Most of the talk regarding the education budget has been about teacher pay (and from my story today, veteran teachers aren't too happy about the plan).
But the state's proposal also lays out pay raises for all the other public school workers. They aren't going to fare as well as most of their colleagues.
"Noncertified personnel," as they're called – and this includes everyone from maintenance workers to bus drivers to teacher assistants (here's a list) – are set to receive a $500 raise in their annual pay this year. You can read it for yourself on pages 54 and 55 of the proposed budget.
Sure, it's a change from the half-decade wage freeze. But it's not sitting well with some people falling in this category.
For comparison, most state employees are getting $1,000 raises. Speaking to N.C. Policy Watch, some of these workers are calling it a "slap in the face."
In other education pay news, I've gotten a few requests from people curious about the proposed salary schedules for teachers getting extra pay for master's degrees. I'm trying to track one down, and I'll share when I get it.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Bus drivers, teacher assistants getting $500 raise
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51 comments:
Veteran teachers with 30+ years of experience are getting a raise of only $1000. Granted, it's twice as much as bus drivers and teacher assistants are getting, but it's still pathetic and insulting.
What this $500.00 a YEAR increase neglects (or what people have forgotten about) is that teacher assistants, secretaries and others-at least in CMS- had the number of hours they are paid/allow to work reduced a few years ago I am not sure how many they are now paid for but this 500 dollars does NOT begin to make up for this lost compensation.
Those in CMS who wanted to decrease central office are finding a way with this budget. With the small small increase that Central Office is getting, it would make more sense to stay in the classroom! CMS looks to lose specialized staff especially in the technology fields if they don't pay attention.
Do we know anything about how assistant principals and principals are going to be compensated? I read the bill and its very confusing...
What another SLAP in the face !
Burger King management gives better salary and benefits.
People in Charlotte wanted to reduce central office so this scenario will sure do it!
All of those people that make the system run-technology, specialists, etc. are being treated as second class citizens. They are certified or degree educated but are receiving the same as bus drivers and cafeteria workers. No offense to them but my masters degree and certification should count for something.
Central Office staff would be better off going back into the classroom! Thank goodness I'm about to retire!
CMS
I sold my soul to the company store.
20 years gone to be forgotten
Hey Specialsit
You are a "Market Adjustment"
You have been receiving raises!
Andrew, will you please get the word out to the public that the 7% raise for certified personnel is NOT across of the board? I was optimistically hopeful last weekend when the announcement was first made. However, as more information about the new budget was released, I calculated that I will only receive a 1% raise. I am very disheartened.
The legislature is breaking the law! NC State Human Resources Manual, Section 4, Page 84 states:
"Effect of Longevity Pay
Longevity pay is not a part of annual base pay for, nor is it to be recorded in personnel records as a part of annual base salary."
The legislature needs to obey the laws of this state and return the longevity to the teachers that earned it!!
Let me get this straight - a teacher, a professional EARNS 50,000 AFTER 25 years of service! How many other professionals wait 25 years to earn 50,000? Yes, I know - teachers ONLY work 10 months of the year....guiding the youth of the country to one day graduate and become tax payers.
Remember - what you put in - you will get out.....
Respect the professionals or reap the benefits of NOT having professionals in the classroom. Your choice NC - let your legislature know how you feel!
Principals will still get longevity. Unreal....
Pricipals get longevity and the puker kissers downtown get the "market adjustment"raises. Thanks a lot MOrrison. Great job working all those hours in Raleigh for teachers.
NC is top down.. Same old same old... All the boys in suits are happy.. Do any of them even talk to teachers and students? Democrats didn't...
The observer reporter is new to this beat and forgot to mention that the state teacher salaries are lower than they are actually paid. The county supplements their pay in most areas.
If Johnny Teacher receives 1000.00 per year in longevity pay and the state takes that and gives them 2500.00 in raises is that really a 7 percent raise? If your boss takes away 1000.00 dollars and gives you a 2000.00 raise does this make sense? NC is reaping the benefits of being an illiterate society as proven by those who write laws in Raleigh.
Heath Morrison has been shown one thing while Superintendent: he simply can't lead!. Case in point, who fought against the teacher tenure ruling? CMS? NO! Who fought for better and more equitable teacher pay? CMS? NO! Heath is good with his stuffed shirts reaping one benefit after another and would not stand for his own benefits to be touched! If you listening Heath, then you must realize that leadership isn't your strongest quality but self-preservation is!
I don't mean to sound disrespectful, I have a great appreciation for teachers. However, if you are not happy with how you are being treated, I would suggest that you consider doing as those of us in the private sector would do, find a new place to work. This may sound harsh, but I think at some point you need to look out for yourselves and your families. Find an employer who will value your education, experience and dedication.
schools systems are spending a fortune on everything but the most important component in education, the teacher. Teachers are no longer valued in North Carolina!
Check the pay schale in 2008.
Now check the pay schale today for step 19. Combine this with the loss of benefits and I am making $$ THOUSANDS $$ less than I did 6 years ago. Is this a job that the best and brightest would stay in or go into?
