Far-right activists as well as even a few mainstream journalists have made wild claims about how much Chicago’s teachers earn. Nightline’s Terry Moran even claimed that the Chicago Teachers Union is doing “much damage” to the profession by striking, and then went on to say that teachers in the city earn an average of $74,000.
That just isn’t true. To fact check this claim, I went to the best source available to the public: the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS has data from May 2011 for the Chicago metropolitan area that breaks down the average salary for teachers. Across the profession, teachers in the area were earning an average salary of $56,720. Keep in mind that a median salary would probably be a more accurate picture of what teachers actually earn (veteran teacher salaries will be dragging the number upwards) but that this number is not available. The number is also dragged upward because a number of university staff are included in this calculation (they earn more than public school teachers). We spoke with a BLS official earlier today to confirm the veracity of these numbers.
If you look at the different subsets of teachers, some earn as little an average salary as $44,480 (foreign language teachers). Ai??Also keep in mind that the cost of food and living is well above the U.S. average in Chicago.
The only way Chicago’s teachers and students will win this struggle is by not letting misinformation turn the tide of public opinion.Ai??Use the Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit buttons on this page to spread the word. (Thanks to labor journalist Doug Henwood for pointing us in the right direction to look for these figures.)
A) This study covers 7 counties. CPS is part of just 1 county.
B) It does not show teachers, but “Education, training, and Library”
Yes, these numbers are for the metro area and include some support staff, as we wrote. Official CPS reports include administrators which also go beyond teachers.
CPS is quite different that the 8 counties 7 or 8 counties listed. Even by CTU’s calculations the average salary before counting benefits is around 70,000
With a median of just under $68000 for Chicago itself. The city published those figures. Doctoral degrees get a lot more, Bachelor’s degrees get a lot less.
Zaid,
Explain to me how this survey is at all relevant to the actual salaries CPS teachers make? CPS does not even cover the entire Cook county, let alone Dupage, Dekalb, etc. Even using the CTU’s numbers average salary of CPS teachers is around 70,000. That would still make them the second highest paid.
All I know is, I’m a CPS teacher, and I don’t even make CLOSE to that average – AND this doesn’t even factor in how much I spend on my classroom or maybe we should break down an hourly rate? Being a teacher doesn’t end when the bell rings…
I suspect that the “official” version of roughly $75,000 includes the full cost of all benefits, particularly health care and pensions!
Nope 75,000 (if you believe the government) or 70,000 if you believe CTU is before the cost of benefits. This survey is completely meaningless. It counts 7 counties that CPS is not apart of.
This money would be better spent on students that deserve it. Wasting money on no good low class gangster freaks is a sin. Get real!! These teachers work for CPS because they aren’t good enough to work at decent schools with decent kids. I’m sick of paying taxes for low lifes who will never amount to NOTHING! It doesn’t end there! They grow up and then go on welfare, and we still need to support these low life people. Thats a shame. And believe me, the entire Northside and outer Southwest neighborhoods of Chicago feel the same way I do. Its time to take out the trash!!
Amen Bro! Decent people need to unite and stop the insanity. CPS teachers enable thugs.
“Never amount to nothing” ? Double negatives, Einstein.
Wow, so I guess we should just let everyone in Chicago die. If you hate Chicagoans so much, why don’t you leave? Believe me, we don’t need you.
Teachers don’t refer to their students as low lifes. If you do not like Chicago then perhaps you should choose another place to live. Also if you have children, nieces, nephews, friends in CPS are they too also considered low lifes? Think about the words before you use them. Lastly, I am a highly educated teachers with several degrees and I teach here because I love the diversity of the city as well as the challenges that I am faced with on a daily basis.
I love Chicago, my family, my friends, and my job. I have great kids!! What I hate are the low life people and ignorant thugs who ruin this city.
These teachers are no better because they enable this existence! Low test scores, violence, rampant pregnancy, drugs, etc. These people make me sick! Put these parents, students, and teachers in meat grinder and call it a day!
