I love you all

[proud2BlibKansan]

but I am not paying any of you any more than step increases, even if I do love you.

Happy Spring Break and Happy March Madness too :hi:

[Catshrink]

1. Heck, I'd love to have a step increase.

Our wussy EA agreed to do away with them 4 years ago and just go with a percentage of what the leg. agrees to. We're regretting it now.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. We haven't gotten a dime this year

We supposedly settled our contract and were supposed to get raises on this last check but of course we didn't. Some kind of payroll system glitch. (sure) But honestly I will survive without the $25.

Top of the scale in my district and my raise after taxes is around $25 a paycheck.

Pitiful.

And I am supposed to trust these people to give me a fair merit raise? No way.

[Catshrink]

7. We won't get a raise this year either.

We'll be lucky if we don't get a pay cut.

[stray cat]

8. Pay freezes have been the norm - stepwise increases are a reason to celebrate

for us a stepwise increase is a positive exception to repetitive freezes. However thats University of Wisconsin Medical School and my current Med School.

[fasttense]

3. No? But you will have to pay today's kids' unemployment when their

education isn't competitive with Japan's or even China's. One way or another you pay.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. We are going to have to worry about teacher unemployment first

If we don't pump some money into our schools we won't have teachers left to pay.

Districts are laying off teachers all over the country.

[Fresh_Start]

4. most of us have no assurance of step increases

so we might be happy if we got a step increase

[LWolf]

5. When charter schools and merit pay flourish,

there don't even have to BE steps or columns. They don't need collective bargaining or any interference by unions.

Experience and education aren't worth anything.

[stray cat]

6. as long as my pension and salary and job are guaranteed - although come to NY

you can make 100,000 per year in the public schools and retire with 75% of your salary at age 55.

[Davis_X_Machina]

9. Well, I picked the wrong state...

... to work in.

In Maine, the formula is 2% of your last salary, per year of service.

75% -- let's call it 76% -- would be possible only after 38 years' service.

Let's see: 55-38 is 17. Who starts teaching at age 17?

And if you retire before 62, you lose 6% of your pension for every year before age 62

Let's see: 62-55 = 7. 7*6% is 42%.

If I retired at 55, my pension would be reduced by over 40%.

$100,000 is 1.7 times the top step of the PhD column of our district's scale.

And gas here is the same $2.00 a gallon, the heating oil the same $2.11.