Are Wisconsin’s Public Employees Overpaid?

[edthecynic]

Sorry for the mistake.

I should have placed Walker in the top 10% of earners based on his salary.

I'm not aware of any additional income he may receive.

Actually, if you use the same kind of phony benefits number the CON$ervative Brotherhood used for teachers, he would be well above the top 5% and very close to the top 1%.

 

[georgephillip]

Unfortunately, my carelessness completely obscured my point about the richest 1%, with help from their Republican AND Democrat handmaidens, inflating and then collapsing an $8 trillion housing bubble.

Do you have any idea why conservatives have some of the best BS detectors going when it comes to sniffing out government scams, yet seem completely clueless about class war?

 

[AmericanFirst]

every states' employees are overpaid. people aren't in the mood for being sympathetic to well paid teachers whining about being well paid, with vacations and summers off and a phat benny package. teachers can speak for themselves, they don't need to be exploited by the union. fire the crummy teachers, bag the union, everybody's a winner except the teacher duds and the union leaders. this has nothing to do with egypt or bahrain, i wish it did.

Were all you right wingers 'present counters' at Christmas? American teachers are not overpaid.

Teacher Pay Around the World

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released a trove of fascinating statistics on education around the world on Tuesday. Given increasing interest in how well the American education system is preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s economy, let’s look at how measures of United States education stack up alongside the systems of our peer countries.

First let’s look at teachers. Compared to other developed countries, in the United States teachers generally spend more time teaching but apparently without an equivalent advantage in pay.

American teachers spend on average 1,080 hours teaching each year. Across the O.E.C.D., the average is 794 hours on primary education, 709 hours on lower secondary education, and 653 hours on upper secondary education general programs.

American teachers’ pay is more middling. The average public primary-school teacher who has worked 15 years and has received the minimum amount of training, for example, earns $43,633, compared to the O.E.C.D. average of $39,007.

Comparing each country’s teacher salaries to the wealth of that country makes United States educational salaries appear lower. In the United States, a teacher with 15 years of experience makes a salary that is 96 percent of the country’s gross domestic product per capita. Across the O.E.C.D., a teacher of equivalent experience makes 117 percent of G.D.P. per capita. At the high end of the scale, in Korea, the average teacher at this level makes a full 221 percent of the country’s G.D.P. per capita.

On the aaverage wisconsins teachers make 100,00 dollars a year. They can afford to pay a little for their health insurance premiums They can stop crying and go back to work. Speaking of work, if I was the Gov. I would make them make up every day they kept the schools closed so they could protest.

 

[WorldWatcher]

On the aaverage wisconsins teachers make 100,00 dollars a year. They can afford to pay a little for their health insurance premiums.

Actually the average starting teacher salary in Wisconsin is $25,222 and the average teacher salary is $46,390.



Wisconsin Teacher Salary | Teaching Salaries in WI: $46,390



>>>>

 

[AmericanFirst]

Are Public Employees Overpaid?

Governor Walker has said that the labor changes are necessary because Wisconsin’s local and state employees haven’t made the same sacrifices during the Great Recession as private sector workers.

Walker glossed over the fact that state employees had eight unpaid furlough days in 2009 and 2010, which saved the state $121 million, and their wages have been flat for years.

He also forgot to mention that when he was Milwaukee County executive, members of the largest county employee union took 26 unpaid furlough days in 2010, or one unpaid day off for every two-week pay period—a 10% pay cut. They’ll have 26 unpaid days off this year, too, as a result of Walker’s final county budget. (The employees at the Shepherd Express, a private sector company, did not have any wage decreases or forced furlough days.)

Walker’s Renewed War on Workers

"Teachers are givers in a world dominated by takers, and they're also sharers. This collaborative instinct makes our profession unlike any other."
Barbara Keshishian

Scott Walker's $144,423 per year salary as governor places him in the richest 1% of all US earners. The same economic class that benefited most from the inflation and collapse of an $8 trillion housing bubble in 2007-08.

That collapse and the subsequent rise in unemployment coupled with the decline of consumer purchasing power and state and local tax revenue is why corporate whores like Scott Walker were put in office.

