With the controversial and outright nasty gubernatorial election in Kentucky and the nationwide focus on the educational establishment, the quality of public education and the value of teachers is front and center in the spotlight.
It has long been the belief and assumption that teachers are underpaid relative to their value. Â It’s also hard to find anyone who thinks that teachers are paid as much as they should be. It is, for the most part, assumed these days that public education is in decline and that the paltry salaries and benefits of teachers are the principal reasons for the decline.
The City-County Observer believes that teachers have one of the highest impact platforms to positively impact our society. Teachers are however shackled with rules and contracts that blunt their efforts with red tape from centralized planning that seems to think that all kids are exactly alike.
We also find that the Vanderburgh County School Superintendent salary and benefits are excessive compared to those who are working long and hard to provide their students with the best education under adverse conditions. Â Also, the practice of political patronage and nepotism is a common practice within school systems throughout the state and needs to be addressed by members of their School Boards.
A question that also needs to be addressed regarding education reform is “if all teacher salaries in the United States were doubled, would it improve the performance of our public schools?” Â It is highly probable that most people will realize that doubling teacher pays without reforming the administrative state that controls education would not improve performance.
While we are not opposed to paying teachers better wages and benefits, we do not think teacher pay is the biggest problem in the classroom. The biggest problem in the classroom is from the school corporation administrators who have little idea about the challenges teachers face in the classroom on a daily basis. To reform education, the effort needs to start with management.
If elected officials are able to increase teachers’ salaries and benefits where they are competitive it will help deal with the loss of effective teachers and make it easier to attract and retain high-quality teachers.
We support our teachers and wish them success at the“Red for Ed†rally organized by the Indiana State Teachers Association.
FOOTNOTE: More than 100 school districts across Indiana will close on Tuesday as thousands of Hoosier teachers say they will descend on the Statehouse to urge lawmakers to improve pay and make other education reforms.
The “Red for Ed†rally organized by the Indiana State Teachers Association takes place on the day lawmakers return to the Statehouse to get ready for the 2020 legislative session. They are expected to be in session for about half a day.
Jennifer Smith-Margraf, ISTA vice president, said more than 13,000 have signed up to attend the day-long event, which includes speeches, meetings with lawmakers and other activities.
I agree that the teacher in the classroom should get more money. The problem in the EVSC is the twenty something people making $100,000 or more downtown. Do we need a spokesman to tell us no school because of weather. I think the superintendent can do it. Do we need someone downtown telling us what math books we need. Let the teachers decide. In Posey county do we need two school corporations? Consolidated them and cut administrative cost in half. We spend enough on educating our kids we need to get rid of the waste. The school board needs to clean house and give that money to the teachers.
When my union staged a walkout while under contract, the C&P called it a “wildcat” strike. Of course, we didn’t have a catchy phrase like “Red for Ed” to hide behind. Our “wildcats” were always for unfair treatment to an individual/individuals by our employer, not more pay. Pay and benefits was decided at contract negotiation time, not when we avoided our responsibilities.
The main problem isn’t the administrators. That’s an attempt to create a convenient scapegoat and divert attention from the systemic attacks on the public education system in Indiana for the last 20 years. It has led to teacher pay lower now than 20 years ago. But the source of the problem is our legislature diverting resources into non-public school systems in an attempt to privatize our school system. Its literally a destroy public education agenda. And it won’t get better until we start voting for public education champions.
So, although private schools, such as Mater Dei, Memorial, and Day School consistently out perform EVSC schools, we should vote for “public school champions” and not just “education champions”? And this, folks, is the leader of your Democrat Party. Remember at voting time, you parents of private school students. Ms. Hardcastle wants your tax money only supporting public schools, not yours.
Ms Hardcastle the amount spent per student in the public schools has gone up every year. To put the blame on private schools is a joke. If that is how you think I’ll never vote for another Democratic. I’ve been a Democratic for 40 years and you are afraid to blame the downtown money pit. Maybe on the state tax form we should have a box to check if you want your tax money to go to public or private schools.
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