Sam - I turned off the TV and haven’t heard any talking points from any media source since clueless Joe was elected.
I said that the teachers’ union leadership is corrupt. And you and I both know that individual members of the union don’t have any control over what union leadership does.
My wife retired from teaching because she was tired of the BS. It seemed that there are too many administrators & staff and not enough teachers. She is now a sub and will do it 2 more years when her Principal retires. She likes subbing because she doesn’t have to put up with the BS.
As for a shortage of teachers, heck yea there’s a shortage. There’s labor shortages everywhere. So who’s looking for a $50k job dealing with kids, parents, administrators and staff people? Couple that with the number of crazy in each category. So a young person can make that working nights at a busy restaurant with 25% the aggravation.
One of the other issues seems to be work ethic or lack thereof. My wife says 25% of the student teachers they get at her school don’t seem to understand you have to work at teaching. They think it would be easy.
Yeah, it actually is a very hard job. I’m 62 and sometimes feel more like 82!
How is he clueless? The economy is on fire, growing at the fastest rate in nearly 40 years. Unemployment is at a minute 3.8%. The Stock Market recorded one of its best years ever. The pandemic is finally receding. And Biden gets credit for forging the strongest alliance with Europe that we’ve seen in decades. Inflation is always going to be problematic when the economy is growing so quickly. That’s economics 101. And gas is really beyond the control of the government.
Projection?
Inflation and gas prices are also higher than the balls on a giraffe.
That’s likely to make many voters forget about the unemployment rate or GDP.
What a load of crap on all those points…you will find out in November
Teachers do have a tough job with covid but hopefully covid gets reduced bc covid also caused many to leave. Teachers do get the summers off so you can’t compare their salary to the reg market where people get 2 or 4 weeks off on average vs 2 and 1 half months like teachers plus all week for thanksgiving and spring break. Also, many teachers are women that have a spouse making more money. It is tough if it’s a single parent teacher, male or female. The state of Texas is cheap on all things including teacher pay and services bc we only rely on property taxes. Most states have an income and property tax.
Teachers also get a pension vs our 401ks and 401s can go down with stocks bc of things like Putin where as a pension is guaranteed.Plus teachers don’t get fired as much as people in the private sector so they have stability if they want that. Also after a teacher is there for 10 or their salary bumps up and then they are better off than the guy getting fired in private sector starting over each 5 yrs. My brother worked decades and had prob 8 jobs and ended up at 50k where as if he was a teacher for decades, he’d make 70 or so with stability.
So there are trade offs and the big picture needs to be seen.
More likely midterms in congress will swing the other way(red), as that has pretty much
been our pattern for electing our government in the modern period. I think
@1985coog originally made this observation a few weeks ago. Of course
with the Republican party still so much in denial and disarray , who knows. The US
needs a healthy and functioning GOP, however.
They also don’t get Social Security. The only difference is getting to start earlier but they need to do a 403b which is comparable to 401ks
Yes, many government pensions now are more like 401ks these days.
I contribute to mine (don’t have a choice–it’s mandatory) and the government-employer matches. It grows in a pot held by a state agency at a 7 percent rate. If there’s a bull market, it grows at 7 percent. Bear market, the same. When I retire, I get an annuity based on the actual amount in the pot. The longer I work, the bigger the payout. But if I die early after retirement, the remainder in my “pot” stays in the bigger pot to make up for those who live longer than the actuary tables suggested.
While it’s better than nothing, it’s not so great.
My Washington County plan is like that.
OTOH, I have a monthly check for life from the Army, but I am fortunate, insofar as I was “grandfathered” into the old military pension system.
Servicemembers entering from 2018 onwards get something more like a 401(k), plus a MUCH SMALLER pension.
In my case though, I also invested and saved aggressively for decades in stocks and mutual funds. That’s helped me get a lot more financial security.
I’m guessing pensions are more than what a person gets than social security though teachers can’t collect both which is true. Police offers can get pensions equal to their pay sometimes. A girl we know retired from a school district and will get her full salary after retiring but she was an admin worker. I’m not sure how much teachers get in pensions. The good of a 401 is the money is your family’s money no matter where as pensions go away if the person dies. One aspect of teachers quitting is bc they can bc most often they have a spouse working.
Ryon, you and I are in the same TCDRS system. Your county may order different withholding–some of that is at the county’s discretion–but the same rules apply once it gets to TCDRS.
Top25, I knew an HPD Lt. who retired shortly after Hurricane Ike and joined one of the constable precincts. I was defending him in a lawsuit. He told me that the HPD retirement somehow took the officer’s average pay over the previous three years to calculate the retirement payout. His pay had been more than doubled (with overtime) due to hurricane and 9/11 stuff. He said that he stood to lose tens or maybe even over a hundred thousand per year—so he retired and started working for the County. He said HPD no longer offers that pension (though I’m not sure if older officers are grandfathered in or not).
Point is, I think governmental pensions have mostly moved or are moving towards something like I described above. These are much more fiscally responsible plans.
I think some of the blue states have moved that direction, as well. I was looking at a job at a public university in Illinois. I looked at that retirement plan, and it was like the one I now have, but now quite as generous re state contributions. That was the deciding factor to stay put for now.
In my county, 7% is automatically withheld.
We get 210% matching.
This is the first post on this site where I felt a down vote button should be available.
Exhibit A what’s wrong in this society. The teaching crisis is just the tip of the iceberg. Like I said “respect” in earlier post on this thread or lack there of.
I always remember there was the phrase: Those that can do, those that can’t teach.
I know I have done, and now I teach, but that phrase showing not just the lack of respect but also ignorance of others.
It is true for teaching as well as a few other fields. The pre-med students I knew in undergrad hated it when an art student destroyed their grading curve in one of their science classes.
I think they need to do more alternative certification until the shortage is down. At least the people doing alt certs already have a degree so it should work ok. I’d say respect from students is an issue.
They have been doing that for a few years now, has not really helped retention rates. It’s a leaky bucket syndrome, they have a lot of people coming in to try and teach but it doesn’t offset those who leave.
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