Enable? Right. It’s obviously the teachers’ fault for creating a culture of violence and drugs. You think teachers WANT their students to die before 14? You think that’s why teachers TRY to teach in under-funded schools? You don’t love Chicago. You love your family, your friends, your job and your kids, but loving Chicago comes with the pains, the yearning for what it could be. Loving Chicago means not painting entire neighborhoods as urban warzones and all people as cancers. Every day is a struggle. Some people get out and some people don’t. If we don’t help foster a better community through schools and education, it will only get worse. To love Chicago, you have to believe this will get better, and not “put these parents, students, and teachers in a meat grinds and call it a day.” Your oversimplifications and utter lack of compassion have no place here.
I have to weigh in here and say that Mike is occupying a much more defensible position in this discussion.
Well said, sir !
This is an incredibly sad statement and it shows a large part of what’s wrong with our country. If you treat people like meaningless thugs that will amount to nothing, that’s what they will become. These are the groups of students you should want to FOCUS on. Why do you think they’re thugs? Because they’ve lived a life without the opportunities that “decent kids” have been afforded. Imagine if you went through life being told you were trash. How would that effect who you become? The statement above sickens me. That sentiment sickens me. You, sir, are the trashy one here.
This goes beyond the teacher strike. We need to stop treating each other with hatred and start working toward helping improve this country from the bottom up.
Seriously, How much SHOULD the educators of the next generation make? Their contribution to society far exceeds any politician. I could go on but I’m sickened by the entire thread. Teachers, and first responders should be compensated, and yet our politicians make sure to keep funding for themselves , or their (intrests) not those of your children, or community!
It’s all sick and wrong!
It really bugs me when people make insane comparisons. You compare teachers’ salaries to that of another insanely overpaid profession! Maybe we compare them to drug lords too? The problem is everyone wants a payday. Of course politicians don’t deserve what they get paid! But, based on the performance of the school system over the past 40 years, neither do teachers.
You Sir are incredibly racist. And quite ignorant. The Revolution is brewing. Will you survive it?
Rational person:
I think you hit the nail on the head here. Reading these comments are basically a commentary on our society as a whole. The Revolution is indeed brewing and it’s going to be a doozy! I think the one percenters have taken about as much as they can get their hands on, Privatizing public education is going too far. These children, “scum” that they are, should not be for-profit commodities. We’ve gone way too far here! Chicago Teachers, THANK YOU for standing up and reminding all of us that children should never be used as a mere profit-making resource.
Are you people serious? How ignorant. For the record, I have been teaching in CPS for nearly a decade, have my master’s degree in education, am a National Board Certified teacher, and make less than the so-called “average” CPS salary. You think I work here because I’m not “good enough” to work elsewhere?? I’ve interviewed and had offers to work in districts such as Wilmette and Glenview (among others), but I CHOOSE to stay in CPS because I believe that the children here deserve a quality education DESPITE their background, and because I can make a bigger difference in their lives here than in the ‘burbs. My students give me hope in our future. The posts above, especially Tom L., make me sad for the future of this country. Grow up. If you don’t want to pay taxes to support the public schools in the city, THEN MOVE OUT OF THE CITY! I, along with the rest of Chicago, will thank you.
That is either a flat-out lie, or you aren’t being totally honest. If you are a M/Ed. holder and board certified and work for CPS, you are certainly on the track that will earn you the most possible money as a teacher (i.e. $76,000 avg track). You may be very young in your career, which is a step system that pays you according to your years. As you continue to hang on, the step increases will quickly surpass any $56,000 figure.
dude, do you know anything about actually working in the education system these days? a Master’s guarantees you nothing. I know so many people with *multiple Masters* scrambling to get adjunct teaching jobs or substitute teaching. It gives you a slightly better advantage, but the odds are stacked so out of teacher’s favor, it’s insane. certain kinds of teachers and educators will also heavily skew that number–for example, from what I understand, librarians are in much the same problem, though as a whole they’re paid better than teachers with less job stress.
