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Attribution: Roberta F.
Public school teachers have
staged walkouts in multiple states in protest for higher pay and more funding
for public schools. When watching some of these teachers being interviewed, it
is difficult to reconcile that individuals in our society with some of the
highest education levels among us have to work side jobs and still not be able
to make ends meet. One teacher said he could not afford to enroll his wife in
the health insurance plan provided for him as a teacher. When reviewing a
national list of average teacher pay it was eye opening. Starting salaries
ranged from the low $30,000 range to the mid $40,000 range. After years of
experience the top pay was still under $80,000. Don't look at the higher
end salaries in a vacuum because they are often in very high cost of living
areas. Let us be reminded that these are people with college degrees and some
have multiple Master's degrees. With college degrees come student loans and
debt. Many of these teachers are still paying off their own student loans and now
their children are ready for college. Almost all of these teachers did into
their own pockets to pay for supplies for the their classrooms and students.
Why have we allowed teachers and our public education system to be starved for
resources the way they are. Our public schools and the people that keep them
going seem to have become and afterthought, just like the American
infrastructure.
Our public schools have become
the place children go to five days per week while their parents are working.
The kids are dropped off, picked up by a bus, drive or walk to school five days
a week and show up back home later in the day. What happens during that school
day is not top-of-mind to the vast majority of Americans, but not to the
teachers and students. Teachers deal with the issues, attitudes and behaviors
students bring with them on a daily basis. Teachers deal with the lack of
resources provided to them with undiminished expectations when it comes to
performance and student test scores whether they can pay their bills or not.
Being a teacher may be a calling, but it should not be a sacrifice through
hardship and economic deprivation. We must think of our public education system
as part of our national infrastructure and if it is not invested in, it will
crumble just like our highways. Funneling money into the pockets of the wealthy
at the cost of everything else is a recipe for disaster.
Thus far the walkouts have been
in states that solidly supported Donald Trump in the prior Presidential
election. There are dots to be connected that can not be ignored. Funding of
public schools is a function of federal, state and local governments. President
Trump appointed an anti-public school advocate as Secretary of Education, Betsy
DeVos. DeVos is a supporter of moving public schools funds to private and
religious schools. Teachers and those supporting them need to connect the dots
and make sure they are voting in their best interests in the future. Teacher
need to be thanked, appreciated and PAID!
