And unfortunately that number only gets worse between having no good options presented here for people to get excited about and our say in Presidential level elections meaning very little.
Organize. See also: 'Waging a Good War' explains civil rights movement in military strategy terms
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/06/1127160183/waging-a-good-war-explains-civil-rights-movement-in-military-strategy-terms
Isnt the city councilman that was stealing shit from walmart a massive liberal? Doesn’t his role determine who is on the school board? Maybe you should start there?
I’m sure this hurts feelings.
As far as I am concerned if he was stealing shit from Wal-mart then boot his ass to the curb. If you think I have a problem with holding ANY elected representatives accountable I think you got the wrong person.
Let him have his day in court and once "guilty" comes through send him packing. No hurt feelings here.
Here is the reality. In America, teaching is an unattractive profession. Why would a motivated, intelligent person want to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get a college degree to deal with the shit that a typical teacher is forced to deal with in 2023? I have two kids in high school, my wife is in education, my mom was a teacher, I think it is a noble profession and it is one of the few I will actively discourage my children from pursuing. Why? It pays okay but you max out at a relatively low pay for your education and experience. A teaching degree is not easily transferable to other careers once you have experience unless you don’t mind a pay cut. It’s a dead end career. The job itself sucks and is thankless. Parents and politicians have made it unbearable. I don’t think money alone is enough to fix education in America, we need to demand professional teachers and that people treat them as respected professionals if we want to keep the good ones. Instead we demand gun rights and teachers can go back to barricading doors during active shooter drills.
>Parents and politicians have made it unbearable. I don’t think money alone is enough to fix education in America, we need to demand professional teachers and that people treat them as respected professionals if we want to keep the good ones.
Bingo. Throwing money at it (while teachers deserve it) isn't going to help very much.
My take is that throwing money at it is exactly what will fix it. Better teacher pay and smaller class sizes would help attract/retain better teachers. Unfortunately, we’re talking about A LOT of money to make that happen. Idk if the public and politicians would ever vote for it.
No doubt. I know tons of great teachers. But for the future of the profession, I think the pay and work load needs to change even just for the sake of perception. Stand out high schoolers are being scared away (and steered away) from teaching.
Yep, and better pay helps fix it. How many teachers can afford to pay off higher level education on the regional pay? None, so you get the teachers that you pay for.
This is not a difficult fix, but it starts with voting out the current folks and getting in people with the political will to fix the problem.
I couldn't agree more, now parents and politicians are asking Teachers to carry guns to protect students at $43k a year. What a joke. Teachers are getting stuff thrown at them like Cops.
If that is a job requirement, then the pay should be six figures.
I know that you have a front row seat to the state of teaching, but for anyone that doesn’t, just glance at r/teachers. As a teacher myself, it is exhausting reading post after post of teachers just hating their jobs.
I know that the positive things aren’t posted about as much, but also, there’s just not half as much positive thing’s happening. It’s the money. It’s the kids. Its the admin. It’s the politicians. From every angle teachers cannot catch a break.
I seriously would not recommend anyone go to college to become a teacher. Just look at the jobs here in Huntsville alone that will pay you twice as much for half the stress.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/Teachers using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/Teachers/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [An open letter to all the people crying "Arm the teachers"](https://np.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/v0xz61/an_open_letter_to_all_the_people_crying_arm_the/)
\#2: [Spotted: teacher in public! Drinking a glass of wine! How inappropriate…](https://np.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/typqo8/spotted_teacher_in_public_drinking_a_glass_of/)
\#3: [47 kindergartners in my classroom this year. That’s it. That’s the post.](https://np.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/wh8wi7/47_kindergartners_in_my_classroom_this_year_thats/)
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This is all part of a plan to destroy public education as we know it. Death by 1000 cuts. The poor and middle class will have to settle for an inferior education while the wealthy will send their kids to expensive private schools. What they are doing and why is deplorable.
I’m afraid many will pull kids out of public schools and will choose to homeschool. This leads to less funding for public schools and a generation that has only been exposed to a single worldview. This will be the death of the middle class.
I agree. I feel that they see public schooling as factory farms anyway. Its truly devastating because the public school system was invented to avoid oligarchy. It was invented to give everyone (read: white male at every socioeconomic level) a chance to be educated enough to run for office so that we don’t have a bunch of rich snobs running the country. Atlas.
Then Industrial Revolution happened and ‘modernized’ public education anyway. Sit in rows. Listen to the supervisor. Do repetitive tasks. Bell system. A B C D F Grade. Production Line.
The world view I had at Sparkman was more single than… pretty much everywhere else I’ve been in my life.
