Jackson Jambalaya

This is sad. $1500 a year is nothing after retirement contributions and taxes.

Then they are always free to find another line of work.

"Then they are always free to find another line of work."

So that's how you address the shortage of qualified teachers? Tell them to go get another job?

How do you think the children in this state will ever get out of last place, when you tell the qualified educators to just go somewhere else?

This is about more than just a pay raise for teachers. It's trying to keep the qualified teachers already working in the schools.

Don't they already get a small cost of living raise every year?

That's more than what most of us get....

I appreciate teachers and what they do, however- they all knew how much the job paid when they went into that profession.

When they were in college, they cut and pasted paper posters while other majors actually had to study.

So no, I don't think teachers should make as much as other professions.

If they aren't happy with salary, they can find another line of work.

If there is a legit shortage of teachers then the legislature should consider pay raises. They only do it now bc no elected official wants to piss off the teachers bc there are SO MANY of them that vote.

"When they were in college, they cut and pasted paper posters while other majors actually had to study."

Being married to a teacher, this is the most offensive thing I have ever read on this site. And that's saying something.

They also get 2 and a half months off each year where they are free to get jobs as tutors or anything else for that matter. Teachers know what they signed up for.

5:01 - you are an idiot! Are you saying that anybody - teachers included - would turn down a $1,500 pay raise because a portion of it would go to taxes and retirement? Besides the fact that the "retirement" portion is a benefit to the individual, albeit one that they will receive in the future, it is still a benefit that I personally would be glad to receive.

Taxes are a percentage of the income. Retirement is a percentage as well. If this is "nothing" because of these percentages, then it stands to reason that ANY salary would be nothing.

Give me a $1,500 pay raise - I'll be glad to pay the retirement and the taxes on it.

This is not a rant against the pay raise - I think this bill agreed to by the House/Senate is a good thing. But 5:01 sounds so much like a disgruntled state employee that thinks the benefits they receive are just entitlements.

Factoring in their PAID Spring Breaks, Easter Holidays, Thanksgiving Holidays, Christmas Holidays, Martin L. King Holiday-(I'm sure I'm leaving out some holiday) versus actual time worked aren't they actually paid more already?

""When they were in college, they cut and pasted paper posters while other majors actually had to study."

Being married to a teacher, this is the most offensive thing I have ever read on this site. And that's saying something. "

Then you're going to hate this unpleasant fact:

When I was attending what used to be a "Normal School", then became a "Teacher's College", then changed to a liberal arts whatever, some of us were in the Mathematics building taking Calculus I, II & III, then Quantitative Analysis, etc. Down the hall the El Ed majors were taking Algebra I BECAUSE SOME OF THEM DID NOT KNOW IT ALREADY.

8:35 am, Maybe " smart" people such as yourself ( sarcasm) would have gone into teaching if it PAID more!
Women who were bright but closed out of good paying jobs were key to the success of our educational system.
Now those women left for more pay or if dedicated to the profession, have left for private schools or community colleges.

Since you claim to have gone to " Normal " school, were you so unobservant that you didn't notice most of your male teachers also coached and longed to move into college coaching?

Were you so obtuse that you didn't know your teachers graded papers at night AT home and had to participate in your activities? Or did you think they wanted to be " advising" after school or going to the games because they couldn't think of anything more fun?

You needed to have spent some time cutting posters to develop the right side of your brain!


Some of us women who would have taught if not for the low paid and high aggravation made As in graduate level math and science courses and managed to make As in English and Art as well.

I left a " woman's profession" and am in the upper 1% and retired. My friends who stayed are still teaching.

Can you even color between the lines?

Thank you 10:06, the illiterate rednecks were waiting for your response. You didn't mention mo' guvmint, poltitics within the system, and a host of other factors. Now enters common core and charter schools. Whut muss' a po' teacher do? For sure, free information/advice is usually worth what you pay for it.

"5:01 - you are an idiot! "

I am the "idiot". I say this is sad because it is so LOW. Now go back to bed.

And 2 1/2 months off? What teacher gets that. They grade papers at night and on weekends, and have to take courses during the summer to even advance. They report to school the first week of August and end the last week of May.

Can you even color between the lines?

