What you are looking at is the pay and benefits for a teacher in the village of Denmark, WI. A small community in NE Wisconsin, where 46% of the tax levy goes to the school district. As you can see, the total compensation for this teacher is over $77,000 per year. You can also see that this person is able to command this level of compensation with just a bachelor's degree. When you think about the number of hours of work required for this compensation, the difference between this teacher and a typical private sector worker becomes even more stark.
This information is available in a searchable database from the Post Crescent, you can check it out for yourself and see how teachers in your area compare.
When many private sector workers, including some with bachelor's degrees, look at this level of compensation, the benefits of collective bargaining for the public sector start to come into focus. For many folks, the Governor's proposal to cut public sector employee pay by around 8% and end collective bargaining suddenly doesn't sound so scary after all.
7 comments:
All I see is that there is a pressing need to fix health care. Tracing the health care problem goes back to the days of TOMMY!! and his deregulation of the system.
Reversing his poor decision would go a lot farther than taking it out on someone who has no control over the cost of health care.
Unfortunately, that seems to be a trait among some righties. See example: Iraq War.
Jeremy, how about a comparison. What would this person be paid in a private job? What about others? Gee we really should compare a lot of others...
You already know that such a comparison has been done. I remember that teachers are compensated 4.8% less that those of similar education.
I do a lot better than that with my meek BS. But then I don't get tenure after 3 years. I also don't get a pension. Nor do I get 2 months of vacation a year. Oh, and I'm also accountable for the work I do.
I don't think teachers are overpaid. I think the major problem with education is the lack of accountability for the performance of the teachers/schools/districts. If a school has an excellent teacher, how are they rewarded? They are not because the union does not allow it. If there is a bad teacher, how are they repremanded? They are not because the union does not allow it. The first step to improving education is to remove the teacher's union.
I second the call for similar Wisconsin stats for the private sector. Anecdotes aren't data.
Anon - if you do "a lot better" could you tell me what you do?
John/Dean - I think I found the study Dean refers to. I'll let you know what I find.
I'm an electrical engineer.
Here's a little more info. I have a BS in electrical engineering with 15+ years experience. I work for a major corporation.
Base Salary: 120k
Bonus: 8k for 2010 (for 3 months of work)
Health Benefits: 15k+
Social Security: 7.65% * 128k = 9792
Stock: 1000 shares (about $20/share)
Vacation: about 3 weeks (15 work days)
Holiday: 10 work days
Sick time: unlimited/untracked
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