WV teacher strke
- Thread starter tjebarr
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I am a fed as well. I must have the same plan as you, the cost is the same ($550 a month or so). $25 copay.
My individual deductible is $350, family is $700. But I think where our insurance is worthwhile is the out of pocket maximum. No matter what occurs during the year, I am not going bankrupt. 5k max for me, or 10k max for my family. Insurance to me is really about catastrophic coverage.
He probably could make more money painting houses those 3 months off versus coaching. One can make some money painting on the side.
The teacher's union rep this morning on AM740 in Martinsburg reiterated again this morning that the average salary is $46,000 +; I don't make the number up, the rep for the teachers union has been on the radio stating these facts. It's an average, which tells me that the teachers are mostly older.
Teachers denying their own facts.
Well doesn't that make the case that the teachers/system is failing? I say we should pay teachers $85,000 /year; and then go get really good teachers, like Harvard graduates. Yet I feel there will be a problem with this strategy too.
Let the teachers at each school vote at the end of each year which teacher should be shit canned. Replace one a year.
While teaching salaries varies by county in WV based on population, it’s not by a large amount. Under the current year’s salary scale, at the Master’s Degree salary level, you still wouldn’t be making $47,000 with 15 years of teaching experience in one of the more populated counties in the state. You can increase your salary once you reach the M.A.+15, M.A.+30, and M.A.+45 levels.
I just crunched the numbers for Mon County high school classroom teachers. Their average salary is $48,728.24 with 12 years experience on average.
...while his daughter moved Mylan's North American-based headquarters from Morgantown to Canonsburg, PA so it's closer to her bougie house in Sewickley. The whole family is terrible.
That is where I am coming from. I shoot holes in there argument and all I get is bashed. Never a thanks for pointing that out and thanks for paying your taxes.
Yes, our PCM's and pediatricians are part of a big group. I am sure there are issues with Tricare, just like any other insurance, but it works for us. Both our companies offer insurance if we would ever need to pick it up. Right now, for the cost (roughly $700/year for family of four) and our needs, we love it! My wife and I both served in the military so we are used to the referrals. They can be a headache but not a deal breaker at all - it teaches patience!
Consolidate from 55 counties to 30 or so. Save money on the administration of education, roads, motor vehicles, health and human services, 911.....the list goes on and on.....then there is the political arena!
There are plenty of viable solutions presented to the problems in this thread. I dare you to try and implement any one of them and then watch what happens.
I don’t know about going from 55 to 30, but county lines definitely need redrawn in WV. Can you imagine the outrage though? People scream for change until you actually try to change something.
You wouldn’t necessarily have to redraw county lines. You could just move to a regional (grouping multiple counties into a region), instead of county level model. Of course that will never happen either, but is a possibility (theoretically).
I'm convinced this why the Supers have been so accommodating and supportive...they don't want to be put in the spotlight.
Given this thread is now 14 pages in and still going strong, it's clear this is an emotional issue for everyone. In reading all of those 14 pages it is also clear there are some valid points on each side of the debate. Everyone looks at the world through their own eyes, no one else's, so we all have our own unique biases. Maybe the real issues go a little deeper.
Non-defense government spending was 14.7% of GDP in 2000. It is now 17.6% of GDP. That is one hell of a lot of money by the way. There are many reasons for this increase and my point is not to debate those various reasons as we all have personal feelings about those too. I guess my main point in addressing these issues centers on a premise that has been quite clear in the 14 pages of discussion (so far) on this issue. That premise has been mentioned by a lot of posters and on each side of the comments so it appears we all may have some common ground here. All of us, on each side of this teacher pay/walkout/PEIA/protect the kids/it's a tough world my costs are going up too etc. issue are complaining that :
- our costs continue to go higher
- we all want our incomes to move higher
- everything about this argument is interconnected with all occupations
- no one understands the other person's point of view.
Seems to me the true issues here are that we all feel we are paying more than we should in taxes, there is a lot of waste in government spending at all layers of government and that we cannot just continue this seemingly endless spiral of tax and spend if we are to thrive as a society.
We all want good schools, we all want good healthcare, we all want access to food and water for everyone, we all want to live our lives with the freedom to pursue our interests and raise our families. And it is true that involves expenses for defense funding as well.
It just seems to me we need to get back to not expecting government to be the answer all of the time. In fact, the less reliance on government intervention the better. There are many issues to address in reducing the role of government and increasing personal responsibilities in this country and I am not of the right wing, Tea Party, government sucks mind set. All I know is that if we reduce the burdens we all feel of being taxed to death, if we let our economy work like the people who crafted our constitution originally founded this country intended, if we all accept some responsibilities instead of hiding behind lawyers and self serving laws, we would all be better off. And if you start over and read all 14+ pages we have dedicated to this topic so far, maybe you will agree that is a premise shared by all sides here.
Non-defense government spending was 14.7% of GDP in 2000. It is now 17.6% of GDP. That is one hell of a lot of money by the way. There are many reasons for this increase and my point is not to debate those various reasons as we all have personal feelings about those too. I guess my main point in addressing these issues centers on a premise that has been quite clear in the 14 pages of discussion (so far) on this issue. That premise has been mentioned by a lot of posters and on each side of the comments so it appears we all may have some common ground here. All of us, on each side of this teacher pay/walkout/PEIA/protect the kids/it's a tough world my costs are going up too etc. issue are complaining that :
- our costs continue to go higher
- we all want our incomes to move higher
- everything about this argument is interconnected with all occupations
- no one understands the other person's point of view.
Seems to me the true issues here are that we all feel we are paying more than we should in taxes, there is a lot of waste in government spending at all layers of government and that we cannot just continue this seemingly endless spiral of tax and spend if we are to thrive as a society.
