The contract voting is under way and I have heard many comments about the extra time and the extra pay. Most comments have been very positive, especially about the pay. The schedule was improved during negotiations by 6% first. Then the district offered to pay teachers their daily rate of pay for 4 additional days, plus the 40 minute PLC time. Added to the already agreed upon 6% and the result was an increase of 10.25% to the salary schedule. The idea of working more days for money seems to be ok for most teachers. I understand that not everyone agrees. The upside is that the pay is appropriate for the extra time on the job. The extra money on the schedule is going to make
Monday, August 21, 2006
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The primary reason for any discontent over the pay differential seems to center around the fact that we are getting paid for an additional four days (2 inservice, 2 teaching) but are also working an additional 40 minutes per week of PLC time. 36 weeks times 40 minutes comes to an additional 24 hours per year, which, if you figure for a 7-hour day, comes to about 3 ½ more days. So we are getting paid for an additional 4 days and working an additional 7 ½.
But we do have to consider that we were also awarded that extra 6% raise – which is more than 3% over the annual CPI average increase of about 2.5% per year. That extra 3% would cover the extra PLC time.
Keep in mind that The Big Plus here is that our salary has been increased by 10.25% overall. Outlying school district administrations have already taken note of this increase and will be forced to up their own ante in order to stay competitive in the hiring market. Their doing so may fuel continued salary increases in our district. It’s a Win-Win situation for all but the taxpayers. (Sorry Carl ;)
It is a big inconvenience for people to have to come in to work 40 minutes early on only one day per week – especially for teachers with young kids of their own in day care. We need to be willing to take this current hardship in stride and look at it as it may play out in the future. If PLCs work out and show student improvement, then great, we will have bridged the biggest milestone in the past century of education reform (actually discovering an approach that makes a difference). If they don’t pan-out, then that 40 minutes will likely just be spread out into the regular week at an additional eight minutes per day – no big deal.
I suppose that I should further clarify my earlier comment about continuing teacher raises (being “a Win-Win situation for all but the taxpayers”) before someone gets their Jockeys in a knot. I was thinking, for the most part, of the “disgruntled” taxpayers – those who are never satisfied that ANY increase in taxation could possibly be for something good – thus my little gibe at “Carl” Peterjohn. I’m sure that there are those who might agree that any tax increase in the name of improving the education of the children of our state is a good thing and that there should be no losers – even when it comes from our own pockets. (That does only go so far. Even though we keep creeping toward year-round schooling, they won’t get taxpayers to support that venture. And that’s a good thing.)
It’s all a matter of perspective.
Again this year the special education teachers have been used as cannon fodder for the good of all teachers in the contract negotiations. Each year the union hears how much special educators do above and beyond what is written in our contracts and for over 10 years the union has traded our hard work to the district in return for small contract concessions. It is a fact that special educators have less time to prepare for their classes and are forced by the district to use either the planning time or personal time to prepare, complete, maintain and hold IEP’s. Ask a union leader about why other districts pay their special education teachers pay differentials and why the union won’t push for one in USD 259 and you will not get a straight answer. USD 259 special education teacher use to get a pay deferential and it was given away by the union. Many of us special education teachers are tired of this and are members of the union only because of the insurance the union provides. The 10 percent pay raise is a very bad joke when compared to the thousands of dollars that the special education teachers are cheated out of each year by our own union. So for those who don’t believe it here is the math. It takes about six hours to gather the information for, write, maintain and to finally set through an IEP. If the caseload is about average you have about 15 IEP students a year. Yes, that’s 90 hours of planning time gone or about four and one half months of planning time. At 25 dollars an hour that’s about 2250 dollars a year we are shorted. It’s not that we want more than our fair share but we want to get paid for the work we do. Until the union stands up for special educator and not what is politically expedient why should we stand up for them.
Oh my goodness! Classroom teachers deal with 20-30 kids each day, all day long. Every special ed teacher I've encountered has (at most) 6 kids in a class, usually with para support. If you want paid more, maybe you should start providing quality instructional lessons and support. I refuse to let my kids that have IEP's out of my classroom because I know if they go to the special ed teacher they won't get what they need to be ready to move on to other classes or to take state assessments. Special ed in Wichita is a joke, and most special ed teachers have more than enough extra plan time to manage their IEP loads. Besides, many IEP's aren't even updated periodically, and our district doesn't even bother to check on this. Lord help us if we ever have a full-fledged audit. I know my school would be in trouble because of shoddy management skills from our spec. ed teachers.
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