Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels : "You teachers make too much money"

[Hannah Bell]

TESTIMONIAL FROM A MEMBER AT WESTERN (HOWARD COUNTY) WHO LOBBIED TUESDAY

On Tues. Jan. 25th, 2011, I went to Indianapolis to help lobby for public schools, their students, and teachers. You see I graduated from public schools, as did my husband, and our 3 children. (Katie, a public school teacher, Jonathan a lawyer, and Molly a medical doctor, where did I go wrong?) I have taught art in public schools since 1973. I love my students, my job, and my school.

Enough about me.... as I am walking through the halls of our state capital I see a small group of teachers talking to the governor of Indiana and I join them to hear him speak. One of the first things I heard our Governor say was "You teachers are all making to much money. You are all making 22% more than the taxpayers who are paying your salaries." A lady said her children are on free and reduced lunches and she was a teacher. One teacher did speak up in her defense and said she had 6 years of college. The Governor asked her what kind of a teacher she was and she replied a "very good teacher."

The Governor then said "well the rest of the teachers at her school must not be very good then because not everyone can be a very good teacher." He went on to say that 90% of the teacher evaluations in our state say that the teachers are excellent. And our education is horrible. "One half of our state budget goes to education and that is ridiculous! Our state has the highest amount being paid out to fund education.... and our education is terrible!" the Governor replied.

I stood within 2 feet of our Governor and watched as his eyes bulged as he attacked everything said. I felt his disdain and contempt for public schools and teachers. And I felt the respect that should have been given to these public school teachers and students was non-existent. Several teachers have stopped and asked did I have fun in Indy on Tuesday. We left at 8:00 and returned a little after 5:00. The whole time we were at the statehouse or with ISTA. None of the other statesman would see us after sending countless notes to them for a few minutes of their time...I encourage you all to do the same or go to the statehouse and see for yourself what we are up against.


http://www.schoolsmatter.info/

[roody]

1. How much does he make? It is too much.

[struggle4progress]

5. $95K + $6K for expenses: it's twice what the average Indiana teacher makes

[CreekDog]

2. okay Mitch, you got it, tell us how much they should live on per year

and then live on that amount yourself.

then we'll talk about your ideas.

until then, it's all hypocrisy.

[barbtries]

3. i'm so sorry

that is outrageous. who should make more than a teacher? what a dick.

[xchrom]

4. ...

:mad:

[Shining Jack]

8. I second that emoticon.

:mad:

[WCGreen]

6. Why are we demonizing teachers...

This is simply ridiculous.

[maryf]

9. Because no one makes a profit on them!

Because they are unionized, and because charter schools can hire cheaper, uncertified teachers, ching, ching... Milton Friedman was totally against public schools, that has trickled down.

[Johonny]

21. they have strong unions

Public opinion on unions has gone down for the last 30 years. The little unions left in the country are now under attack. Republicans want unions gone completely so they won't come back. Thus police, teachers, fire fighters... people generally thought of as safe from political attack are now under constant attack. They will be until the unions are gone.

[quaker bill]

7. A Republican speaking his convictions

I am pretty sure that teachers are not the only folks he thinks "make too much money". Teachers do seem to be "flavor of the month" for this sort of thing though. Of course, when they say that teachers make 22% more, they are averaging in the HS dropouts who are flipping burgers to survive.

Since states do not have a defense budget, don't do foriegn aid, or pay for social security, one must wonder what he thinks "half the budget" should be going for.

[Hannah Bell]

10. i don't get how they can be making 22% more than the taxpayers, or why teachers apparently

aren't considered taxpayers.

[Recursion]

17. Presumably he meant 22% higher than the state median wage

Which sounds reasonable; teachers probably should be above the median wage.

[JHB]

19. It's also a reflection of wage-repression among private-sector workers.

[NutmegYankee]

23. College educated people should make higher than the median wage.

I can't stand this argument. Teachers often have to have master's degrees and people think they should only make the median. It's disgusting! :puke:

[WinkyDink]

30. Maybe he was speaking out of his rear-end. Anyway, since when is "the median" the standard?

[Turbineguy]

11. A fine example

of republican leadership.

