Public Employees Salaries In WNY

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050314/1070961.asp

 

Selected quotes:

 

School district salaries - both teachers and administrators - are driving the higher budgets and taxes. Even the best-paid county employees would have a hard time keeping up with school officials like the Lake Shore School superintendent, Kenneth J. Connolly, who, state records show, is making $154,553 this school year.

In fact, of the 242 administrators and school principals and assistant principals outside Buffalo, some 188 - or 78 percent - make more than Erie County Executive Joel A. Giambra's $103,428 annual salary, state education records show.

Median base pay for teachers here is $50,666, but recent payrolls show a new first: a handful of teachers either making six figures or getting awfully close.

That doesn't surprise Alan Getter, the assistant superintendent for business with the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda school district, where two teachers earned more than $100,000 last year.

Top scale is in the $80,000s, he said, but total wages can be pushed much higher if teachers work extra, like coaching, advising clubs and, in Ken-Ton's case, earning $2,000 for completing 20 hours of in-service training each year.

---

"There's always that concern, that it'll look like a selfish grab for money when everyone else is struggling," said Kevin McCuen, chief negotiator for the Clarence Teachers Association. The union is picketing, putting up billboards and campaigning to convince residents their pay and benefits are far behind nearly all other county districts.

But, he said, taxes are low, compared with other districts.

"The ability to pay in the Clarence community is there," McCuen said.

---

 

 

I mean, most teachers are nice people, but 6 figures?

[John Adams]

It's a great job, and a very important one. And you only work nine months of the year...with loads of vacation... and done at 3 pm most days. Sign me up.

 

100K for 7 months work in Buffalo goes a long ways.

[BillsFanNC]

It's a great job, and a very important one. And you only work nine months of the year...with loads of vacation... and done at 3 pm most days. Sign me up.

275133[/snapback]

 

While all that is correct, being a GOOD teacher is not an easy job by any means.

[Alaska Darin]

While all that is correct, being a GOOD teacher is not an easy job by any means.

275160[/snapback]

You do realize that you are responding to a teacher, right?

[BillsFanNC]

You do realize that you are responding to a teacher, right?

275166[/snapback]

 

No I did not. My father taught for 30+ years so I know some about what makes a good teacher though.

[John Adams]

You do realize that you are responding to a teacher, right?

275166[/snapback]

 

I'm an adjunct professor, which means a couple universities pay me poorly to do the job of the highly paid professors who barely work. I'm a long way from a "teacher" like the people in the article.

 

I'm probably an average teacher, but I bring some real work experience to the class, and we have fun. The goal of night school teaching is to keep the students awake.

[gmac17]

i wouldn't mind paying teachers 100k if they were good and the students did well. Unfortunately, you can't pay the good ones 100k and the bad ones 30k thanks to (drum roll please....) THE UNIONS.

 

 

I was at a school in Houston last month and watched a teacher take an online quiz designed for 3rd graders. She had to pick a state from multiple choice options - the state was Michigan. Her first choice? Connecticut. Her second choice? South Carolina.....

[nobody]

I was at a school in Houston last month and watched a teacher take an online quiz designed for 3rd graders. She had to pick a state  from multiple choice options - the state was Michigan. Her first choice? Connecticut. Her second choice? South Carolina.....

 

Geography is a hard subject.

[Alaska Darin]

No I did not.    My father taught for 30+ years so I know some about what makes a good teacher though.

275176[/snapback]

Most people know what a good teacher is. EVERYONE knows what a bad teacher is.

[Fan in San Diego]

I felt compelled to chime in on this thread.

 

My wife is currently a Vice Principal in San Diego. She taught for 22 years as well and also holds a Special Ed. credential. So I have a pretty good idea about the ins- and outs in education.

 

This post sounds like it could have come from anywhere in California aswell.

 

The key pieces of information I noticed was that the median is around 50K per year. Sounds like a resonable pay to me. The handfull of cases are just that. A handful, as in very few. They are probably teachers with 55 years experience. In Cal. there are salary caps that prevent increases beyond x number of years of experience with the exception of cost of living raises Usually 1 or 2% when COLA is really 3.7 %

 

Also the sentiment of this article and thread is that a teachers or administrators job is a cake walk and party everyday. It couldn't possibly be hard, compared to my job.

 

That is far from the truth having observed many teachers and admins. Try controlling 30 kids (some with behavior problems or special ed as well) all day without raising your voice and using only nice words and trying to teach them as well.

 

Administors having to cope with every jerkoff parent who becausen a school. they pay their taxes should be able to verbally berate every teacher and admin and they know more than every teacher and admin just because they are a parent?

 

Forget that teachers and admin's have extensive training and years of experience teaching every little Johnny and Jane in the neighborhood with every learning problem and strength that each child posseses. No every parent by right of procreation alone knows better than everyone else on how to teach and run a school efficiently .

 

Also where is written that teachers and admin's have taken a vow of poverty, how dare a teacher or admin aspire to have a decent wage for very hard work.