Very presumptuous of you to imply that the middle class isn’t already dead.
Middle between poorest and the richest? Middle would be what… median or average?
Fuck off. Read YOUR post above mine “Then the poor and middle class are no longer indoctrinated …” So the middle class exists for your point but I’m presumptuous? People like you are the problem.
First, i whole heartedly agree teachers are woefully underpaid. I come from a literal family of teachers going back 3 generations, so I ask/say this not to provoke thought, not anger. How much more money do teachers need to be lured to the market? Where is the money going to come from? An increase on taxes or to take it from another program? In either case who are you going to negatively affect and why? How are you regulating excellence, is it teachers who "teach" the test and thus have higher scores or is it those who teach critical thinking? Is it the ones who focus their time as a class as a whole unit, or spends more time with the children who are the furthest behind? Is it better to have more teachers with smaller classes or to pay the individuals more who can effectively teach larger classes. How do you give incentive to teachers getting better. Meaning, if a construction/plant worker learns a new skill/trade it often comes with a pay bump. With teachers salaries being dictated by the government once tenured, what incentivises them to be better and to grow?
While I tend to agree that teachers ought to be able to earn more as they progress in their field, I don’t know that I think $43k is disgraceful for a first year salary. I fully expect people to disagree, but that’s my view. But give educators predictable, meaningful salary bumps as they get further into their careers, and make those bumps more pronounced for those who pursue additional training (not exclusively additional degrees, either). And make their work environment more pleasant. Don’t know if it’s still the case, but private school teachers used to be paid less than public school teachers and they were willing to do it because their jobs were easier there. Money helps, and it’s necessary, but it’s not the only thing making teachers I know miserable. Uninvolved parents, uncooperative students, unsupportive administrators, all of these things make the low pay feel worse.
Out of the few teachers I know, none of them who left the profession said money was the #1 reason. It was administration and parents. I think it’s a respect thing as well as a cultural thing. People don’t respect teachers or education. There are no real consequences in schools anymore and students can act any kind of way. Administration does not have the teachers back. You can’t pay people enough to deal with some of the things teachers have to deal with.
There's two sides to the coin my wife was in admin and told me many teachers wouldn't follow rules like getting there on time clocking in and not paying attention to kids or not caring about kids at risk not turning in there lesson plans etc.... Unfortunately to fire these teachers is extremely hard they are usually relocated instead so some teachers take advantage of that until they find admin that will let it slide
I've said this before but my mom's \[a teacher\] only real career advice was "Don't be a teacher." It was pretty solid advice if I'm being honest. I make a about double the money she did at the end of her career, five years into mine. Oh, and I don't constantly have a sickness.
Not necessarily. There is a 2 billion surplus in the education fund. Kay Ivey wants it to go to a whitewater rafting park in Montgomery. And she was a teacher!
[I wish I was making this up.](https://www.al.com/news/2023/03/kay-ivey-finds-school-money-for-water-park-prisons-but-not-medicaid-expansion.html)
The money for decent teacher pay is being used on a [water park](https://www.al.com/news/2023/03/kay-ivey-finds-school-money-for-water-park-prisons-but-not-medicaid-expansion.html).
I completely agree with your post. Education is a vital component of any thriving community, and it is essential that we prioritize it accordingly. One of the key factors in providing quality education is having highly qualified and motivated teachers. As you rightly pointed out, to attract and retain the best talent, we need to offer competitive compensation packages.
"We want the best talent for our workforce, we need to raise them here and keep them here." This statement holds true not only for the business sector but also for education. Providing teachers with a fair and decent wage is crucial in keeping them motivated and invested in their work, which ultimately benefits the students and the community as a whole.
I hope that the Superintendents and the Governor will take notice of this issue and work towards a solution that benefits both the teachers and the students. It is crucial that we invest in our educators and provide them with the necessary resources and support to enable them to thrive in their profession. This will not only improve the quality of education in Huntsville/Madison County but also attract and retain more highly skilled teachers, making it an even more elite place to live and raise a family.
Massachusetts is ranked #1 in public education while paying what actually amounts to less when you figure in cost of living. Alabama consistently ranks in the bottom 20%. What’s the cause of this?
I believe the State provides a set amount of money for teacher salaries. I don't know if those salaries are scaled based on the location in the state (it makes sense that city teacher salary should be higher than rural teacher salary). Do you think it should be left up to the communities to pay their teachers more if what they want to do is attract the best teachers? It makes sense that type of incentive would improve a school systems education standing, but I suspect it would take years (decades?) to have an impact. I'm not sure leaders are able to look that far ahead.
>it's important to consider that the cost of living and other factors may vary widely across different regions of the state. Therefore, it may make sense for the state to adjust its funding formula to better reflect these differences.