Too many teachers out of work. The supply far outweighs the demand. In any industry where this is the case something needs to give. 1) pay decreases 2) hours increase 3) benefits decrease 4) additional hurdles are implemented…. It’s called equilibrium and until we make teaching less attractive of a career path the market is going to get saturated. This happens in every field. The only difference here is that people don’t get laid off when they should due to the union rules. If you want more pay then 1-4 need to happen. Unless you are willing to deal with those be happy you have a job. You can always come do my job and deal with the stress and multiply it times 100. Oh also work year round with no PTO or pension. Come on who wants in?
Your response is the same I tell all the edu”hators”. So what is your job??? I might find it a better deal.
John Lee, first of all check and see how many years it will take to reach the salary of $76,000. It is not over night and the work that goes into reaching the higher steps is done at the expense of the individual. Second, what is wrong with a highly educated educator with years of experience earning a high salary. I think the $76,000 is not even enough compensation. Who do you want to be teaching your children? Someone with a high school education at minimum wage? Unfortunately, the people like MKteacher, who know about education, who know how to teach and know the best ways to develop an educated population of students, are never allowed to do just that. the people making the decisions about education, no NOTHING about education. How many hours has Rham, Arnie Duncun, and every other politician spent in a classroom either as an educator or as a University student of education?
If that is the case (and it just might be right) then I suppose the problem might be that there are to many “tenured” teachers pushing up the average salary and not pushing up the average performance of the students. Maybe if they retired we could hire more teachers to reduce teacher/student ratios…
Honestly, you are wasting valuable time with these students. I hear many horror stories from teachers in the CPS system. Currently, I hold an administrator position at a secondary school in Oak Park. I love and believe in children as well but no amount of love or education can improve students who do not care. CPS students are aggressive, immature, and can be violent. The structure of their home life, genetic history, and low aptitude limits the possibility of improvement. If you are in fact a solid teacher, then reconsider working in another city.
I guess you know all of the students personally then, huh? And what’s this about “genetic history?” Are you a Nazi or something?
So you mean to tell me as an educator you would rather give up on CHILDREN and still call yourself an educator? You sir need to leave the profession as you clearly have lost whatever passion you may have had if you ever had it.
Sir, I absolutely still have passion for my job. I just know when to call it a day and not continue to waste my time on those who cannot be helped.
This is one of the most racist things I have ever seen. Note to self: never move to Oak Park.
Exactly Cat. Patrick M. has lost sight of what education is. This is what happens when you stop realizing how lucky you are to not have to deal with the issues that exist in Chicago. I work for CPS and had to call a parent because her daughter was seen going into a garage with some guy when she was supposed to be on her way to schoo (don’t need to tell you why she went in there). during the confernce with the parent, the issue of a missing engagement ring came up. The girl stole her mother’s ring and gave it to a student in another room, buying her friendship. That’s not the kicker; the mother thought the fiancee’ had pawned the ring.?? Yes, Chicago is a rough place to live and work.
I lived in Oak Park for a while though, had a student in the Oak Park system and frankly couldn’t see a glaring difference in the level of education, just a cockiness and privileged view of the system because it was Oak Park. Oh, by the way, I’m a future teacher, who just happened to be educated in the CPS system and graduated in the National Honor Society, Who’s Who Among American HS Students, and went to college with the school owing me money afterbeing rejected by EVERY HS I applied to as a 7th grade student. The Chicago system might be different if they could say no to students because they didn’t live in the city. The fact that PM speak of students in the CPS system negatively shows what happens when people have the luxury of deciding which students they will service (most charter schools, who also have the option of kicking out students when they can’t keep up academically or misbehave). Furthermore, he made reference to the genetic history of CPS students, well, the crime rate in Oak Park has risen lately due to some residents of Oak Park and if he would genetically map those residents he would find a trail to a relative in Chicago. Lastly, it wasn’t too bright to adnit that he was an administrator in a secondary school, especially since there are only 2 in Oak Park, but then again privilege blinds your judgment..