 

America makes me sick when it comes to education. Every politician that comes along screws around with the educational system. There should be a qualified education czar that alone has the power to change policy and curriculum.

 

Leave education alone and quite politicizing everything about education. I'm starting to think that the voucher system is the better way to go with education. This way every piss ant upstart that wants to start and run a school can and find out just how easy it is.

 

OK I think I've got it out of my system now. Putting my soap box away.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

I felt compelled to chime in on this thread.

 

My wife is currently a Vice Principal in San Diego. She taught for 22 years as well and also holds a Special Ed. credential. So I have a pretty good idea about the ins- and outs in education.

 

This post sounds like it could have come from anywhere in California aswell.

 

The key pieces of information I noticed was that the median is around 50K per year. Sounds like a resonable pay to me. The handfull of cases are just that. A handful, as in very few. They are probably teachers with 55 years experience.  In Cal. there are salary caps that prevent increases beyond x number of years of experience with the exception of cost of living raises Usually 1 or 2% when COLA is really 3.7 %

 

Also the sentiment of this article and thread is that a teachers or administrators job is a cake walk and party everyday. It couldn't possibly be hard, compared to my job.

 

That is far from the truth having observed many teachers and admins. Try controlling 30 kids (some with behavior problems or special ed as well) all day without raising your voice and using only nice words and trying to teach them as well.

 

Administors having to cope with every jerkoff parent who becausen a school. they pay their taxes should be able to verbally berate every teacher and admin and they know more than every teacher and admin just because they are a parent?

 

Forget that teachers and admin's have extensive training and years of experience teaching every little Johnny and Jane in the neighborhood with every learning problem and strength that each child posseses. No every parent by right of procreation alone knows better than everyone else on how to teach and run a school efficiently .

 

Also where is written that teachers and admin's have taken a vow of poverty, how dare a teacher or admin aspire to have a decent wage for very hard work.

 

America makes me sick when it comes to education. Every politician that comes along screws around with the educational system. There should be a qualified education czar that alone has the power to change policy and curriculum.

 

Leave education alone and quite politicizing everything about education. I'm starting to think that the voucher system is the better way to go with education. This way every piss ant upstart that wants to start and run a school can and find out just how easy it is.

 

OK I think I've got it out of my system now. Putting my soap box away.

276161[/snapback]

 

Let me add a counterweight to your emotional rant.

 

Let me preface this by saying both my wife and my mother are teachers, so I KNOW what teaching is like.

 

Teachers work 9 months out of the year. You gave an example of a median income of 50K. Let's assume that is correct. That comes to $4166 dollars a month, gross. In my estimation, the teacher earning that sum should only be paid $38,000 a year. Why?

 

Because if you or I worked in the Private Sector for 9 months a year, you or I would only be paid for when we worked. Why should Education be any different?

 

Also, teachers get an INCREDIBLY generous pension, one that will pay them their final salary for the REST OF THEIR LIVES once they retire. Find another job that has THAT little perk. Oh, and when they die, their spouses get a HANDSOME death benefit from the pension.

 

But wait, there's MORE! Teachers get every conceivable holidy, including an AUTOMATIC 2 week break at Christmas. Let's not forget the snow days, either. And while we're on the topic of time off, in my wife's district, they get something like 15 paid sick days each year that ROLL OVER to the following year.

 

I won't even get in to tenure and union protection.

 

Yeah, let me tell you, those teachers SURE have it rough living off the public dime.

[John Adams]

That is far from the truth having observed many teachers and admins. Try controlling 30 kids (some with behavior problems or special ed as well) all day without raising your voice and using only nice words and trying to teach them as well.

 

Administors having to cope with every jerkoff parent who becausen a school. they pay their taxes should be able to verbally berate every teacher and admin and they know more than every teacher and admin just because they are a parent?

 

Forget that teachers and admin's have extensive training and years of experience teaching every little Johnny and Jane in the neighborhood with every learning problem and strength that each child posseses. No every parent by right of procreation alone knows better than everyone else on how to teach and run a school efficiently .

 

Also where is written that teachers and admin's have taken a vow of poverty, how dare a teacher or admin aspire to have a decent wage for very hard work.

 

276161[/snapback]

 

Everything you write about is part of your job. Of course there are some parts of it that are hard. If it was all fun and games, they wouldn't have to pay you to do it.

 

I hear your rant from teachers, in particular, all the time. It goes something like, "I'd like to see you do my job." That's so childish. I didn't choose your job; you did. Stop whining about all of the things that go into doing your job, and just do it.

 

In answer to lots of your other complaints, see JSP's post. (Good god... did I just use JSP as a source? <Washes mouth out with soap.>)

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

In answer to lots of your other complaints, see JSP's post. (Good god... did I just use JSP as a source? <Washes mouth out with soap.>)

276249[/snapback]

 

Now, now, we share a lot more viewpoints than we disagree on. It's just that when we disagree, it's a deep division.

 

I've got nothing against you personally, actually liked meeting you the one year at the tailgate.

