Illinois teachers are getting the UAW treatment now. Look how overpaid they are. Oh, my

[NNN0LHI]

Well, guess what? I don't want any "cheap" teachers instructing our children here in Illinois. If we don't give our most qualified teachers decent pay they won't go into the teaching profession. They will go somewhere else where they can make more and then we will only be left with the not as qualified ones teaching our kids. Bullshit on that. Pay good teachers what they deserve. Most of the teachers around here I know personally are dedicated at trying to make a difference and doing the best job they possibly can educating our chlidren. They deserve everything they get.

Don

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-six-figure-salaries-20100714,0,2078878.story

Chicago-area teachers top state in earning six-figure salaries

By Diane Rado, Tribune reporter

8:52 p.m. CDT, July 14, 2010

An extraordinary number of public school teachers in the Chicago region earned $100,000 or more in 2009, straining school budgets and taxpayer wallets and fueling the debate over what teachers are worth and how they get raises.

In the affluent enclaves of Highland Park and Deerfield, almost half the teachers in Township High School District 113 took home six-figure salaries — the highest percentage in the state.

In Park Ridge and Hinsdale, about 43 percent of high school district teachers earned $100,000 or more, according to a Chicago Tribune salary analysis.

Six-figure teacher salaries of that magnitude are rare elsewhere in Illinois and in most parts of the country.

The highest-paying districts note that they are top performers that get accolades and national rankings, and they need to be competitive to attract top teachers as parents expect. snip

About 4 percent of teachers statewide earned $100,000 or more — 5,457 teachers — but the vast majority worked in the Chicago suburbs, with heavy concentrations in north Cook, DuPage and Lake counties. In all, 32 Chicago-area districts paid at least 20 percent of their teachers six figures — five times the state average.

[dkf]

1. When public servants earn significantly more than the people that pay their salaries it is a recipe

For discontent.

Public servants also get lifetime retirement benefits that are unattainable for most of us.

[dsc]

3. I bet they don't

Those suburbs of Chicago are wealthy enclaves with very high median incomes. I would be willing to bet that the median income in those suburbs is not much different that the median income of those teachers.

[nemo137]

7. Bingo

Hinsdale, for example, has a median family income of ~$132,000. Park Ridge has a medium family income of ~$110,000. Rich schools, paying their teachers well.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. By that reasoning, no public servant should earn more than minimum wage. -nt

[izquierdista]

2. What's so magic about this $100,000 number?

I would hope that someone with some post-baccalaureate education and 20 years experience could top out in their career at $100,000+. Doesn't even have to be restricted to teachers. That job could be social worker, engineer, psychologist, programmer, pilot, or a hundred other occupations where management is turning the screws to get more for the CEO. Chances are, they've worked hard for many years, and a salary like that qualifies one to buy only an average priced house in a lot of places.

This is one more example of the haves and have-mores setting the blue-collar and white-collar folks at odds with each other, while they pick the pockets of both.

[Karmadillo]

4. The International Attack on Public Workers

http://www.zcommunications.org/the-international-attack-on-public-workers-by-shamus-cooke

<edit>

Some politicians are more blunt about their feelings for state workers, demanding that they accept wage cuts as well.

This kind of “fix” for the recession isn’t limited to Oregon; it’s a national issue — promoted by the corporate-friendly media and corporate-awestruck politicians. The pensions of public workers are being especially targeted, labeled by the media as “lavish” and “elite.” The New York Times quotes Girard Miller of Governing Magazine:

“The pension crisis in New York state parallels others such as those in Illinois and California that also require serious solutions…many states must fix their pension laws to enable public employers to install lower-cost benefits for future service by incumbents and new employees.” (May 20, 2010).

Translation: Newly hired public employee should have lower wages and benefits. This is the same “two-tiered” system that the automotive corporations used to boost their profits off the backs of their employees.

<edit>

The budget crisis phenomenon is international, and the international corporate-elite are sharing ideas on how best to come out of the crisis unscathed. They’re blaming the recession itself on public employees, on “greedy” workers who earn the tiniest fraction of what rich shareholders make by doing nothing.

All public workers must unite to combat this assault, while reaching out to private sector workers as well, since all workers deserve the ability to retire comfortably. Retirement itself is becoming an endangered species. Also, all workers will be negatively affected by the multitude of regressive “consumption taxes” being proposed by business groups: alcohol, cigarettes, sales taxes, etc.

more...

[upi402]

5. Most Republicans I know ARE on the public dole

On the public dole (paid via tax revenue):
Teachers
Administrators
Fire
Police
All military
FBI
State, County, City workers
USCIS (immigration)
Homeland Security
Court system, and all support staff
Jails and Prisons

ad infinitum...
these folks tend to be conservatives who support candidates who would delete their job's source of revenue.

[surrealAmerican]

6. Why is this news?

This is how affluent districts attract the best teachers. They've been doing this for generations.

[tritsofme]

8. Our kids went to D211 in Palatine

Which is one of the highest paid in the state, and you really do get what you pay for.

Nothing but wonderful experiences in that district, and the teachers were great.

The only teachers making six figures had been there for 20 years or more, and that sounds pretty reasonable to me.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. I continued to be surprised at those who equate seniority in a district with quality

when they are not related.

[rucky]

11. What's the median income for the urban districts?

I think what we should be pissed about is the disparity of income (and funding) between school districts. This was going on way before union busting and charter schools. It's the original problem with modern education.