FTW

News flash, teachers! Bringing work home isn't a unique sacrifice. There are MANY private sector jobs that require work to be done at home as well as advancement certification being done on one's own time. For that matter, I know of state employees outside of the teaching profession that also bring work home. "But but but, teachers have to be there early in the morning". So do we!
"We have to take work home". So do we! And our offices don't "let out" at 3:00. We get 2-3 weeks off per year if we are lucky plus some holidays. Not saying teaching has it made, but enough already with the bitching and complaining. Bottom line, women decide to be teachers because they can be home with their children on nights, weekends, holidays, and summers. They do good work but the idolatry and worship that the teachers have come to expect is nauseating and insulting to those of us who work harder.

I always love an article like this because it shows just the level of contempt folks have for teachers. The assholes come out of the woodwork in droves to bash anyone who would be so brash as to ask to be paid as a professional.

I watch day in and day out as the same group of assholes bitch about how terrible our education system is and what a lousy job we're doing educating kids. It comes down to this: often, you pay for what you get.

Teachers are expected to go through college, get a professional certification, maintain it through CEUs, endure numerous changes to their way of life every time our legislature meets... and instead of paying them like every other professional (CPA, Doctor, Lawyer, Architect), we pay them like para-professionals (hair stylists) and treat them like dirt.

Ever wonder why we can't find folks to fill teaching positions? Because the pay is pretty awful for the work. That 'summers off' argument is long in the tooth because if you look at teachers in other states, they're paid better for the same work. By keeping the same low wages in comparison with neighboring states you're basically saying 'come to Mississippi if you absolutely can't get a job anywhere else or you were born here'.

We should demand incredibly difficult standards of our teachers, only the best and brightest should even attempt to enter the profession... but why do that when you can make more money starting as a CPA or an Attorney?

You want to get rid of terrible teachers? Create some f*ing supply by attracting best and brightest talent.

If you don't pay for top talent, you don't get top talent. In our state, education isn't something we truly value or the discussion wouldn't be 'don't they get summers off' it would be 'it's not enough to teach my children'.

Today, the level of stupidity of some of the commenters on this site amazed me, which after years of reading, is quite a feat.

@2:14- do you seriously think teachers who get a 4 year bachelors degree should make the same amount of money as a doctor?

2:14 Want to be paid like a CPA, doctor, lawyer, or architect? Work the hours and assume the professional risk. Bad doctors get sued. Bad lawyers get disbarred. Bad architects go out of business. Bad teachers? Get a raise when everyone else does.
For decades, the biggest indicator of a child's educational success has been linked to the amount of parental involvement. Increasing teacher pay across the board doesn't change that. Merit based pay is fair as that is how the real world generally operates.

"There are MANY private sector jobs that require work to be done at home as well as advancement certification being done on one's own time."

And those jobs pay ... how much?

@3:26- those jobs routinely require 60+ hour work weeks and employees are expected to check and respond to emails after hours and on weekends.

There's no comparison between a teacher and a CPA, doctor or lawyer. Or even a salesperson....

No job is perfect. You couldn't pay me enough to put up with a roomful of kids. That's why I didn't go into teaching!!!!

I wouldn't choose a profession (with historically lower wages) then complain that I don't get paid enough and expect to be paid the same as someone in a different profession.

3:26 I work as an ophthalmic technician in an eye doctor's office. Required to keep up COA certification on my own time (studying at night after my kids go to bed, taking tests online on weekends). I am paid hourly and make roughly $32,000 a year.

@2:14 -- No. But I think teachers should be paid as professionals, not as certified babysitters or paraprofessionals. I don't know any doctors who start out making 30k a year. If you want the best and the brightest, then you have to create an incentive to have more supply than demand.

Let's start them out at say... the starting pay of an RN.

@3:14 -- Good to know there are no shitty lawyers, doctors or architects because they've all been disbarred. Teachers encounter professional risk daily. Are you under the impression they have some sort of litigation immunity?

@4:52 -- Case in point.

Your profession requires a 2 year degree and a certification. You're paid more than a starting teacher in Mississippi who has a 4 year degree.

Cross your feet teachers! We only have 3 nails!