NC is still an agrarian state so it will always reap what it sows.
9:19
At the beginning of 2000, I was making $90,000 per year plus company car. 9 months later I was making ZERO!. 6 weeks later, my wife's salary of $52,000 dollars went to ZERO after her company downsized. $140,000 per year household income gone in 6 weeks and two cars.
So here we are, no salary, no benefits, no cars.
At 46 years of age with a 7 year old, no cars (my wife was in an accident, hit by an illegal with no insurance, totalled her car),no benefits and only unemployment to live on, I took part time jobs at night so I could look for jobs during the day.
It took me 7 months to find fulltime work making $12.00 per hour with no benefits.
It took me nearly 13 years to get back to making what I was in 2000.
I could have easily declared bankruptcy but didn't. I worked my ass off to pay the bills as did my wife.
So when I hear how "terrible" you claim to have it and "loss of benefits" - which you haven't lost, you're just having to pay a bigger portion for them like we all do in the private sector, I shake my head in disgust.
You might want to look at California and New York, two liberal bastions where parents are trying to eliminate teacher tenure, just as Obama and Duncan want to do.
The state of public education has been dismal for the past 45 years. Change is coming. Either be part of it or leave the profession.
Since you and others who are so unhappy over the raise you will be getting, y'all should tell Raleigh you don't want it and spend the money on something else.
As taxpayers, we're screwed either way - spending our tax dollars on ungrateful people like you or some pork barrel project we don't need.
Why does the hypocritical media who hype pro sports 24/7/365 never answer why 300 million consumers pay for 50 million a year spoiled rotten brat pro athletes (dumb jocks) plus their billion dollar playpen arenas with media contracts worth trillions causing everything to go up nonstop while teachers make nothing?
Can the media who seems so pretentiously concerned with education answer this simple question without lying or sounding ignorant? Throw Obama in with all that too since he never gave a dime to teacher salaries yet has increased the national debt 10 trillion with no big wars? Where is the money?
Wiley Coyote
Why didnt you just go and get a job as a TEACHER with all the exceptional salary and benefits offered(Slightly more than $12hr.)?
At least you didnt live off the government without providing a service to the public.
Talk about a GAP ?
40,000 for a school teacher 10 mos
50,000,000. for a NFL player 4 mos
.0008
8/10000
eight ten thousandth of 1%
In other words the "GAP" between what a teacher makes and an NFL top player with endorsements makes is exactly 125,000 times more for only 40% of the time.
Where are the GAP whiners?
We talking real GAP here.
In addition the NFL game consists of about 75 plays for offense and 75 defense defense or 7 minutes of live action time. Each play lasts 7 seconds average.
A player making 50 million per season of 16 games would play 1200 plays and make 41,667. per play.
The NFL players makes more per play at 41,667 than the teacher makes all year at 40,000.
The Mother of all GAPS ...
So where is Obama and his income equality? Not a peep ...
go fig
Let's set the record straight, the most experienced teachers are NOT getting a $1000 pay raise. They are getting a ONE TIME Bonus of $1000 that will not be reoccurring under the present structure. This insulting move is on top of taking 4.5% salary in the form of longevity pay which was a part of the base pay. Whoever thought this was a good deal didn't read the bill. Most teachers realize that this is just one more reason to look elsewhere for an educator position. NC is not educator friendly and people believe their comments such as largest pay increase in history. November is coming soon!
The comment that fast food managers get more money is true. Teachers assistants and bus drivers must meet certain criteria yet they are often paid less than retail workers. Unfortunately, people can't support themselves anymore on jobs that were once satisfying and rewarding.
NFL is pay for performance and they are paid per game.
Has any of the Board of Education ever spent a day in the classroom teaching? What roles, if any, have they played in increasing the performance of a student?
Yet they control the strings on a BILLION DOLLAR budget!
Dear Whiley Coyote, as a teacher I am not trying to be disrespectful to you. However, you too easily lose sight of the fact that teachers are tax payers as well. It is not just you that pays taxes. In fact, I would argue that as a teacher I pay part of my own salary, can you argue that? As for the angry taxpayer bit, why aren't you angry about the state giving corporations huge tax breaks while taking money from education and placing that shortfall on good taxpayers like you? Corporations are important, but providing corporate welfare, which we do, costs tax payers like you and me far more than education does.
8:11
Keep hitting corporations with exorbitant taxes and the exodus out of this country will continue.
I also said in my comment "we're" as in As taxpayers, we're screwed either way, so yes you are paying part of your salary. That gives you every right to whine about it.
My beef with where the money goes is bloat downtown, waste in programs like Head Start, Bright Beginnings, More at Four and the school lunch program. I have no problem with tax incentives to corporations. As stated above, do you want more profits to go overseas due to the high cost of companies doing business in the US?
Head Start since inception has cost taxpayers $108 BILLION or $8 BILLION per year.
Bright Beginnings costs us $20 MILLION per year.
Waste in Fraud in the School Lunch program is about $3.8 BILLION per year.
We can find the money. It just depends which bucket you want to get it from.
12:22
Because being a teacher did not interest me.