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahahahaaahahahahahahahahah “genetic history.”
900,000 people have left Chicago in the last 60 years. CPS teachers are actually advocating for a Detroitification f Chicago.
The problem with your statement about moving out of Chicago is that people have done just that. Including myself. I was sick of the unions demanding wages and the continued increase in taxes, so I left the city and the state. Guess what? The population of the City is shrinking and the tax income is shrinking because of issues like this one. At the end of the day, only union workers would demand more money from a bank account this is in the red. The more you stick to your guns and allow your fellow teachers to be mediocre, the more people will leave and the less tax money will be available to pay for salary.
I actually support the teachers, but average salary in CPS is around 75k:
http://www.cps.edu/about_cps/at-a-glance/pages/stats_and_facts.aspx
If you take the time to review the 669 page list of salaries on the cps website you see that teachers make about 75k. The truck drivers the district pays for get 70k. Sort of puts the value of a teacher in perspective. Not that the drivers don’t work hard or deserve their money, it just shows that we can not sit in our homes around the county and pass judgment on these salaries by comparing them to our personal living expenses. A dumpy apartment that fetches $600 where I live might be $1500 in NYC. Read this for an outsiders view: http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/11/chicago-strike-union-teachers?cat=commentisfree&type=article
*…you see that teachers make about 75k. The truck drivers the district pays for get 70k. Sort of puts the value of a teacher in perspective. Not that the drivers don’t work hard or deserve their money*
The truck driver is working 40 hours a week and working the ENTIRE year..
CPS teachers are overpaid by approximately 15%. Statistically, CPS teachers lack many of the qualifications that a professional educator should possess. In addition, the CPS board is overextended in trying to keep hush hush the alcohol and drug abuse among its top teachers. Role models should not be showing up “high” for class. Teachers should be there for the children and not only educate them but also protect while in there care. Sexual abuse is another subject the CPS board wants to go away. Many teachers are perpetrators of this heinous crime. I say no pay increase for the CPS teachers until our children are safe and scores improve.
Your figures are wrong. You quote 2011 reports but those reports contain 2009 stats. How long does it take to gather and publish current stats? Just ask any bureaucracy.
Wait a second…I think this whole thing could be resolved by three simple concessions.
1 – Teachers be glad you even have a job,,,Admit it, your pay is very good.
2 – CPS must drop the teach for the test concept…doesn’t work.
3 – Test the teachers on a regular basis and weed out the under-performers.
I’m so sick of this. I wan’t to know what chicago teachers are really paid. Will someone please find a teacher’s paystub and post the damn thing!? I want to know how much is in thier payCHECK so I can calculate the amount of cash take-home per hour before taxes (and after taxes). That’s what people really want to know. I highly doubt that teachers actually recieve 71,000 (or 75,000 if you ask Rahm) of actual take home pay. Assuming that a teacher works 50 weeks a year and 40 hours a week (like everyone else does) that would mean that they take home $35.50 per hour. Chicago is expensive, but not expensive enough that the cost of living makes $35.50 for a teacher reasonable. For most everywhere in the U.S. $33.50 puts you very firmly into the upper class, so I don’t buy it.
I am a CPS teacher. The compensation amounts for CPS employees are publically displayed here http://www.cps.edu/About_CPS/At-a-glance/Documents/EmployeePositionRoster_07112012.pdf
I believe Rham keeps saying the median income not the mean…
The average is $76K, the media is $71K, according to US News and World Report.
“Upper class”? Give me a break. The American upper class is composed of millionaires and billionaires, not folks who make $33.50 an hour and can afford Starbucks a few times a week.
My spouse has been a CPS teacher for 8 years. She makes $58,700 on paper but brings home less. There are the numbers you’re looking for. She’s dedicated eight years of her life to an extremely demanding job and she earns $58,700. Maybe in eight more years she’ll be making $76k but I doubt it.
Chicago doesn’t have an elected school board. Did you know that? Big problem.
