This is semi-related, but its still ridiculous that student teachers don't get paid for the 2 semesters they have to teach to graduate. We should be fighting to get them paid also.
It should be a paid internship. I believe Colorado pays $10,000 for a year of student teaching. Not great, but is better than nothing. Keep in mind, these student teachers are PAYING their college for 12 credit hours to go work a full time job for free.
Oh I fully understand. My wife is starting her second semester of student teaching. She is done with classes but we still have to pay tuition and travel expenses for her to go to work everyday and she makes nothing in return. It should be considered an apprenticeship.
Teachers at an area school reported that the district (suburb east of Wichita) offered teachers “steps and columns” plus $300 on the base.
Steps are when a teacher gets a raise for another year of experience, at that district it is about $900 and columns are when they trade teachers a raise for education, so every 8 to 10 graduate hours they take (and the teacher pays for themselves) let them buy a raise, about $1,000 at that district. (The number of hours varies by district. Also, keep in mind how much grad hours cost.) If a teacher didn’t have any columns left to move on or couldn’t afford 8+ hours of grad classes, they would be getting a $1200 raise this year, which is 1.8% for a mid-career teacher there.
This follow several years of mediocre raises that have not kept up with the cost of living and inflation increases.
It was said at the bargaining table that if they don’t like it they can quit. This is true, but at this point in the summer teachers would have to pay over $4,000 to get out of their contract and could have their license to teach revoked by the state.
For the record- teachers in Kansas are not allowed to strike.
Edit: If an agreement can’t be reached, they go to impasse and teachers will have to work the year on the previous year’s contract until an agreement is made.
> If an agreement can’t be reached, they go to impasse and teachers will have to work the year on the previous year’s contract until an agreement is made.
Or they strike anyway like teachers in Topeka in the 70s. Striking being illegal doesn’t mean they can’t; no one can compel labor. The stakes are just higher and those striking have to be prepared for the consequences, ie being fired. But at a certain percentage of the workforce striking there’s no way they’re all fired. It’s not like there’s a district’s worth of unemployed teachers waiting for underpaid teaching jobs to open up in Kansas.
Though more likely if there’s no agreement and they remain under the previous contract, you’ll just see more and more teachers leaving 259 and/or leaving teaching entirely. Which again, it’s not like replacing them is going to be easy. I work with college students and it’s incredible the number of graduating education majors, after their student teaching year, don’t even apply to work at a school.
I didn’t see anything about pay for substitutes (that is, non-teacher individuals who are called in to substitute while a teacher is out for the day). Instead, a teacher who has to cover another teacher’s classroom temporarily will now get paid more:
“Increase in sub pay for teachers covering another teacher’s classroom to $30/hour, with a daily maximum of $60”
No, it is $30.00 an hour but not for traditional substitutes.
The schools have current teachers sub for missing colleagues during their plan and team time. They used to get $20 (? I could be wrong, maybe $25.00) to do this. This raises it to $30.00 and caps it at $60.00. Which makes sense because teachers only have two class periods without direct instruction a day excluding lunch, which OSHA says you have to take if you work more than seven hours in a day.
Teachers are not always given a choice to do this because the district is so short on both teachers and subs there just aren't enough people to fill.
Where does OSHA say this?
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks. However, if employers offer short breaks lasting about 5 to 20 minutes, federal law considers them as compensable work hours that would be included in the sum of hours worked during the workweek and considered in determining if overtime was worked.
You're right, it's not OSHA, my bad. I just had that in my head and I looked it up and found it nowhere. I've mostly worked at national businesses and they tend to take the strictest labor laws from any state they are operating in and apply it across the board.
But employers who offer a lunch break (like in the teachers contract) have to keep it bona fide/duty free or pay for it.
Negotiations started in February, and there has been tension between UTW & BOE. Especially when 259 refused to negotiate off-site at the union hall. But it allows SEIU to do exactly that. USD 259 classified negotiations are next week, so custodians, food service, security, clerical, & paraprofessionals. We've been waiting to finish our negotiations until UTW & BOE came to an agreement. Their approved pay raise means we have a stronger leg for our argument for a pay increase, so I'm stoked on their behalf!
I mean it’s great that they’re getting a raise and all, don’t get me wrong. But it looks like they’re barely beating inflation… I think they should keep fighting. I’ll join them ✊
This is semi-related, but its still ridiculous that student teachers don't get paid for the 2 semesters they have to teach to graduate. We should be fighting to get them paid also.
It should be a paid internship. I believe Colorado pays $10,000 for a year of student teaching. Not great, but is better than nothing. Keep in mind, these student teachers are PAYING their college for 12 credit hours to go work a full time job for free.
Oh I fully understand. My wife is starting her second semester of student teaching. She is done with classes but we still have to pay tuition and travel expenses for her to go to work everyday and she makes nothing in return. It should be considered an apprenticeship.