[Starry Messenger]

12. Sounds like some people here...

Can I dare to hope that Dems will make noises about pushing back on this now that the Rs are back to being public and vocal enemies of education?

[Locrian]

13. gun fight

"Ditch Mitch " has been my mantra for as long as the bastard has been in office. Sounds like the people were too nice to him. This guy is scum of the earth and needs to be dealt with as a hostile opponent. Slam him on this:


"...In 2003 when Daniels, as W's Budget Director, was overseeing a $236 billion surplus turn into a $400 billion deficit before his eyes in less than 3 years...."


The guy is pure dirt. No, actually, dirt looks down on Daniels....

[ladjf]

14. What an idiot! nt

[Chiyo-chichi]

15. A man traveling through Mexico on vacation lost his wallet and all identification...

He was stopped by the U.S. Customs Agent at the border.
"May I see your identification, please?" asks the agent.
"I'm sorry, but I lost my wallet," replies the guy.
"Sure, buddy, I hear that every day. No ID, no crossing the border," says the agent.
"But I can prove that I'm an American!" he exclaims. "I have a picture of Ronald Reagan tattooed on one butt cheek and a picture of George W. Bush on the other."
"This I gotta see," replies the agent.
With that, the vacationer drops his pants and bends over in front of the agent.
"By golly, you're right!" exclaims the agent. "Go on home to Indiana."
"Thanks!" he says. "But how did you know I was from Indiana?"
The agent replies, "I recognized Mitch Daniels in the middle."

[CRK7376]

22. hahahaha

I like your posting.

[Dappleganger]

24. Awesome!

[LWolf]

16. It sounds like he is the outcome

of the Republican/conservative/neoliberal education model: Ignorant, dishonest, and manipulative.

[Angry Dragon]

18. K&R

[LittleGirl]

20. How much?

does a person with a Master's degree make in the corporate world? Because in Indiana, that's what is required to teach. So how much does someone with a master's degree make?

[NutmegYankee]

27. It depends on the field.

A finance or business major who just moves money around often makes well over 100K usually.

An Engineer who creates the technology and infrastructure we use every day often makes 60-90K usually, with experienced senior engineers pushing 100K.

A Teacher who teaches the next generation allowing for more college educated people makes 40-70K usually, depending on experience.

Notice where our values are in the pay system?

[Recursion]

32. Careful; then he'll ask "why does it take a Masters degree to teach?"

That is ultimately where this is going, IMO.

[QC]

33. Yes, we are seeing the deprofessionalization of teaching.

It has already been going on in higher ed for quite a few years now, with adjuncts and grad students replacing full-time faculty in lower division classes.

Having firmly ensconced the Wal-Mart approach to labor relations in higher ed, it's time to do it in K-12, where unions have traditionally been stronger.

[KamaAina]

25. Earth to Mitch: Teachers are degreed professionals.

It stands to reason they would be making more than someone who asks "Would you like fries with that?".

You don't suppose the fact that teaching is a female-dominated profession has anything to do with his utter contempt for it, do you?

[Dappleganger]

26. The only way to fight them is by organizing...

and they are trying to shut down your rights to do this.

[KansasVoter]

28. What part did Bill Gates play in this?

[WinkyDink]

29. "22% more than the taxpayers" = a meaningless number.

[OverBurn]

31. Daniel's Is A Damn Liar

He wants Education Tax Money going to Vouchers for Private Schools. In effect killing public education as we know it, making the poor, poorer and less educated. He wants to make the profession of teaching a low pay service industry job.

Mitch the "Lil Bitch" has already outsourced every fucking thing he can get his greedy little hands on. His outsourcing of Medicare in the state of Indiana already back fired and cost tax payers millions more after it was a complete failure and had to be took back over by the state.

Daniels really knows how to handle money, as Bush's Budget Director, he helped turn a $236 billion surplus into a $400 billion deficit before our eyes in less than 3 years.

[Karmadillo]

34. Let us stand by passively until the plutocrats drive us back to serfdom.

They are too powerful and would be mean to us if we were to protest. Let us seek our reward in the afterlife.