Even CTU’s number’s are slightly inflated because there were many teachers that retired at the end of last year who were included in the salary calculations. These teachers had most likely been working 20+ years. Making $75k a year after doing a job for that many years is hardly “cushy”. People also forget to realize that teachers spend thousands of their OWN money every year to outfit their classrooms. At CPS, a teacher gets $100/year to do this. What does $100 buy? Not even an ink jet printer!
Even the CTU doesn’t agree with this study – their reported estimate is $72K.
This is nonsense. It doesn’t exclusively track teachers, and it folds in other counties that pay less.
This should clarify everyone’s concerns….and debunk this article: http://www.cps.edu/About_CPS/Financial_information/Pages/EmployeePositionFiles.aspx
I would like to know what people think teachers should be earning. A teacher with a Masters and 15 years experience?
Is it that we don’t value teachers and teaching? Is it that you don’t make much money with your high school diploma and you don’t think teachers should be entitled to make more money than you? Perhaps instead of begrudging teachers their salary then YOU should become a teacher and bring in the $56 K that my husband brings in–minus the $500 a month that goes into his pension and the $600 a month that pays for our high deductable health insurance.
I work for an organization in the private sector (that does greater good for society). I have a Masters. I have 14 years of experience. I put more than $600 a month into a retirement fund. I pay $700 a month for health and dental insurance. I work 60-70 hours a week, every week of the year. I make $58k a year.
I wish I had a union to help protect me. I wish I could strike.
Then organize a union and work towards a strike, don’t stand for the destruction of someone’s else union.
I did not say that I stand for the destruction of “someone’s else” union. (Is that CPS grammar there?)
I simply stated that I wish I had the security and protection that these teachers who are skriking do. I work for a non-profit, and I would argue under much tougher conditions. But you don’t see me giving up on the people who need me and walking away from them so I can go throw a tantrum in front of the world.
I believe that these teachers have it a lot better than a lot of workers who actually deserve better. I think it’s time for them to suck it up. They knew what they were getting into, so they shouldn’t complain when they get into it.
None of this changes the fact that Chicago is in the hole and we don’t have money to give a raise. Plus stop giving me this BS that this strike is all about the kids. You teachers denying an evaluation system is about YOU not the students.
Yes! Who doesn’t get evaluated at their job? Teachers are the only ones I know who do not get evaluated based on the results of their work.
Do the non-teachers realize that the salary doesn’t include the hours outside of school spent grading papers, writing lesson plans, buying supplies for the classroom with our own money (b/c for most teacher $250 per year doesn’t even begin to cover what we spend for our students), calling parents on our time etc??
Do you realize how many hours, days, nights, weekends I put in at my job? You make an annual salary – not an hourly wage. Extra time, effort and work is expected at any salaried job.
No, we don’t. To prove you’re not some troll or bullshit artist or fool who doesn’t understand which side of the bread their butter is on, tell us what you do.
It’s called unreimbursed business expense. Most jobs have them and you’ll just have to write it off at the end of the year when filing your taxes. My expenses are far greater and my return yields far less than yours would. My girlfriend just got a job with CPS. First teaching job with a masters paying $53k plus. Not bad and not a bad schedule. I’d consider leaving my job for those kinds of perks.
A job teaching? Are you aware of what’s involved? It doesn’t sound like it. And the “perks?” Really? I call bullshit on you. I hope your “girlfriend” understands what she’s gotten into.
It’s not an “unreimbursed business expense” if you’re not a business. A teacher isn’t a business. They’re not a private contractor and they don’t profit from these expenses. They’re salaried laborer.
You really need to do your homework, lady.
A teacher can claim “unreimbursed business expenses” on their tax deductions just as anyone else who works for a “business” can.
Private contractors do not profit from those expenses either.
Look it up on IRS.gov. It’s a very simple tax deduction.
