Attracting The Best & Brightest? My Foot...

Saturday night the MJS posted their latest article outlining what current contract negotiations look like between teacher's unions and administration in a post-Act 10 Wisconsin. You can find the article at the link here: http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/teacher-contract-negotiations-moving-quickly-q265jqn-163300386.html

This is the whole thing that scares me about even wanting to continue pursuing education as a path of work, because it seems you are never really going to get ahead. Even districts that compensate at the rate of inflation increasing their "base wage" still have teachers who are largely falling behind, as it does not include whatever increased deduction comes from their health insurance. Now, this is a problem that the private sector has had for a while, and is usually thrown back at teachers as "welcome to the real world" but that goes to the whole point of why unions make sure their members actually get ahead. That's a rant for another time.

It's hard to discuss this topic without getting into how pay-scales are structured, but that's a topic that's usually district specific, which is why discussing these matters on a state-wide matter are difficult. But, one thing that I can do is draw the conclusion that this is no longer a "career" where people can go into it for 30-35 years. I just don't see how teachers are going to ever get ahead with this new system, which sure as heck means it's not going to attract the "best and brightest." Why would I ever want to consider pursuing this "career" if I were a new college student? You're considered the bane of people's existence because you are the closest tie to their property taxes, so that's fun. Your base rate of pay is never guaranteed to cover the rate of inflation or increase in your health care premiums. Plus, even if you are the best at your job and get all that "merit pay", once you make the most money you are target number one for being cut due to constant "budget cuts".

Want to know why I'm so freaked out right now? It's because stuff like this keeps me up at night.