 

That goes for everyone here. Despite the fact I can be a nasty bugger when it comes to politics, it's never personal with me.

[John Adams]

Kumbuyah and all that crap.* Of course it's not personal.

 

 

 

*except for AIDS babies

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Kumbuyah and all that crap.* Of course it's not personal.

*except for AIDS babies

276381[/snapback]

 

Leave the AIDS babies out of this.

 

[Mark VI]

My wife has been teaching Math for 16 years and makes peanuts, working in a Catholic school. That's her choosing but she loves her job.

 

In The Buff News, a Clarence teacher holds up a sign saying he's underpaid. During our current economic disaster in Erie County, he should shut his mouth and get back to work. He probably makes 3 times what my wife does and I never hear her cry.

 

Sorry, but that reeks of complete GREED and the argument is weak.

[kegtapr]

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050314/1070961.asp

 

Selected quotes:

 

School district salaries - both teachers and administrators - are driving the higher budgets and taxes. Even the best-paid county employees would have a hard time keeping up with school officials like the Lake Shore School superintendent, Kenneth J. Connolly, who, state records show, is making $154,553 this school year.

In fact, of the 242 administrators and school principals and assistant principals outside Buffalo, some 188 - or 78 percent - make more than Erie County Executive Joel A. Giambra's $103,428 annual salary, state education records show.

Median base pay for teachers here is $50,666, but recent payrolls show a new first: a handful of teachers either making six figures or getting awfully close.

That doesn't surprise Alan Getter, the assistant superintendent for business with the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda school district, where two teachers earned more than $100,000 last year.

Top scale is in the $80,000s, he said, but total wages can be pushed much higher if teachers work extra, like coaching, advising clubs and, in Ken-Ton's case, earning $2,000 for completing 20 hours of in-service training each year.

---

"There's always that concern, that it'll look like a selfish grab for money when everyone else is struggling," said Kevin McCuen, chief negotiator for the Clarence Teachers Association. The union is picketing, putting up billboards and campaigning to convince residents their pay and benefits are far behind nearly all other county districts.

But, he said, taxes are low, compared with other districts.

"The ability to pay in the Clarence community is there," McCuen said.

---

I mean, most teachers are nice people, but 6 figures?

275094[/snapback]

 

Now lets talk about new teachers. My fiancee is making 31,000 this year as a first year teacher. Sounds good, until you take a few thousand out of that for buying her own supplies. Then add union dues, taxes, etc.

 

A 8-3 job? Riiiiiight. She leaves at 7:30 every morning and isn't home until at least 6pm every night. Work over then? Nope, more grading papers. Spends weekends developing lesson plans. All this while also taking 6 credit hours a semester for the next 2 years to get her mandatory masters degree in the 5 year time limit.

 

Teachers are the most underpaid people in society. I say leave them alone.

[sweet baboo]

Now lets talk about new teachers. My fiancee is making 31,000 this year as a first year teacher. Sounds good, until you take a few thousand out of that for buying her own supplies. Then add union dues, taxes, etc.

 

A 8-3 job? Riiiiiight. She leaves at 7:30 every morning and isn't home until at least 6pm every night. Work over then? Nope, more grading papers. Spends weekends developing lesson plans. All this while also taking 6 credit hours a semester for the next 2 years to get her mandatory masters degree in the 5 year time limit.

 

Teachers are the most underpaid people in society. I say leave them alone.

276574[/snapback]

 

i agree that teachers are underpaid in society (while brainless !@#$s like 50 cent make millions) but teaching gets much easier over the years...you keep teaching the same stuff over and over again so you won't need to change your lesson plans too much

i'd love to teach at a primary school level after working in the private sector for several years

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Now lets talk about new teachers. My fiancee is making 31,000 this year as a first year teacher. Sounds good, until you take a few thousand out of that for buying her own supplies. Then add union dues, taxes, etc.

 

A 8-3 job? Riiiiiight. She leaves at 7:30 every morning and isn't home until at least 6pm every night. Work over then? Nope, more grading papers. Spends weekends developing lesson plans. All this while also taking 6 credit hours a semester for the next 2 years to get her mandatory masters degree in the 5 year time limit.

 

Teachers are the most underpaid people in society. I say leave them alone.

276574[/snapback]

 

Wait till she's been doing it 5 years. Her salary will increase EVERY year no matter her aptitude. By the time she's at her career end, she'll be FAR outearning you, but with the same amount or less responsibility.

[kegtapr]

Wait till she's been doing it 5 years. Her salary will increase EVERY year no matter her aptitude. By the time she's at her career end, she'll be FAR outearning you, but with the same amount or less responsibility.

276652[/snapback]

 

Good, i'm glad she'll be out earning me. Her job is a hell of a lot more important.

 

My point is it is not a cakewalk from the beginning. In my eyes she'll earn everything she gets. With all the government waste, the last place people need to be looking right now is at teachers salaries. Clean up the other messes then we'll talk.

 

And how in the hell can any job have more responsibilty then educating Americas future?