To serve the Koch brothers and other assorted parasites who have increased their share of national wealth by two percent since the housing bubble burst.

It won't stop by "choosing" between Republican OR Democrat in 2012.

False. The top 1% for 2008 was over $380,000. $144K doesn't even make it into the top 5%.

The Tax Foundation - Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data

Of course it's false. Another dimwit lie.

 

[georgephillip]

Another dimwit mistake, actually.

Do you blame Wall Street or Government for the collapse of the housing bubble?

 

[Samson]

On the aaverage wisconsins teachers make 100,00 dollars a year. They can afford to pay a little for their health insurance premiums.

Actually the average starting teacher salary in Wisconsin is $25,222 and the average teacher salary is $46,390.



Wisconsin Teacher Salary | Teaching Salaries in WI: $46,390



>>>>

Thanks for that link.

Here's another:

Texas Teacher Salary | Teaching Salaries in TX: $41,744

Texas outlaws collective bargaining by teacher unions....

Yet the starting salaries are HIGHER than WI

Starting Salary: $33,775

And there's not that much difference in the average annual salary

Average Salary: $41,744

Why do you suppose this might be?

Could it be that Teacher Unions do not support new members.....why, not?

 

[asterism]

Unfortunately, my carelessness completely obscured my point about the richest 1%, with help from their Republican AND Democrat handmaidens, inflating and then collapsing an $8 trillion housing bubble.

Do you have any idea why conservatives have some of the best BS detectors going when it comes to sniffing out government scams, yet seem completely clueless about class war?

Another illustration of your carelessness. Solve this one on your own.

 

[asterism]

Another dimwit mistake, actually.

Do you blame Wall Street or Government for the collapse of the housing bubble?

I blame people making poor financial choices and I blame the education system for enabling it. I also blame human nature and see boom and bust cycles as part of the human fabric. I blame all those progressives who advocated all sorts of expensive measures with the express intent of preventing this in the first place.

Lastly, I blame everyone taking advantage of this crisis to prove their ideology. That's you, by the way.

 

[asterism]

On the aaverage wisconsins teachers make 100,00 dollars a year. They can afford to pay a little for their health insurance premiums.

Actually the average starting teacher salary in Wisconsin is $25,222 and the average teacher salary is $46,390.



Wisconsin Teacher Salary | Teaching Salaries in WI: $46,390



>>>>

Thanks for that link.

Here's another:

Texas Teacher Salary | Teaching Salaries in TX: $41,744

Texas outlaws collective bargaining by teacher unions....

Yet the starting salaries are HIGHER than WI

Starting Salary: $33,775

And there's not that much difference in the average annual salary

Average Salary: $41,744

Why do you suppose this might be?

Could it be that Teacher Unions do not support new members.....why, not?

$33K is decent for a recent grad with no special skills. That the average is so low and the upper end is so low shows the "benefit" of the current school system.

The bottom rung should make somewhere around twice the minimum wage and the top rung should make something around $250K. There should be an easy path up and down that scale as well as a means to get rid of bottom performers without regard to their own personal situations. That's how we could best attract the best teachers and keep them.

But apparently I don't know enough about this since I'm not a "teacher." Oh I teach people every day (even teachers sometimes) but I'm not handcuffed by some national organization that has decided to play political football with my career. I also don't believe my own press releases with regards to reality. My customers set my pay. Schools should operate on the same concept.

 

[WorldWatcher]

On the aaverage wisconsins teachers make 100,00 dollars a year. They can afford to pay a little for their health insurance premiums.

Actually the average starting teacher salary in Wisconsin is $25,222 and the average teacher salary is $46,390.



Wisconsin Teacher Salary | Teaching Salaries in WI: $46,390



>>>>

Thanks for that link.

Here's another:

Texas Teacher Salary | Teaching Salaries in TX: $41,744

Texas outlaws collective bargaining by teacher unions....

Yet the starting salaries are HIGHER than WI

Starting Salary: $33,775

And there's not that much difference in the average annual salary

Average Salary: $41,744

Why do you suppose this might be?