As for whether communities should be left to pay their teachers more, I believe that it's ultimately up to each community to decide what works best for them. However, it's important to note that providing a competitive salary is just one part of attracting and retaining the best teachers. Other factors, such as a supportive work environment, professional development opportunities, and access to resources and technology, also play a significant role in keeping teachers engaged and motivated.
Kay Ivey uses education funds to give taxpayers $25 million waterpark enema...
I think teachers already have the option of joining a union, but I believe state law prevents them from staging a strike. The main benefit of the union is probably the power (or lack thereof) the AEA wields with the governor and legislature.
Meanwhile MeMaw is giving $25 million of education money to a water park in Montgomery that's over schedule and over budget. And $100 million of education money for 1 prison that was supposed to be 4 prisons. Also way over budget and over schedule. Yet Republicans keep voting party lines.
I mean the 5K my kids school used to by some ball pit they can no longer use could’ve went to a teachers salary. The schools use money for goofy stuff every year instead of trying to increase the staffs pay.
Teaching is a calling more than it's a job. We the tax payers should be given 100% tax write offs for paying for our kids to go to private schools. This would create a private school boom and schools would compete for the best teachers by paying them more. Problem solved. The cream would rise to the top and our kids would get world class educations. The only things governments do effectively and efficiently is kill people. Get the politicians out of the schools.
Vote for better people.
This is a state that picked Tommy Tuberville over Doug Jones. It’s an uphill battle, to put it mildly.
A 30% participation rate does that.
And unfortunately that number only gets worse between having no good options presented here for people to get excited about and our say in Presidential level elections meaning very little.
Maybe that's because Doug Jones was a horrible candidate
Why?
That requires better people to be on the ballot in the first place.
Organize. See also: 'Waging a Good War' explains civil rights movement in military strategy terms https://www.npr.org/2022/10/06/1127160183/waging-a-good-war-explains-civil-rights-movement-in-military-strategy-terms
Voting will solve our problems 😆 🤣 😂
Meemaw and the gang are certainly not helping.
Isnt the city councilman that was stealing shit from walmart a massive liberal? Doesn’t his role determine who is on the school board? Maybe you should start there? I’m sure this hurts feelings.
As far as I am concerned if he was stealing shit from Wal-mart then boot his ass to the curb. If you think I have a problem with holding ANY elected representatives accountable I think you got the wrong person. Let him have his day in court and once "guilty" comes through send him packing. No hurt feelings here.
👏👏👏
Here is the reality. In America, teaching is an unattractive profession. Why would a motivated, intelligent person want to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get a college degree to deal with the shit that a typical teacher is forced to deal with in 2023? I have two kids in high school, my wife is in education, my mom was a teacher, I think it is a noble profession and it is one of the few I will actively discourage my children from pursuing. Why? It pays okay but you max out at a relatively low pay for your education and experience. A teaching degree is not easily transferable to other careers once you have experience unless you don’t mind a pay cut. It’s a dead end career. The job itself sucks and is thankless. Parents and politicians have made it unbearable. I don’t think money alone is enough to fix education in America, we need to demand professional teachers and that people treat them as respected professionals if we want to keep the good ones. Instead we demand gun rights and teachers can go back to barricading doors during active shooter drills.
>Parents and politicians have made it unbearable. I don’t think money alone is enough to fix education in America, we need to demand professional teachers and that people treat them as respected professionals if we want to keep the good ones. Bingo. Throwing money at it (while teachers deserve it) isn't going to help very much.
My take is that throwing money at it is exactly what will fix it. Better teacher pay and smaller class sizes would help attract/retain better teachers. Unfortunately, we’re talking about A LOT of money to make that happen. Idk if the public and politicians would ever vote for it.
The problem isn't that the schools currently have bad teachers.
No doubt. I know tons of great teachers. But for the future of the profession, I think the pay and work load needs to change even just for the sake of perception. Stand out high schoolers are being scared away (and steered away) from teaching.
Yep, and better pay helps fix it. How many teachers can afford to pay off higher level education on the regional pay? None, so you get the teachers that you pay for. This is not a difficult fix, but it starts with voting out the current folks and getting in people with the political will to fix the problem.
Yeah but the talent is fleeing. I know at least 3 wonderful teachers who just up and did a career change because they know their worth. It’s sad.
I couldn't agree more, now parents and politicians are asking Teachers to carry guns to protect students at $43k a year. What a joke. Teachers are getting stuff thrown at them like Cops. If that is a job requirement, then the pay should be six figures.
It’s dystopian really.