The strike is not about the paycheck. If you look into the issues plaguing our schools (instead of believing the hype and just shortcutting to the money), the schools need more social workers, and support staff. They need smaller class sizes. They need research-based education reform, not education reform based overworked individuals. Honestly, teachers are taking care of your children and preparing them for the future. Why wouldn’t you want them to be paid a decent wage? Also, to remind you, some of these teachers make $40K, some make $70K….Let’s be clear $70K is not the mean.
http://www.cps.edu/About_CPS/At-a-glance/Documents/EmployeePositionRoster_07112012.pdf
http://www.ctunet.com/quest-center/research/text/Deserve_summary.pdf
The system is flawed, but it’s a problem we all have to solve TOGETHER. Quit placing blame and demonizing the people who do the work that few of us elect to do. Before your rain down hate on CPS teachers, work a day in a CPS school. They’re doing the best they can with a broken system and a broke state.
I agree with some of what you say – but how is striking going to solve any of those non-salary issues? Really – it’s only hurting the children even more than the issues you mention.
You apparently don’t understand what colllective bargaining is about, or have the most basic idea of what being in a union involves.
The problems with the school system and underpaid teachers is a country-wide problem. Chicago is just lucky enough to have a union to back them. Schools everywhere are being cut money in their budgets that they really need to take care of our children. I think the real problem is how little people care about the generation of children that are rising up in the public school system. These same children will be running the country when we are all old and grey.
Do you realize that if you annualize even your bottom number ($45K) to account for the three months that teachers have off each year (not to mention 2 weeks in the winter, one in the spring and EVERY holiday) teachers are making an average of $60K/year. That’s not bad – There are a lot of people out there without jobs that would be very very happy with that salary. If you annualize $56K it comes out to about $75K/year.
Get over yourselves.
I think there are a lot of qualified individuals out there who would kill for that kind on income. My job is 100% commission, thus 100% incentive based. I only get paid for deals I close. No PTO, no pension. It’s as simple as supply and demand. Do people want to do my job? Can they stomach the hours, stress and commitment? No, this is why I get paid more for what I do. It’s because no one wants this life. As a teacher you have a simple solution. Reduce the supply of teachers so you can demand higher pay. How do you reduce the supply of teachers while increasing pay? You make them work longer hours, put them through stress tests, take away summer breaks, make it partially performance based pay. Take the politics out of this and let’s get to the nitty gritty.
Wow! Nice Stalinist sentiments, hero. You live a miserable life, so everybody else should cave, call off Democracy, and get in the pit with all the libertarian losers and grifters? Jesus, they’re comin’ out of the woodwork now.
So everybody should make less money because you do? Things should get worse for everybody because the powerful forces trying to break unions (really, they are trying to break every working person, but unions go first–they have the power to fight for better things) say so? Do you realize that working people (all working people) are making less now or their pay has been stagnant for over thirty years? This ain’t because of unions . . . this is because the forces of greed–anti-democratic, ruthless, and criminal–are trying to drive down wages. They’re succeeding, and you’re helping them, and you don’t even know it. Soldier, on, dude.
Selfish scumbags. These anti-union loonies need to stop trying to raise themselves up by demanding that other people be brought down to their level of misery. Have the courage to fight for yourselves or stop complaining about how sorry your lives.
@TimN – you need to ask yourself why wages are stagnant or declining. It isn’t because of corporate greed. It is market forces. These workers are not able to demand higher wages because their skills have become more and more commoditized. Employers pay more for scarce talent. If you don’t bring a special skill to the table you will be unable to demand a higher wage. Do you really think that stagnant wages are the result of wage collusion by all employers – like this is some giant conspiracy to hold down the common man?! All employers want talented people and are willing to compete for them. If you don’t bring anything special to the table, you won’t get a high wage – no collusion, no conspiracy….sorry to disappoint.