Could it be that Teacher Unions do not support new members.....why, not?

I live in Virginia, Teacher Portal lists are average starting salary as $33,200 and the average teacher salary as $43,823

I work in HR for our school system and our starting salary is $38,500 and out max salary is $61,000. It's interesting to note that half-way up the pay scale is $49,750 and our steps range from 0 years experience to 34 years, yet it takes 22 years to reach the half-way point in the range. Also interesting is that we have about 1,500 teachers, of those 1,000 have less than 10-years of experience. That makes our average teacher salary about $43,000. People see other people throwing the term "average salary" around and in their minds they apply that figure to all people in that category, when in fact there are usually many more making less than that amount because typically step increases are based on a percentage change. As people go higher up the scale the same percentage results in a higher dollar amount between steps.


Now I'm not a comp analyst but the truth is that comparisons between States are pretty useless because they never compare apples-to-apples. There are a lot of factors that drive salaries including variations in cost of living (food, rent, energy, etc...), availability of qualified labor, level of taxation, even weather.



>>>>

 

[asterism]

Actually the average starting teacher salary in Wisconsin is $25,222 and the average teacher salary is $46,390.



Wisconsin Teacher Salary | Teaching Salaries in WI: $46,390



>>>>

Thanks for that link.

Here's another:

Texas Teacher Salary | Teaching Salaries in TX: $41,744

Texas outlaws collective bargaining by teacher unions....

Yet the starting salaries are HIGHER than WI

Starting Salary: $33,775

And there's not that much difference in the average annual salary

Average Salary: $41,744

Why do you suppose this might be?

Could it be that Teacher Unions do not support new members.....why, not?

I live in Virginia, Teacher Portal lists are average starting salary as $33,200 and the average teacher salary as $43,823

I work in HR for our school system and our starting salary is $38,500 and out max salary is $61,000. It's interesting to note that half-way up the pay scale is $49,750 and our steps range from 0 years experience to 34 years, yet it takes 22 years to reach the half-way point in the range. Also interesting is that we have about 1,500 teachers, of those 1,000 have less than 10-years of experience. That makes our average teacher salary about $43,000. People see other people throwing the term "average salary" around and in their minds they apply that figure to all people in that category, when in fact there are usually many more making less than that amount because typically step increases are based on a percentage change. As people go higher up the scale the same percentage results in a higher dollar amount between steps.


Now I'm not a comp analyst but the truth is that comparisons between States are pretty useless because they never compare apples-to-apples. There are a lot of factors that drive salaries including variations in cost of living (food, rent, energy, etc...), availability of qualified labor, level of taxation, even weather.



>>>>

Cut the starting pay to $20K and let anyone who passes a background check and test of 6th grade concepts teach elementary school. It beats the wrestling coach with a degree in Sports Management teaching Algebra. Then give the school's parents discretion over the rest of the total teacher budget and let the parents choose who gets how much extra money.

You'll find out real quick who can teach and who can't.

 

[JFK_USA]

The problem with what the governor has done is that he is literally pulling the rug out from under people whose own personal budgets have depended on what they earn NOW. There's undoubtedly room for cuts, but not before honest negotiation takes place, just as it has in many other states. You don't just start DICTATING something that will drastically and immediately affect the income people have come to rely upon.

It's Walker's attitude that needs adjusting, not public payrolls.

I agree with this. His attitude to democrats and unions piss me off the most. I mean he says he doesn't want to have unions hampering the budget but then wants the government to hamper the unions. It's called negotiations, you meet in the middle. Not you always get your way. He needs to be gone ASAP

 

[asterism]

The problem with what the governor has done is that he is literally pulling the rug out from under people whose own personal budgets have depended on what they earn NOW. There's undoubtedly room for cuts, but not before honest negotiation takes place, just as it has in many other states. You don't just start DICTATING something that will drastically and immediately affect the income people have come to rely upon.

It's Walker's attitude that needs adjusting, not public payrolls.