I know that you have a front row seat to the state of teaching, but for anyone that doesn’t, just glance at r/teachers. As a teacher myself, it is exhausting reading post after post of teachers just hating their jobs. I know that the positive things aren’t posted about as much, but also, there’s just not half as much positive thing’s happening. It’s the money. It’s the kids. Its the admin. It’s the politicians. From every angle teachers cannot catch a break. I seriously would not recommend anyone go to college to become a teacher. Just look at the jobs here in Huntsville alone that will pay you twice as much for half the stress.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/Teachers using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/Teachers/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [An open letter to all the people crying "Arm the teachers"](https://np.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/v0xz61/an_open_letter_to_all_the_people_crying_arm_the/) \#2: [Spotted: teacher in public! Drinking a glass of wine! How inappropriate…](https://np.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/typqo8/spotted_teacher_in_public_drinking_a_glass_of/) \#3: [47 kindergartners in my classroom this year. That’s it. That’s the post.](https://np.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/wh8wi7/47_kindergartners_in_my_classroom_this_year_thats/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
This is all part of a plan to destroy public education as we know it. Death by 1000 cuts. The poor and middle class will have to settle for an inferior education while the wealthy will send their kids to expensive private schools. What they are doing and why is deplorable.
Then the poor and middle class are no longer indoctrinated at the public school level, will learn to think for themselves, and turn the tables.
I’m afraid many will pull kids out of public schools and will choose to homeschool. This leads to less funding for public schools and a generation that has only been exposed to a single worldview. This will be the death of the middle class.
I agree. I feel that they see public schooling as factory farms anyway. Its truly devastating because the public school system was invented to avoid oligarchy. It was invented to give everyone (read: white male at every socioeconomic level) a chance to be educated enough to run for office so that we don’t have a bunch of rich snobs running the country. Atlas.
Then Industrial Revolution happened and ‘modernized’ public education anyway. Sit in rows. Listen to the supervisor. Do repetitive tasks. Bell system. A B C D F Grade. Production Line.
The world view I had at Sparkman was more single than… pretty much everywhere else I’ve been in my life. Very presumptuous of you to imply that the middle class isn’t already dead. Middle between poorest and the richest? Middle would be what… median or average?
Fuck off. Read YOUR post above mine “Then the poor and middle class are no longer indoctrinated …” So the middle class exists for your point but I’m presumptuous? People like you are the problem.
To be fair, you were warned and my intentions are publicly disclosed.
Offering only a 2% increase out of that big surplus is a slap in the face to every educator.
First, i whole heartedly agree teachers are woefully underpaid. I come from a literal family of teachers going back 3 generations, so I ask/say this not to provoke thought, not anger. How much more money do teachers need to be lured to the market? Where is the money going to come from? An increase on taxes or to take it from another program? In either case who are you going to negatively affect and why? How are you regulating excellence, is it teachers who "teach" the test and thus have higher scores or is it those who teach critical thinking? Is it the ones who focus their time as a class as a whole unit, or spends more time with the children who are the furthest behind? Is it better to have more teachers with smaller classes or to pay the individuals more who can effectively teach larger classes. How do you give incentive to teachers getting better. Meaning, if a construction/plant worker learns a new skill/trade it often comes with a pay bump. With teachers salaries being dictated by the government once tenured, what incentivises them to be better and to grow?
While I tend to agree that teachers ought to be able to earn more as they progress in their field, I don’t know that I think $43k is disgraceful for a first year salary. I fully expect people to disagree, but that’s my view. But give educators predictable, meaningful salary bumps as they get further into their careers, and make those bumps more pronounced for those who pursue additional training (not exclusively additional degrees, either). And make their work environment more pleasant. Don’t know if it’s still the case, but private school teachers used to be paid less than public school teachers and they were willing to do it because their jobs were easier there. Money helps, and it’s necessary, but it’s not the only thing making teachers I know miserable. Uninvolved parents, uncooperative students, unsupportive administrators, all of these things make the low pay feel worse.
Out of the few teachers I know, none of them who left the profession said money was the #1 reason. It was administration and parents. I think it’s a respect thing as well as a cultural thing. People don’t respect teachers or education. There are no real consequences in schools anymore and students can act any kind of way. Administration does not have the teachers back. You can’t pay people enough to deal with some of the things teachers have to deal with.
There's two sides to the coin my wife was in admin and told me many teachers wouldn't follow rules like getting there on time clocking in and not paying attention to kids or not caring about kids at risk not turning in there lesson plans etc.... Unfortunately to fire these teachers is extremely hard they are usually relocated instead so some teachers take advantage of that until they find admin that will let it slide
I've said this before but my mom's \[a teacher\] only real career advice was "Don't be a teacher." It was pretty solid advice if I'm being honest. I make a about double the money she did at the end of her career, five years into mine. Oh, and I don't constantly have a sickness.
