W.Va. Teachers Union Plans 1-Day Walkout (WP)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/10/AR2007031001224.html

W.Va. Teachers Union Plans 1-Day Walkout

By TIM HUBER
The Associated Press
Saturday, March 10, 2007; 10:07 PM

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The state's largest teachers union plans a one-day walkout to protest the 3.5 percent teacher pay raise approved by the Legislature, union President Charlie DeLauder said Saturday.

It's uncertain how many of the West Virginia Education Association's 17,000 members will participate in Wednesday's walkout, DeLauder told The Associated Press.

"Some of our locals are very frustrated and will take some action," he said. "Others, for a variety of reasons, have chosen to remain in their classrooms at this time."

The average salary last year was $41,388, according to state figures. That ranks 47th in the nation, the union said.

The union wanted two consecutive years of 6 percent raises followed by a 3 percent increase.

Last Tuesday, Monongalia County schools canceled classes after 300 of its 1,500 employees called in to say they would be absent in a similar protest.

Carolyn Elswick, a teacher at Madison Middle School, has a master's degree, but after 16 years of teaching says her $42,000 salary often isn't enough to pay the bills.

"It's a shame. It's humiliating. It's painful," she said.

Gov. Joe Manchin said he and the Legislature have given teachers raises and added $1.5 billion to pensions since 2005.

In 1990, when West Virginia salaries ranked 49th in the nation, teachers staged an 11-day strike and won pay raises of $5,000 over three years.

A rival teacher's union, the American Federation of Teachers-WV, sent ballots to members to determine if they wanted to strike, said Judy Hale, the state's president. AFT-affiliated teachers could walk out in May, she said.

[MountainLaurel]

1. Good for them

Experienced teachers who can are leaving the state because of the salary issue as well as the general lack of support for education in the state. This just perpetuates the cycle of not being able to attract businesses because the education system is so crappy, but the education system can't improve if the tax base isn't strengthened. (Although, if the industries that do exist were actually taxed, that would go a long way toward solving the problem.)

[shortcake]

3. What do you think would be a fair salary? n/t

[Massacure]

2. $42,000 isn't enough to pay the bills?

There are people who have to live on half of that....

[job777]

4. I agree

Add to that $42,000, there pensions and health care and a lot of folks out here in need would just love that salary.

[Saboburns]

7. As a West Virginia teacher

Every pasy increase we've recieved in the past ten years has been followed by an increase in our health insurance (NO dental, NO Eyecare) that ends up being more than our pay raise.

This is not an exaggeration and has occured frequently.

[Omaha Steve]

5. The average salary last year was $41,388, according to state figures. That ranks 47th in the nation

Since we trust teachers to teach our children, don't we want teachers that won't leave for a higher paying state? Many teachers also pay out of pocket for supplies the school systems should pay for.

Nebraska is near the bottom of the list too.

[Ishoutandscream2]

6. Thank you for your thoughtful post

It's an ongoing struggle for those of us in education. There's a principle involved here.

[DerBeppo]

8. Is that just a raw number

or does it take cost of living into account? Should West Virginia teachers look at the numbers being paid to New York or California teachers (of which, I am one) and say we want to get paid what they're getting paid? How does their pay stack up to state averages?

[Omaha Steve]

11. When I posted a story about janitors making $26 a day last week

It got one reply. Where were people to bitch about those wages? Don't forget teachers went to college and graduated to learn their profession.

[Ninja Jordan]

9. There should be a federal min salary requirement for k-12 teachers ($50,000/yr).

This RW Supreme Court would probably strike it down as not constituting interstate commerce, however. Although the fed govt could get around that by withholding federal block grants to states unless they raised their teachers' base pay to $50,000 per year.

We need Democrats in the White House. sigh....

[shortcake]

10. Most people in WV work for

the state and don't make as much as teachers. There are two unions WVEA and AFT that don't work together. That doesn't help. A lot of public support was lost during the last strike. There are some excellent teachers and some crappy ones. Merit pay?

[saltpoint]

12. Hat's off to the teachers. For what teachers do, that salary is minimal.

If you itemized the contribution men and women in teaching make to the lives of children and communities, they should make many times that amount.

It's a disgrace to underpay people making valuable contributions to future generations and it's real bad form not to acknowledge them.

[DerBeppo]

13. Just crunched the numbers and...

If I as a teacher living outside Long Beach, CA were living in Charleston at the current pay scale, I'd have around 3,500 MORE per year in pocket based on the 41,388 number.

I'd be getting paid 15% less in dollar amount, but the cost of living is 25% lower. So to say they're grossly underpaid is a joke.

[Omaha Steve]

14. So what should they make, which children should we leave behind?

Just wondering out loud.

[DerBeppo]

15. Don't know what perfection is

but, being a teacher myself, I would guess there's no such thing. No matter the pay, a large group will always want more and more. I have no complaints about my pay, my benefits are outstanding, the state pension plan is fairly solid and I've only been an educator for a few years.

I think we've become so used to hearing that we should be getting paid more for so long that even when we are paid fairly, it still doesn't fulfill our natural human desire to want more and more.

Moreover, if a person decides to become a teacher, that person shouldn't plan to live like a doctor.

[shortcake]

16. I don't know who you leave behind

or that you have to. When my daughter's teacher called and said she hadn't broughten her report card back I started considering merit pay. A lot of young teachers in WV can't get jobs.

[DerBeppo]

17. Not surprising.

There's a huge glut of new teachers for various reasons. In a large credential class of, say, 35, it's not rare to see 15 of them go on to make quality educators.

There's a reason 50% of all new teachers will either quit or be let go within 5 years. Most aren't cut out for the job. It takes a very special(crazy?)kind of person to make a career out of being blamed for society's ills.