I agree with this. His attitude to democrats and unions piss me off the most. I mean he says he doesn't want to have unions hampering the budget but then wants the government to hamper the unions. It's called negotiations, you meet in the middle. Not you always get your way. He needs to be gone ASAP

How does one meet in the middle between not enough money and not enough money? Where is the middle ground?

 

[WorldWatcher]

Cut the starting pay to $20K and let anyone who passes a background check and test of 6th grade concepts teach elementary school. It beats the wrestling coach with a degree in Sports Management teaching Algebra. Then give the school's parents discretion over the rest of the total teacher budget and let the parents choose who gets how much extra money.

You'll find out real quick who can teach and who can't.

Well I can't speek for the level of qualifications you appear to desire in teachers teaching your children, but in Virginia we have standards.

For example to teach mathematics at the secondary level a person must complete the following...

1. Graduated from an approved teacher preparation program in mathematics; or
2. Completed a major in mathematics or 36 semester hours of coursework
distributed in each of the following areas:

a. Algebra – Experience shall include linear (matrices, vectors, and linear
transformations) and abstract algebra (ring, group, and field theory). A
college or university may integrate the competencies within specified
coursework and document the completion of these competencies;
b. Geometry – Experience shall include Euclidean and non-Euclidean
geometries;
c. Analytic geometry;
d. Probability and statistics;
e. Discrete mathematics – Experience shall include the study of
mathematical properties of finite sets and systems and linear
programming;
f. Computer science – Experience shall include computer programming;
and
g. Calculus – Experience shall include multivariable calculus.​

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching/licensure/licensure_regs.pdf​

There is nothing wrong with majoring in sports medicine, but if you want to teach mathematics you also have the other coursework required to develop a mastery of mathematics.



>>>>

 

[asterism]

Cut the starting pay to $20K and let anyone who passes a background check and test of 6th grade concepts teach elementary school. It beats the wrestling coach with a degree in Sports Management teaching Algebra. Then give the school's parents discretion over the rest of the total teacher budget and let the parents choose who gets how much extra money.

You'll find out real quick who can teach and who can't.

Well I can't speek for the level of qualifications you appear to desire in teachers teaching your children, but in Virginia we have standards.

So do I. Anyone that has mastered the complexities of 6th grade Math, Composition, and Science is far above the norm of what I've seen in most lementary school teachers these days. Long division isn't hard folks. There is no reason to ever have a special seminar on how to do long division. There is also never any reason why an elementary school teacher should need to be taught how to balance a checkbook. That's simple 2nd grade Math.

For example to teach mathematics at the secondary level a person must complete the following...

Check the parameters again.

1. Graduated from an approved teacher preparation program in mathematics; or
2. Completed a major in mathematics or 36 semester hours of coursework
distributed in each of the following areas:

a. Algebra – Experience shall include linear (matrices, vectors, and linear
transformations) and abstract algebra (ring, group, and field theory). A
college or university may integrate the competencies within specified
coursework and document the completion of these competencies;
b. Geometry – Experience shall include Euclidean and non-Euclidean
geometries;
c. Analytic geometry;
d. Probability and statistics;
e. Discrete mathematics – Experience shall include the study of
mathematical properties of finite sets and systems and linear
programming;
f. Computer science – Experience shall include computer programming;
and
g. Calculus – Experience shall include multivariable calculus.​

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching/licensure/licensure_regs.pdf​

There is nothing wrong with majoring in sports medicine, but if you want to teach mathematics you also have the other coursework required to develop a mastery of mathematics.

I'm aware of the standards we're told are required, but as it turns out the coaches still teach Math and Biology with absolutely no clue. The elementary English teacher at the school closest to my house has a degree in Social Work and failed her own test when challenged. Then we should at some point figure out why people who know things aren't necessarily the best teachers.

 

[WorldWatcher]

For example to teach mathematics at the secondary level a person must complete the following...

Check the parameters again.

Your parameter was a Sports Medicine major teaching algebra.

It can happen, but they will have the prerequisites for the mathematics endorsement.