Those three months over the summer are not “time off” for teachers. Those months are spent cleaning out classrooms and moving to new rooms, getting ready for the next year, and taking classes to stay up-to-date on current best practices and new technologies available int he classroom. The nine months spent in school include lots of long hours and late evenings dedicated to make sure ALL students are successful. This includes grading papers, preparing lessons for the next day/week/month, contacting parents, arranging meetings, collaborating with other teachers… the list goes on and on. Even if you believe the hype, a $75,000 a year salary equates to an houlry wage of $36.05 ($75,000/52/40=$36.05). I am a 3rd year teacher making $31,000 (in another city/state). I would kill for half of what CPS teachers make; it’s still low when you live in a city where cost of living is much higher than the national average. If they were just teaching, it might stop there, but teachers are expected to be experts in their fields, raise your children, counsel them in hard times, spend their own money in the classroom, and sacrifice time away from their own families. All of this while working in out-of-date buildings that are hot in the spring/fall and cold in the winter (sometimes in unsafe/unsanitary conditions), paint peeling off the walls, desks that are falling apart, a chronic shortage of books and adequate supplies, and students who have the attention spans of gnats thanks to tv, video games, smart phones and YouTube. Parents don’t support their decisions when teachers assign homework or their children act up in the classroom, the public thinks they’re overpaid and have “all this free time,” and any time there’s a percieved shortage of funds, the rallying cry is always “Cut Education Funding!” If you think you can do better under similar circumstances, then put your money where your mouth is, go back to school, get a degree in education, and step into a classroom. Good luck. Teachers deserve every cent of what they’re paid, and, more importantly, deserve your thanks.
The US spends 33% more per student than the next highest country (the UK) and despite having vastly most resources, our students test near the bottom of the ranking of all industrialized nations in math and science. Our competition is doing significantly more with vastly less!
52% of 4th grade students in Chicago are functionally illiterate (per the National Assessment of Educational Progress). Sadly, one of the things Chicago teachers fear most is to be held accountable – to be evaluated based on student performance!
These teachers are doing a horrible job, and they are insisting on an annual raise above inflation (all while we have 8%+ national unemployment).
Finally, the most despicable part of the entire strike is that they are using these kids’ education and futures (for whom they claim to be fighting) as a bargaining chip to make themselves more money. It is a disgrace and this nation does NOT have their back.
Hmmm . . . you don’t know what you’re talking about, and you don’t get out much, but I’m sure it sounds good when you say it to the idiot next to ya on the barstool.
Thanks for the substantive response.
BS. I’m from Texas and a ton of people have their backs. They do the best they can teaching in a war zone.
I made that comment based on comments I am reading from non-partisan news websites….nothing scientific, but I believe it to be true. Those comments are overwhelmingly against the teachers unions.
All the bickering aside I agree teachers should be paid accordingly and understand pay is skewed among educators. This being said… We cannot continue on this path. It’s impossible to continue mortgaging the futures of other teachers when the money isn’t there. I compare this problem to the same problem facing our economy. Everyone knows we have to raise taxes and cut spending. However, if we can just postpone the solution we can pass the buck to future generations. Let’s stop passing the buck, realize TRUE solutions needs to be implemented in order to get back on the right track and move our children, citizens and country forward. I don’t take sides here. I say if you want America to survive get ready to take a step back EVERYONE!
Please don’t tell us something is “fact checking” when it’s actually obfuscating the numbers. For the record, I’m married to a public-school teacher, I know what the issues are, and I support the strike, but this is lying like Paul Ryan. Leave that for the other side.
You say academics might skew these numbers upwards, but anyone who knows anything about the role of adjunct teaching knows that the opposite could just as easily be true. Private and parochial school teachers are also included in this number, which would similarly skew it because those teachers get paid far less than public-school teachers. And other people have brought up the problem of including a much larger geographic area than just Chicago.
Since Chicago Public School teachers are only a very small subset of the people whose salaries you calculated here, there’s no reason to think the number you arrived at represents CTU salaries at all–you would have served the progressive cause a good deal more if you’d delved into the actual numbers instead of creating an alternate number and pretended it was real. The 71k figure I’m hearing elsewhere is an average that includes a lot of veteran teachers who were encouraged to retire this year and would therefore falsely skew the numbers upward–so if you want to use Chicago union or school district salary figures to find out the median instead of the mean, that would help the discussion. If you want to find out how many years you’d need to teach and what kind of credentials you’d have to have to earn the mean, that would also help. But you’re not helping anything by talking about the salaries of a group of educators that is much larger and more diverse that CTU teachers and pretending it represents what CTU teachers make.
