'I Work 3 Jobs And Donate Blood Plasma to Pay the Bills.' This Is What It's Like to Be a Teacher...

[babylonsister]

'I Work 3 Jobs And Donate Blood Plasma to Pay the Bills.' This Is What It’s Like to Be a Teacher in America
By Katie Reilly
6:00 AM EDT


Hope Brown can make $60 donating plasma from her blood cells twice in one week, and a little more if she sells some of her clothes at a consignment store. It’s usually just enough to cover an electric bill or a car payment. This financial juggling is now a part of her everyday life—something she never expected almost two decades ago when she earned a master’s degree in secondary education and became a high school history teacher. Brown often works from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. at her school in Versailles, Ky., then goes to a second job manning the metal detectors and wrangling rowdy guests at Lexington’s Rupp Arena. With her husband, she also runs a historical tour company for extra money.

“I truly love teaching,” says the 52-year-old. “But we are not paid for the work that we do.”

That has become the rallying cry of many of America’s public-school teachers, who have staged walkouts and marches on six state capitols this year. From Arizona to Oklahoma, in states blue, red and purple, teachers have risen up to demand increases in salaries, benefits and funding for public education. Their outrage has struck a chord, reviving a national debate over the role and value of teachers and the future of public education.

For many teachers, this year’s uprising is decades in the making. The country’s roughly 3.2 million full-time public-school teachers (kindergarten through high school) are experiencing some of the worst wage stagnation of any profession, earning less on average, in inflation-­adjusted dollars, than they did in 1990, according to Department of Education (DOE) data.

Meanwhile, the pay gap between teachers and other comparably educated professionals is now the largest on record. In 1994, public-school teachers in the U.S. earned 1.8% less per week than comparable workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank. By last year, they made 18.7% less. The situation is particularly grim in states such as Oklahoma, where teachers’ inflation-adjusted salaries actually decreased by about $8,000 in the last decade, to an average of $45,245 in 2016, according to DOE data. In Arizona, teachers’ average inflation-adjusted annual wages are down $5,000.

more...

http://time.com/longform/teaching-in-america/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-button-sharing

[tblue37]

1. K&R for visibility. nt

[msongs]

2. teachers need to stop school work otside contract hours...period. if the

work cannot be done on the clock it should be reduced..OR the contract day needs to be extended for more pay

[Luciferous]

3. My daughter wanted to be a high school biology teacher but decided against it because of the pay.

[ffr]

4. I doubt tRump's family will take notice.

I saw the gender specific "her" mentioned. Females don't count in conservative world, other than with lip service about how equal they are...yeah, right!

We all get poorer because some closet anarchist haters voted for tRump and other corrupt conservatives.

[Thekaspervote]

5. Please know there are a lot of Americans who vote for tax increases for the schools

I do everytime! Sorry....teachers should not have to jump thru hoops just to make a living

[Blue_true]

6. How many blue state teachers are as strapped as that Kentucky teacher?

Red state teachers need to start voting democratic and don't stop. Their situation will improve if the get democrats leading the executive and legislative branches permanently.

[pansypoo53219]

7. amerikkkan priorities. fucked up gud.