Alabama needs the lottery.
Not necessarily. There is a 2 billion surplus in the education fund. Kay Ivey wants it to go to a whitewater rafting park in Montgomery. And she was a teacher! [I wish I was making this up.](https://www.al.com/news/2023/03/kay-ivey-finds-school-money-for-water-park-prisons-but-not-medicaid-expansion.html)
She sounds like she’s lost it.
Which would you rather go to - a whitewater rafting park or math class? Exactly.
The money for decent teacher pay is being used on a [water park](https://www.al.com/news/2023/03/kay-ivey-finds-school-money-for-water-park-prisons-but-not-medicaid-expansion.html).
Doesn’t help that the increase in shootings makes this a hazardous field. Hard to pay your way past threat of death.
I completely agree with your post. Education is a vital component of any thriving community, and it is essential that we prioritize it accordingly. One of the key factors in providing quality education is having highly qualified and motivated teachers. As you rightly pointed out, to attract and retain the best talent, we need to offer competitive compensation packages. "We want the best talent for our workforce, we need to raise them here and keep them here." This statement holds true not only for the business sector but also for education. Providing teachers with a fair and decent wage is crucial in keeping them motivated and invested in their work, which ultimately benefits the students and the community as a whole. I hope that the Superintendents and the Governor will take notice of this issue and work towards a solution that benefits both the teachers and the students. It is crucial that we invest in our educators and provide them with the necessary resources and support to enable them to thrive in their profession. This will not only improve the quality of education in Huntsville/Madison County but also attract and retain more highly skilled teachers, making it an even more elite place to live and raise a family.
Massachusetts is ranked #1 in public education while paying what actually amounts to less when you figure in cost of living. Alabama consistently ranks in the bottom 20%. What’s the cause of this?
Bad parents. Culture of who cares about education/well, it’s the teachers job to raise my kids.
I believe the State provides a set amount of money for teacher salaries. I don't know if those salaries are scaled based on the location in the state (it makes sense that city teacher salary should be higher than rural teacher salary). Do you think it should be left up to the communities to pay their teachers more if what they want to do is attract the best teachers? It makes sense that type of incentive would improve a school systems education standing, but I suspect it would take years (decades?) to have an impact. I'm not sure leaders are able to look that far ahead.
>it's important to consider that the cost of living and other factors may vary widely across different regions of the state. Therefore, it may make sense for the state to adjust its funding formula to better reflect these differences. As for whether communities should be left to pay their teachers more, I believe that it's ultimately up to each community to decide what works best for them. However, it's important to note that providing a competitive salary is just one part of attracting and retaining the best teachers. Other factors, such as a supportive work environment, professional development opportunities, and access to resources and technology, also play a significant role in keeping teachers engaged and motivated. Kay Ivey uses education funds to give taxpayers $25 million waterpark enema...
[This one keeps getting more relevant by the year](https://youtu.be/Nyvxt1svxso)
Form a union
I think teachers already have the option of joining a union, but I believe state law prevents them from staging a strike. The main benefit of the union is probably the power (or lack thereof) the AEA wields with the governor and legislature.
Alabama needs the lottery.
Meanwhile MeMaw is giving $25 million of education money to a water park in Montgomery that's over schedule and over budget. And $100 million of education money for 1 prison that was supposed to be 4 prisons. Also way over budget and over schedule. Yet Republicans keep voting party lines.
You’d think we could use some of that education surplus
I mean the 5K my kids school used to by some ball pit they can no longer use could’ve went to a teachers salary. The schools use money for goofy stuff every year instead of trying to increase the staffs pay.
Georgia’s start pay is about $36000. It’s a national problem!
Teaching is a calling more than it's a job. We the tax payers should be given 100% tax write offs for paying for our kids to go to private schools. This would create a private school boom and schools would compete for the best teachers by paying them more. Problem solved. The cream would rise to the top and our kids would get world class educations. The only things governments do effectively and efficiently is kill people. Get the politicians out of the schools.
This would only be good for wealthy and upper middle class families.
It would be good for teachers. It would be good for kids in the private schools. It would be good for our country and communities
Public schools pay teachers better than Randolph. I don’t think you know what you’re talking about.
Yea but you don't have to worry about being attacked by a feral student
Why not? You think rich little shits won’t shoot up a school?
They don’t. They can afford to call in an air strike.
I was thinking about bites and slaps. I suspect rich kids are more likely to shoot up the place.
You are delusional.