Today is the day. Today my district votes whether or not to take a pay freeze for the next school year. Several nearby districts have already voted to do so. I know the bargaining units are on both sides of the fence here, but that's the way it is with any big issue.
If you've been following me, you know I posted about this last week, along with some other hot-button issues regarding education in my state. I for one, am going to vote for the pay freeze. Yes, my costs are going up just like everyone else's. Yes, there are times I struggle to make ends meet, even with my part-time job outside of teaching.
But...
I'm going to do it: 1) because the alternative is just not even something I'm willing to think about, not if I am truly an educator; and 2) help show the public that teachers are not the bad guys in all of this.
The alternative to not taking a pay freeze would mean a MINIMUM of 49 positions furloughed, increased class size because those positions won't necessarily be filled, additional programs cut, and the increased perception that teachers are spoiled brats who hide behind their unions and don't know the reality of living in a tough economy.
Somehow over the past few months, the public's attitude toward teachers has changed. Suddenly, we are the scapegoats for everything wrong with collective bargaining units, the state budget, and education in general.
Just reading through the editorials in my local newspaper over the past week has made my blood boil--and I'm usually a pretty calm, even-tempered person. But the things that are being said about us is just cruel--and in most cases--wrong.
Some quotes (directly and indirectly) from the paper:
*Teachers are paid too much, work too little, and have Cadillac health plans most of us don't.
*They only work nine months out of the year, have summer off on the taxpayer's dime, and whine about everything.
*They babysit all day.
*They have too many benefits.
*They fail too much with no accountability.
*They hide behind their contracts and unions.
"...you say to walk a mile in a teachers shoes...but they don't walk an entire mile ...they take the last 1/4 off...oh, wait that is a year I am thinking about..not a mile, sorry...they do walk the mile and then they say that if you want them to walk the next mile they will need at least a 3% increase in pay from the previous mile, guaranteed for the next 4 miles, and that you should throw an extra 10% of that amount into a bag, invest it and guarantee it for them, so that they can collect at the end of the road..and to pay for any illness or injury they may suffer along the way...oh, and should they loose (fail to educate to a set of standards) any of your children along the road, be mindful you will be to blame as poor parents...."
"Teaching is a job much like waiting tables, removing dead animal bodies from the side of the road and as well as standing in front of a tax preparation business wearing the statue of liberty outfit. The only difference is, except for teaching, the other jobs don't strike and affect a child's education when they are asked to pay their fair share of benefits."
"Ban the teachers unions and automatic tenure, adopt merit pay for teachers, restore discipline in the classrooms and eliminate political correctness. Oh, and banish the misfits among the kids from classrooms."
"Cut spending. They spend a record amount of money on education and the situation has gotten worse. Schools hire Public Relations employees and build Taj Mahal's in tribute to someone's over budgeted ego. Schools have astro turf fields and indoor swimming pools. Teachers get raises each and every year along with to die for benefits. Want education to improve? Cut all school budgets by 50% and focus on teaching!"
How did we become the new scapegoats for everything wrong with struggling budgets and education? A lot of the other comments clearly show that the public has no true idea of what we do all day. Most of them think we are glorified babysitters, that we read and sing and play all day. I would love to post that e-mail that had been circulating around about the Survivor Show for Teachers. And of course, that e-mail only hits the tip of the iceberg of our duties.
So anyhow, I'm voting for the pay freeze because fewer teachers in the building doesn't help anyone in the classroom. And I'm voting for it because we teachers do know what it means to live in a tough economy every year (think about all you spend out of your salary to provide things for your classroom, on top of your daily living costs).
It's about time the public realizes we know it, too.
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