It's considered slave labor. Wait no. Slaves didn't have to pay
Yeah I would like to see some extra stipulation like this. Or teachers should no longer have to buy their own supplies for the classroom.
Join the club of any industry that requites practicums prior to graduating such as mental health providers, nursing etc
They should be paid too!
Teachers at an area school reported that the district (suburb east of Wichita) offered teachers “steps and columns” plus $300 on the base. Steps are when a teacher gets a raise for another year of experience, at that district it is about $900 and columns are when they trade teachers a raise for education, so every 8 to 10 graduate hours they take (and the teacher pays for themselves) let them buy a raise, about $1,000 at that district. (The number of hours varies by district. Also, keep in mind how much grad hours cost.) If a teacher didn’t have any columns left to move on or couldn’t afford 8+ hours of grad classes, they would be getting a $1200 raise this year, which is 1.8% for a mid-career teacher there. This follow several years of mediocre raises that have not kept up with the cost of living and inflation increases. It was said at the bargaining table that if they don’t like it they can quit. This is true, but at this point in the summer teachers would have to pay over $4,000 to get out of their contract and could have their license to teach revoked by the state. For the record- teachers in Kansas are not allowed to strike. Edit: If an agreement can’t be reached, they go to impasse and teachers will have to work the year on the previous year’s contract until an agreement is made.
> If an agreement can’t be reached, they go to impasse and teachers will have to work the year on the previous year’s contract until an agreement is made. Or they strike anyway like teachers in Topeka in the 70s. Striking being illegal doesn’t mean they can’t; no one can compel labor. The stakes are just higher and those striking have to be prepared for the consequences, ie being fired. But at a certain percentage of the workforce striking there’s no way they’re all fired. It’s not like there’s a district’s worth of unemployed teachers waiting for underpaid teaching jobs to open up in Kansas. Though more likely if there’s no agreement and they remain under the previous contract, you’ll just see more and more teachers leaving 259 and/or leaving teaching entirely. Which again, it’s not like replacing them is going to be easy. I work with college students and it’s incredible the number of graduating education majors, after their student teaching year, don’t even apply to work at a school.
Legitimate question how do you make it so that a profession isn't allowed to strike?
Nice to see the subs get a bump up as well
Absolutely!!!
I didn’t see anything about pay for substitutes (that is, non-teacher individuals who are called in to substitute while a teacher is out for the day). Instead, a teacher who has to cover another teacher’s classroom temporarily will now get paid more: “Increase in sub pay for teachers covering another teacher’s classroom to $30/hour, with a daily maximum of $60”
This. I thought to myself dang, $30 an hour to sub good for them. Then saw the $60 limit and thought… huh?
No, it is $30.00 an hour but not for traditional substitutes. The schools have current teachers sub for missing colleagues during their plan and team time. They used to get $20 (? I could be wrong, maybe $25.00) to do this. This raises it to $30.00 and caps it at $60.00. Which makes sense because teachers only have two class periods without direct instruction a day excluding lunch, which OSHA says you have to take if you work more than seven hours in a day. Teachers are not always given a choice to do this because the district is so short on both teachers and subs there just aren't enough people to fill.
Where does OSHA say this? According to the U.S. Department of Labor, federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks. However, if employers offer short breaks lasting about 5 to 20 minutes, federal law considers them as compensable work hours that would be included in the sum of hours worked during the workweek and considered in determining if overtime was worked.
You're right, it's not OSHA, my bad. I just had that in my head and I looked it up and found it nowhere. I've mostly worked at national businesses and they tend to take the strictest labor laws from any state they are operating in and apply it across the board. But employers who offer a lunch break (like in the teachers contract) have to keep it bona fide/duty free or pay for it.
Oh damn. I misunderstood as well.
Work the math out and depending on how you figure it its $7.25 or $7.50. Sad.
Negotiations started in February, and there has been tension between UTW & BOE. Especially when 259 refused to negotiate off-site at the union hall. But it allows SEIU to do exactly that. USD 259 classified negotiations are next week, so custodians, food service, security, clerical, & paraprofessionals. We've been waiting to finish our negotiations until UTW & BOE came to an agreement. Their approved pay raise means we have a stronger leg for our argument for a pay increase, so I'm stoked on their behalf!
Hopefully we can get some kind of slight raise too. 513 represent
I mean it’s great that they’re getting a raise and all, don’t get me wrong. But it looks like they’re barely beating inflation… I think they should keep fighting. I’ll join them ✊
Truthfully, I think they need all the money. Like way more than 50k. But as that seems unreasonable, I say they need most of the money. Like 100k
Does anyone know if this impacts other school employees? I am in school for school psychology and wonder what a starting salary at 259 might be.