1. Graduated from an approved teacher preparation program in mathematics; or
2. Completed a major in mathematics or 36 semester hours of coursework
distributed in each of the following areas:

a. Algebra – Experience shall include linear (matrices, vectors, and linear
transformations) and abstract algebra (ring, group, and field theory). A
college or university may integrate the competencies within specified
coursework and document the completion of these competencies;
b. Geometry – Experience shall include Euclidean and non-Euclidean
geometries;
c. Analytic geometry;
d. Probability and statistics;
e. Discrete mathematics – Experience shall include the study of
mathematical properties of finite sets and systems and linear
programming;
f. Computer science – Experience shall include computer programming;
and
g. Calculus – Experience shall include multivariable calculus.​

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching/licensure/licensure_regs.pdf​

There is nothing wrong with majoring in sports medicine, but if you want to teach mathematics you also have the other coursework required to develop a mastery of mathematics.

I'm aware of the standards we're told are required, but as it turns out the coaches still teach Math and Biology with absolutely no clue.

Not in our schools. If a coach teaches a core class, they must carry the license and endorsement to teach the class or - well - they don't teach the class.

See as part of No Child Left Behind we have to report each teacher and the classes they teach to the State DOE, DOE then compares the course with the licensure status of the teacher to determine if they are Highly Qualified. Failure to have Highly Qualified teachers teaching core classes can impact our accreditation.


>>>>

 

[Political Junky]

Milwaukee County must offer to reinstate courthouse security guards - JSOnline

Milwaukee County must offer to reinstate 26 courthouse security guards who were laid off nearly a year ago when then-County Executive Scott Walker replaced them with private guards as an emergency budget measure, according to an arbitrator's decision issued Monday.

Walker was sworn in as governor last week.

The county did not have a true budget crisis at the time and county officials failed to give the union representing the security guards an opportunity to make some alternative cost-saving proposals before laying them off, according to the decision from arbitrator Amedeo Greco.

Greco's ruling also said the $125,000 annual savings from privatizing the courthouse security estimated by county officials was overstated by nearly $53,000.

"It's another example here of penny-wise, pound-foolish," said Patricia Yunk, policy director for District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. She said Walker's emergency outsourcing move of courthouse security was an example of how his strategy of punishing unions that failed to agree to concessions went awry. <more>

 

[JFK_USA]

Milwaukee County must offer to reinstate courthouse security guards - JSOnline

Milwaukee County must offer to reinstate 26 courthouse security guards who were laid off nearly a year ago when then-County Executive Scott Walker replaced them with private guards as an emergency budget measure, according to an arbitrator's decision issued Monday.

Walker was sworn in as governor last week.

The county did not have a true budget crisis at the time and county officials failed to give the union representing the security guards an opportunity to make some alternative cost-saving proposals before laying them off, according to the decision from arbitrator Amedeo Greco.

Greco's ruling also said the $125,000 annual savings from privatizing the courthouse security estimated by county officials was overstated by nearly $53,000.

"It's another example here of penny-wise, pound-foolish," said Patricia Yunk, policy director for District Council 48 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. She said Walker's emergency outsourcing move of courthouse security was an example of how his strategy of punishing unions that failed to agree to concessions went awry. <more>

This dude is beyond retarded. He will be gone at least in 2014 if not earlier.

 

[georgephillip]

Another dimwit mistake, actually.

Do you blame Wall Street or Government for the collapse of the housing bubble?

I blame people making poor financial choices and I blame the education system for enabling it. I also blame human nature and see boom and bust cycles as part of the human fabric. I blame all those progressives who advocated all sorts of expensive measures with the express intent of preventing this in the first place.

Lastly, I blame everyone taking advantage of this crisis to prove their ideology. That's you, by the way.

Do you blame Scott Walker for signing off on $117 million in corporate tax breaks while Wisconsin's immediate budget shortfall is $137 million?

Do you blame Republicans or Democrats for extending the Bush tax cuts with the clear intent of extending them for the next ten years at a cost of $900 billion?

Who gets credit for concentrating more and more of the nation's wealth and income within the richest 1% of the population?

Wisconsin's teachers?

Or the Koch brothers and their political hacks like Scott Walker?

Shutdowns and Showdowns