Just remember, the free market totally works, EXCEPT teacher pay is irrelevant. Funny little exception, that.

@8:23 --

What. What?

What's funny is that you think the government paying a salary set by law is the 'free market'. Bit of bullshit, that.

@ 7:29, to answer your question, no, they don't 'get a small cost of living raise every year'.

It's plain as the zit on your nose; Educators are not valued in this state. Some of you boobs think they are 'paid for holidays'. Some of you boobs think they go home at 3pm. Some of you boobs think they have three idle months off in the summer. Very few of you boobs could walk in a teacher's shoes for two weeks.

Did somebody say boobs?

I'm sure 11:52 above actually gets to go to the bathroom when they need to, also. Teachers can't. I'm sure 11:52 gets an hour lunchtime, too. Teachers don't. I'm sure 11:52 can go out for lunch or have a quiet few minutes. Teachers cannot. I'm sure if 11:52 takes off work for a vacation day, he gets paid. Teachers most of the time have to pay for their own substitutes. 11:52 probably doesn't have parents calling all hours of the evening to discuss their children. Teachers do.

Bless 11:52's heart. Stuck in a job they hate.

9:46, you ned to get out of teaching, since it sounds like you hate your job, too. Your complaints aren't about pay, they are about EVERYTHING. I am disappointed my taxes will be used to give you more salary, which may unfortunately encourage you to keep teaching.

Missing the point 9:46
I don't hate my job at all.
I'm just tired of teachers signing on for a job with clear expectations and then acting like their challenges are unique. In this economy no one is guaranteed a raise or even a job, at this point. People are being asked to take on additional responsibilities. And in the age of smart phones and 24 hour access via technology, you are never really "off the clock". Call/texts/emails come from management and clients in the evenings and early mornings. Lunches are often consumed at a desk or in the car between appointments. You are correct that I can go to the bathroom when necessary.
Again...not complaining...just pointing out that every job has similar challenges so stop acting like your problems are unique to the poor teachers.
Oh and I would be remiss if I didn't reciprocate with a bless your heart.

@11:18 - thanks, I needed that.

Oh, BTW, I am not a teacher. I don't understand why some of "you" think it's wrong to want something better, when you are stuck in a less than wonderful job. Where else is a teacher going to go when she is a mother with kids in school and can't take another job because she would have to put them in daycare until she gets off work?

Just bending over and taking it is the reason Mississippi teachers got in this mess. Wanting something more without giving up what they enjoy doing overall, actually helping children to learn, is not wrong.

Be blessed.

"Where else is a teacher going to go when she is a mother with kids in school and can't take another job because she would have to put them in daycare until she gets off work? "

Are you kidding? This is an issue every working mother faces. You should just stop now, you are not helping your cause.

Claire Underwood is sorely misinformed and in possession of very few facts. I started to call her a damned idiot but don't know her. 21 year old college graduates don't enter the education profession with any sort of full knowledge of what their salary will be four, five, ten, twenty years in the future. You're full of crap if you actually believe that.

No new entrant into the labor market fully understands the complexities of all that will be involved in regulating, overseeing and deciding on pay and benefits for state, county, municipal and school district employees.

These young people simply want to pursue a career they've prepared for for the last four to seven years. To think otherwise is idiotic.

PS: Since the speeches by William back in the 80s, college students have been told Mississippi supports education and supports teachers and respects the profession and we intend to fund the process going forward. They never realized Winter was a liar in a cheerleader uniform doing some sort of Thad Cochran Ole Miss cheer on the sidelines.

"Are you kidding? This is an issue every working mother faces. You should just stop now, you are not helping your cause. "

Nope, not kidding. If you are a current teacher, you have not had to pay daycare expenses as other working mothers have. To add that back onto expenses to take a similar job elsewhere is just another paycut.

Other working mothers who are not teachers, yes, they already have the expense. That's not what I am saying. Clear the fog, move on.

All I can say is, if you think the poor, little teachers dont make anything why dont you look at what state employees make.

They dont have a lobbying group getting them guaranteed pay raises, merit or otherwise.

BTW, the engineers over at DEQ are pissed because now teachers make more than them. So can we start talking about how much other state positions pay in neighboring states? Since thats so important.