Statesman: Cut Teachers Pay?

33 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

• 

  BigMac on March 28 at 10:40 a.m.

  Idaho teachers aren’t paid enough as it is; cuts make it worse.

• 

  Dennis on March 28 at 10:45 a.m.

  Another reason for the states “Best & Brightest” to continue their exodus.

  Is there a ranking lower than 50th??????

  Idaho is gonna find it.

• 

  sue on March 28 at 11:56 a.m.

  Does the treatment of Idaho’s politicians towards teachers and education in general make it difficult to be a teacher and a republican?

• 

  Kage_Mann on March 28 at 2:31 p.m.

  I know of a teacher who is single with 2 daughters and she has a hard time existing on the $33,000 she is paid by the district.Ten years ago that salary would have been considered good, but in todays world $40,000 is not alot of money.

• 

  Stickman on March 28 at 5:10 p.m.

  Kage: I make under 10K and survive, so don’t give me that.

• 

  inlandempiregirl on March 28 at 6:15 p.m.

  I don’t think they should have cut wages and I also think they should have used stimulus money for that purpose. I understood that one message the Department of Education was sending was to use this stimulus money to keep people working in school districts.

• 

  Whippersnapper on March 28 at 6:20 p.m.

  Every sector of the economy, including mine, is laying off people and/or cutting wages. I think that education is fair game for cuts if every other state department must cut wages or lay off people. To claim otherwise is to place teachers above police officers, state troopers, college professors and other state employees. Everybody’s hurting right now.

• 

  daveo on March 28 at 8:05 p.m.

  Teachers do not share in the good times or receive large bonuses. Instead they fall further & further behind removing any incentive for excellent people who really want the job. Also education is our answer out of this mess. The conservative agenda simply does not appreciate any public employee.

• 

  hhuseland on March 28 at 9:12 p.m.

  I work with teachers and students at Athol Elementary school every week. With cuts going on everywhere, I realize nobody wants an elite that is untouchable. Still, if teachers are laid off, it will only affect them temporarily. If students are deprived, especially in the K-6 grades, they will never have the chance to go back and pick up what they missed.

  I would want to tread lightly in this area. OK, probably teachers can survive with minor adjustments to their incomes, but positions eliminated would be an educational disaster. Senior volunteers help, but aren’t trained to do what these heroes do every day. When I volunteer for say an hour and one half once a week, I feel pressure. The concentration that it requires to stay in tune with just one student is intense. For a classroom teacher to do this all day, every day … well, I just couldn’t do it. Could you?

• 

  mamac on March 29 at 7:01 a.m.

  I really worry when they talk about cutting any thing in education. If they cut teachers pay, and that teacher opts out the next year, they will relace them, but at a lower pay. I live in a very rural area now, and am the food service director for a k-12 school. I have watched this happen, and the quality of teachers seem to keep getting lower. I just think there has got to be another way.

• 

  moscow_minidoka on March 29 at 7:36 a.m.

  Idaho teachers aren’t paid enough as it is; cuts make it worse,

• 

  hmoffsuite on March 29 at 8:27 a.m.

  daveo. >>> “The conservative agenda simply does not appreciate any public employee”

  I think your statement may be over generalizing but certainly has a basis of truth in it. I think all agendas appreciate firemen, paramedics, police etc. But, public employees seem to develope a sense of ‘entitlement’ with their jobs. Cost of living increases are quite often just automatic. In the private sector, wage increases normally have to be earned. Tenure developes a sense of job security that may or may not be worthy. We have all seen government employees not performing their jobs with the enthusiasm that might be seen in private enterprise. Another common criticism of the government employee is that it is felt that at times, the government employee tends to ‘make work’ where none really exists. But, I guess that happens in the private sector as well.

• 

  Frum Helen Back on March 29 at 2:06 p.m.

  If the State legislators don’t want to use more of the stimulus money to avoid cuts, I think it would be a good idea to cut their salaries to make up for the deficit.

• 

  Fishwife on March 29 at 5:36 p.m.

  Teachers should make more than cops.

• 

  EagleKeeper44 on March 29 at 6:22 p.m.

  “Do you think Idaho teacher’s pay should
  have been cut?”

  NO WAY

  Almost everyone is hurting in this economy as
  most employers are laying off people or freezing/cutting
  wages. I think a pay cut across the board in ALL
  areas of state government would have done
  enough to balance the budget…I know, wishful
  thinking, as politicians and high level
  management always protect their’s first.

• 

  cantyoureadthesigns on March 29 at 9:54 p.m.

  I agree with EagleKeeper, an across the board cut is called for. You mean to tell me that legislative staff are not taking any cuts? That’s ridiculous.

  I’d cut 2% at the low end of the salary scale, 4% in the middle, and 6% at the top, across the board.

• 

  Phaedrus on March 30 at 10:37 a.m.

  In Idaho, legislators can not vote to raise, or lower their salaries.

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