Teachers Salary
:_rofl: You make it sound as if I am Dr. Claw and all teachers are Inspector Gadget....
LOL, I recalled a thread on teacher salaries earlier this year and decided to look it up. Whaddya know, Ridgeben is active on that thread too!!:scratch:
I agree with much of what you say, this is an issue that must be important to you, as it should be to most.
I am a firefighter, and belong to a union with a pay scale that only rewards seniority (unless you go to the dark side of supervisory positions...:no: ). I am happy to be realtively secure in my position, yet, I sometimes find myself wondering why I put in extra time on projects, etc. when I know I will never get a raise because of my effort.
My wife got her degree in Elementary Education, but was turned off to the profession during her student teaching due to the politics involved. She reported an obvious case of child neglect, and was confronted by the parent of the child the next week. (So much for confidentiality!!!)
Then that spring, the teachers union went on strike and kind of "showed their backsides" if you know what I mean. She has since let her certification expire and has no interest in returning.
The University in our city has a large, and very good education program. Most graduates go to Wyoming where the pay is 30% higher (thanks fossil fuel drilling!!!) or they go to Las Vegas, California, or Alaska.
When I lived in NOLA, I was amazed at the amount of private/parochial schools statewide.
People in Montana really have little choice. There are a few parochial schools around the state, but they are outnumbered about 50-1.