you got me. I'd just gotten up and used the wrong word heh
Anyway, don't base the entire nation on your little world because it's absolutely irrelevant to mine.
First link I find on a bing search for Alaska teachers is from 2013-2014 and it's $65k - Alaska Teacher Salary | Teaching Salaries in AK | Teacher Portal
My info of $70k (knowing the way Alaskan's talk, rounding and shit, and given the above fact, it's likely $68-69K) came from the local news talking about the Anchorage School Districts budget deficit. We're having our annual row with them because they're threatening to fire 99 of our 1400 teachers because they're $15M short on their budget /yet again/ this year - a common tactic for our teachers union to use the firing of teachers as a threat whenever we try to get them to fix their damn budget. They always tell us that there is not a single admin/specialist position can be gotten rid of first, not a single expense can be cut down on, nope, its always straight to the threat of "we'll have to fire TONS of teachers." (Not that its even particularly a 'disaster' as we've put a ton of money into education funding so we could keep our class sizes down, as noted in my link 13 students per teacher. Still it pisses us tax payers off that cutting teachers and directly effecting our kids as punishment is /always/ their answer if we say we can't give them the $8-10 million /more/ they demand over what we give them [usually at least an additional $5M or so] in their budget. Every. Single. Year.)
This year it's particularly onerous because the state of Alaska has a $1.5T budget gap due to low oil prices and we've been forced to trim down /everything/ in order to make the budget solvent - to include us tax payers literally DYING on the streets because we had no choice but to cut road maintenance (the ruts are so bad on Tudor right now with the ice that the state and muni are instructing us not to use that lane [super icy right now due to the last pineapple express from Hawaii] just the other day a lady got flung into oncoming traffic and died,) and we've offered freely to pay a $0.75-$2.00/gallon tax on gas (we figure that we were paying $4-$5/gallon a couple years ago so we'll be okay to pay more now so we don't have to dip into our state budget reserve savings,) we're also talking about and agreeing that maybe we should instate an income tax for the first time in our history. -- We Alaskan's are not like lower 48er's. We truly want a balanced budget, we do not want nor like to spend more then we make as a state, and we are willing to pay more for the services we need/want (ie why Alaska has never had an income tax, we balance our budgets hell or high water, but frankly ACA is murdering us) - anyway this principle (right word heh) goes for the schools as well, however the unions, and the ASD in particular, are basically nothing more than a bunch of greedy thugs who blow money out their ass and don't want to be solvent on /anything/ (aka they act like lower 48ers heh)
See also - Earn More! Average Teacher Salary in Alaska, AK Teaching Salaries
The average teacher salary in Alaska was significantly higher than the national average for both 2008 and 2009. The national averages were $49,720 in 2009 and $48,353 in 2008. Teaching salaries in Alaska were $66,560 in 2009 and $56,655 in 2008.
From 2007 to 2008, teacher salary in Alaska rose by a small .42%, but from 2008 to 2009, there was an astonishing 17.48 percent increase. The average teacher salary in Alaska jumped from $56,655 to $66,560 from 2008 to 2009. This increase in 2009 resulted in a 17.98 percent increase in a two-year period.
Teacher salaries in Alaska went down in the national ranking between 2007 and 2008 from number 6 to number 8. Then, in 2009 teaching salaries in Alaska exploded to the number three ranking in the nation.
State Spending on Teachers
Salary expenditure on all teachers (including home schoolers, special education, non-certified teachers): $578,916,138
Benefits expenditures for teachers: $412,554,779
Instructional expenditures for teaching supplies: $57,778,645
Total current instructional expenditures per student (teacher salary and curriculum): $13,113
Total current expenditures per student: $25,033
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Yea we tried to make a no strike law back in the early 80's but the supreme came back that it violates our State Constitution so we can't do it. The best we can do is arbitration (during which the union just flips us the bird and says "guess we'll fire all the teachers." ~fake tears~)
"Thus, I conclude that the exclusion of the teachers from the strike and arbitration provisions of AS 23.40.200 violates the equal protection clause of Alaska's constitution." - http://www.leagle.com/decision/19821641648P2d993_11627/ANCHORAGE EDUC. ASS'N v. ANCHORAGE SCH. DIST.
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Do also keep in mind that Murkowski is bought and paid for by the teachers unions, so no we can't get fucking shit for laws passed to control our teachers unions, they are too damn big to stop.
"FAIRBANKS — The National Education Association — the largest teachers union in the United States — endorsed Sen. Lisa Murkowski in her re-election bid on Monday.
Murkowski is the senior of Alaska’s two sitting U.S. Senators, along with Dan Sullivan. A Republican, Murkowski has served in the U.S. Senate since 2002, when she was appointed by her father, then-Gov. Frank Murkowski.
The National Education Association endorsed Murkowski over her several opponents, including Democrat Ray Metcalfe and non-affiliated candidate Margaret Stock.
Tim Parker, president of NEA-Alaska, the state branch of the national organization, said Murkowski has been an ally of education and of teachers in Alaska during her 14 years in the Senate." - National teachers union endorses Murkowski
"Murkowski received a 100 percent rating on a 2012 NEA Report Card, while Collins received a 75 percent rating—the only Republicans to earn marks above 50 percent from the group. Each senator has earned straight-A marks from the union since 2014.
Murkowski has long been a favorite of teachers unions. She was one of only four Republican senators to receive contributions from the NEA in 2016, hauling in $10,000, while the other three Republicans received only $3,200. She received the NEA's endorsement in 2010 when she won as an independent candidate after losing the GOP primary, and received it again in 2016. - GOP Defectors Have Received Thousands From Teachers Union [Murkowski, Collins]
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As I previously mentioned in this thread, a shit-ton of Alaskan's just vote a straight R ticket because they don't have time to keep up on political shit due to the unique nature of Alaska (with folks working 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, or 6months on 6months off, out on the ocean or in the bush for half the year, etc. It can also be said there is an information deficiency as far as day-to-day politics go, a large chunk of our state barely has radio, much less tvs or newspapers that carry state or national news heh)
Basically we have a bit of a weird political system up here, nothing like the lower 48s. Up here grass roots is the only way to beat out incumbents, it's why Murkowski ran one of the most successful write-in campaigns in national history. ("In 2010 incumbent Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski lost the Republican primary to Joe Miller.[Independent] Following her defeat she ran in the general election as a write-in candidate. Murkowski had filed, and won, a lawsuit requiring election officials to have the list of names of write-in candidates distributed at the polls, and subsequently won the election with a wide enough margin over both Miller, and Democratic Party candidate Scott T. McAdams, to make moot the write-in ballots that had been challenged by Miller.")
The simple act of taking a trip to wave at the people and say the right things that one time goes a /long/ way up here. I'll also note she's not the only politician we have the 'straight R ticket vote' problem with, Walker rides the same train. It's how we ended up just handing over fucking $2m to the oil companies who have been raping us since the 70s heh
One of the tricks they use....threaten teachers are going to be fired, as new teachers then put out resumes before the end of the year......they tried that one on us years ago...the thing is...all new, first and second year teachers put out feelers for jobs because they don't know if they are coming back the next year anyway.......and then the budget for the year comes through and they keep their jobs...but they are used to show that teachers will be cut...when it is just the usual thing teachers do...new teachers without their tenure ......which they get in 2-3 years, then can't be fired if they suck...
"Can't "?
????
It is almost impossible and costs a lot of money to fire a bad teacher who has tenure.
That's not true.