We all want good schools, we all want good healthcare, we all want access to food and water for everyone, we all want to live our lives with the freedom to pursue our interests and raise our families. And it is true that involves expenses for defense funding as well.
It just seems to me we need to get back to not expecting government to be the answer all of the time. In fact, the less reliance on government intervention the better. There are many issues to address in reducing the role of government and increasing personal responsibilities in this country and I am not of the right wing, Tea Party, government sucks mind set. All I know is that if we reduce the burdens we all feel of being taxed to death, if we let our economy work like the people who crafted our constitution originally founded this country intended, if we all accept some responsibilities instead of hiding behind lawyers and self serving laws, we would all be better off. And if you start over and read all 14+ pages we have dedicated to this topic so far, maybe you will agree that is a premise shared by all sides here.
I've been a proponent of consolidating the university system into 4-5 regional schools with WVU being the primary school. You would save a ton of money and the quality of education would increase. The population is not there to justify the number of higher education institutions we have in the state currently.
There’s absolutely MANY methods.
You think school leadership (principal etc) don’t know which teachers are high quality and those that are just putting in their time? Even their peers know...even the students know...
I’m trying to figure out why we would randomly have ‘evaluators’ sit in on some classes. What was the point if there’s no way to know one teacher from the other?
How do they get the ‘Teacher Of The Year’? Random drawing?
I gotta do this....
That 14 pages felt like a short read compared to your post.
It was a fine post though....
Nobody.
I just underperform, don’t show up for work for a week or two, and voila...5% for everybody.
Rinse and repeat. Perfect system.
It's been helpful to read external publications. We're all too close to it. The NY Times, npr, the networks, reuters, (plus other sources that would be trashed here) write daily.
Most, not all, media sources are liberal.
Most, not all, media sources don’t post news anymore...but rather editorials disguised as factual articles.
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You know where I’m going with this.... ....if they had their way welfare would be based on the median income of the people who actually work. It’s only fair...
Good question. I have measured performance objectives I establish each year in conjunction with my boss that are tied to specific scope within my job requirements. For instance, I have monetary growth % metrics I need to achieve on the contracts I manage and these are weighted based on total value of each. A $10 million contract being weighted more heavily than a $1 million contract as an example.
At the end of the year, I go before the board, we review my metrics against my weighted goals. My merit increase annually corresponds to my achievement against those goals. My annual bonus which is separate from my merit is tied to new growth outside the scope of my initial planned objectives, I.e “new business” I’m either executing, generated, or captured. It’s really quite simple, mathematical, and objective. Most of all, it’s tangible.
Failure to meet my objective will see my ass looking for a new job which could see me having to move to new location which means uprooting my family.
Right, cuz all of Republicans are FoxNews watching MAGAsphere drinking, Trumpian, robots clinging to our guns and bible. None of read things like the WSJ, BI, NYT, or WaPo. Most of us are just ignorant racist hilljacks!!
Lolz @ u.
I forgot to ask, since I answered your question, how is your performance measured, and by whom?
we are losing our most talented teachers to bordering states due to the pay differentials. How do we know that this is the case? Has there been a study made that proves this point? Just because a teacher decides to go to another state, it does not necessarily mean that they are more intellectual than the ones who decide not to move. To me it just means they may be more savvy financially. We all must realize that a lot of the teacher pool comes from the same teaching degree institutions, such as WVU. As far as I know they all are subjected to the same teaching techniques, training and instructions. Just because they end up in a higher paying school system in another state, I'm not sure that automatically makes them a better teacher. Using my background as an accountant as example, a WV CPA company hires accountants all who have been educated and trained to the same national standards. If one of those accountants, decides to transfer to another company in another state, that does not mean the people who are left behind are at the lower end of the totem pole.
I will use an example of a teacher that I personally know. This teacher who taught math in local high school retired from the WV school system. Afterwards, he taught math at a local JC and later took a contractual position with a neighboring state's county school system (5 minutes away), where he headed up that county's math department for all the schools within the county. I'm sure he had the opportunity to go 5 minutes away to the bordering state during his teaching career but chose not to. Lots of similar cases. Also as my son went through 1-12 grades here, I noticed that many teachers were from the neighboring state who crossed the border to WV.
Not trying to say we are not losing teachers, as obviously we are, but, to my point, they are not necessarily the best in all cases. Of course, maybe somebody, like the Mog's of the world, has studies to prove me all wrong. lol
I will use an example of a teacher that I personally know. This teacher who taught math in local high school retired from the WV school system. Afterwards, he taught math at a local JC and later took a contractual position with a neighboring state's county school system (5 minutes away), where he headed up that county's math department for all the schools within the county. I'm sure he had the opportunity to go 5 minutes away to the bordering state during his teaching career but chose not to. Lots of similar cases. Also as my son went through 1-12 grades here, I noticed that many teachers were from the neighboring state who crossed the border to WV.
Not trying to say we are not losing teachers, as obviously we are, but, to my point, they are not necessarily the best in all cases. Of course, maybe somebody, like the Mog's of the world, has studies to prove me all wrong. lol
I really wanted to stay out of this conversation but there is some bad info here. Middle school teachers average 44k. High school teachers average 45k. its on the state website. WV was the only state to decrease teacher pay from 2015 to 2016. if you guys have any serious questions i'm good friends with Mon county union rep who has been interviewed by Usatoday, NPR, NBC etc. Although we have opposing political views we talk by text almost daily. i might be able to get him to stop talking shit long enough for him to be serious. i think his texting friends is his only outlet right now. he has been getting 200 text a day and swears he hasnt slept in 2 weeks. haha
My apologies I thought I was in the thread about the teacher strike. No intentions of starting a new thread. My bad.
My WVU educated sister teaches in Pittsburgh exactly because of the pay differential A data point of one
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