My father wishes he had earned $74,000… My dad taught at Lane Tech for thirty five years. When he started teaching in the early sixties (my mom too) there was a subject matter test that you needed to pass in order to teach. they both have said that it was a tough exam and many people failed. Those that failed, taught in the suburbs. Those that passed where able to teach in the public schools of the City of Chicago. So, that generation of educators were the cream of the cream. Throughout the years, more hours of graduate level courses, a masters degree and years of experience were add and my dad was pretty much on the top of the lane at his level. (the next one being a Phd.) When he retired he was earning $55,000. My mom did not work when we where growing up so, my father’s salary and benefits were our entire household income. He was on the first picket line until the last, this is the first strike he is missing. My dad died in June. He arranged to take a smaller pension in his retirement, so that when he died my mom would receive the HALF of the pension she was entitled to (mind you this was a bargain fought for by the union, not sure what year. Up until then, once the wage earner died, that was the end of the pension. NO MATTER how much the wage earner was required to contribute each pay check. ) plus $400. Also not there is NO social security, because of the state pension and teachers salaries are based on the months worked. They salaries would be higher if there was school for twelve months a year. Teachers are only paid for the months they work, some choose to receive their pay check over twelve months, but it is only for the days worked!
And one more thing about my father’s years at Lane Tech. (Which he did for the most part enjoy and when I met former students of my dad’s they ALL speak of him highly and talk about the influence he had in his/her life). There was a letter sent to the teachers asking each department to develop a schedule to help keep the bathrooms clean because the custodians were not keeping up with their responsibilities. I can not find the letter, but when I do it will be posted EVERYWHERE!
Thank you all for confirming why I refuse to move back to the suburbs to raise our child.
Thank you highly educated CPS teachers who choose to do what others do not have the heart, compassion ,or courage to do. You give me faith in human race.
I am a proud parent of a CPS 2nd Grader who will amount to something. To the rest of you I am thankful now more than ever that you are not my neighbors.
according to the Bureau of labor statistics, High school teachers fall under labor code 25-2031 and earn an average $69,470.00 for 180 days worth of work. That is $385.94 for each day they work. If they worked a full 255 day year, (a normal year less weekend and major holidays) they would earn $98,415.83 in salary. by any standards, teachers are rewarded handsomely for each day of work they put in.
Sorry, teachers work 6 days longer than the school year. 186 days……..
Additionally, most teachers in this post say the strike is not about their pay, I actually agree with them. It seems to me, the main issue they care about is accountability. I work in sales, and am accountable every month to my employer and my customers, my wife works as a medical professional and is accountable to her patients, her hospital, and the license board. Everyone in every profession has a measuring stick they are held to. That is, everyone but teachers. I understand their point, the union protects the weak and underperformers, standards would help an administrator identify these people and weed them out. these same people are often the senior staff (but no always) who are resting on their laurels and 15 year old lesson plans. If their argument is some of the kids will fail no matter what efforts the teachers make, then the solution is simple, drop the bottom 10% of the scores. to keep it fair, you have to also drop the top 10% of kids who will thrive in any class room. If you test the students at the beginning of the year, and again at the end, you should see progress. No progress in the middle 80% means the teacher needs help. if this happens a second year, cull them.
It appears to many, on both sides of the political fence, that fact checkers are simply covering their own biases with the cloak of authority. How can ordinary people find truth from the same media that creates the articles and fact checks them?
Last week I launched WeCheck http://wecheck.org, the people’s fact check. WeCheck uses Wikipedia-like editing to allow multiple collaborators to fact check the fact checkers. Even if the end result is not what you like, then at least all sides of the issue can be explored on an unbiased non-partisan playing field. It’s early days right now and there’s a lot of work to be done, but I invite you to have a look and if you can, to participate.
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