I've been in my industry 37 of the last 40 years.
It's what I chose to do and enjoy.
I agree entirely with you Wiley, the give away programs MUST stop, while well intended, they have actually hurt kids more than they helped. Children need to understand nothing is free, everything has a cost, some one paid for that free lunch.
I also believe failing middle and high schools should not be allowed to have sports programs.
the truth is, for most of the students in the cms school system, it doesn't matter how much teachers get paid, the results remain the same, so what is the point of it all. CMS has become more or less, a glorified daycare center where kids get a free breakfast and lunch, education is purely optional, what a joke!
It's a day care center for kids and make work for adults.
Tell the truth Wiley.
You would not work in an industry that tops you out at $50,000.
What a JOKE being paid as a teacher.
Teachers
Stop being such a cry baby. You knew you were in a dead end job when you signed the contract. Most of you are not smart enough to organize to change your conditions. All you know how to do is waste you money in dues to the Education Association Union.
How is it a cut to teacher assistants when you have 150 openings that cannot be filled?
Go get a TRUCK DRIVING JOB !
Better Raise, Salary and Benefits
Over 300,000 openings today.
1:16
I took engineering in college and wound up in a totally different industry, still in it today.
Teachers make what they make. It's not as if yesterday teachers were making $75,000 per year and cut to $50,000.
People go into teaching because they made a choice to do so. No one twisted their arm. They have also known for decades what to expect in salary, benefits and working conditions.
Teachers have choices. They can stay or leave for jobs in other sectors.
Most teachers dont have the skill sets to get any other job than teaching.
"Burger King" boy would have been better off taking the assistant manager job for himself and his family. Not only would he have a better salary and benefits. He would have given himself a CHANCE. Capping yourself at $50,000 for a lifetime of work is the definition of a DEAD END JOB.
anon 4:00 and 8:20,
both of your comments were below the mark and uncalled for. Most of the teachers I know are exceptionally smart people with solid skills who work very hard. As a matter of fact, some of my teachers actually left the teaching profession to become very successful in other areas.
Personally, I wouldn't be a teacher for all of the tea in China, the money clearly isn't that good and further more, they have to put up with everyone's brats and on top of it, even worse, butt hole parents. Teachers do what they do becuase they actually love what they are doing, not many of us can say that and thank God for them!
$9.60 a week. WOW! After taxes they may see $1.00 if they are lucky.
"CMS will outline new plan to reduce student suspensions"
The public would like to hear more about this, and why CMS feels it necessary to again "dumb down" student behavioral expectations so that little Johnny and Little Trevon can stay in school, even though they don't deserve to.
What a joke. Parents, you need to be heard and the best way is by your footsteps leaving CMS.
Run dont walk away from CMS
1st year Truck Driver = $50,000
30 year Teacher = $50,000
Go to your nearest truck driving school today. Over 300,000 job openings nationwide.
from looking at the make up of CMS schools, I doubt there are many "little Johnny's" left in CMs school.
Wiley,
I am curious as to what you see in the future for CMS, from my perspective, I don't see much cause for optimism. I see this school system going down the same path as many other large metro/urban school systems, which is sad.
11:07
You and I have the same perspective.
I too don't see things getting any better, only worse.
Here's one direction I see where we're headed:
Philly schools could be hubs for government benefits
Friday, August 1, 2014, 10:56 AM
Instead of the welfare office and City Hall, Philadelphia residents may soon be lining up at schools to apply for government benefits.
A proposed bill by the Philadelphia City Council would make public schools the “one-stop location” for government handouts, including everything from Section 8 housing subsidies to reproductive health services.
Though the School-Based Family Services Program would focus on providing public services to children, the program extends coverage to parents and family members, creating “neighborhood-based community hubs,” which would cut down on trips to various government agencies in town.
Government keeps dumbing down the system plus enabling one education crises after another, but they never fix anything.
These "change agents" will do everything possible to continually indoctrinate our kids (and parents) to be good little socialists, using class warfare, "diversity" and government dependency as tools to do it.
The sad fact is, taxpayers continue to fund and vote for the same status quo year after year.
Wiley,
People will debate some of the points you made, however I can see this happening here as well.
Public schools are getting further and further away from what they were originally intended for. Welfare and sports are a prime example.
Take high school football and basketball for instance. The vast majority of the kids who play these sports are mediocre students(especially in CMS), so why are they allowed to plays sports?
The academic requirements for any student wishing to play sports should be a B average, period! And not in under water basketing weaving or billiards either!
9:24 you are correct. Even in the good, suburban schools the coaches, admin, ADs and teachers are jumping through hoops to allow certain players to play on the ballfield, even though the student has a below 2.0 GPA. Happens everyday in CMS.
Fom ESPN:
ROCKFORD, Ill. -- School leaders here are beginning to see the benefits of making it easier for students with poor grades to keep playing sports.
Yes, they made it easier for students with low grades to stay on teams.
Students with less than a C average have been able to compete on Rockford teams since last year, when the district dropped its rule requiring athletes maintain a 2.0 GPA. The Rockford Public School District is one of at least a dozen examples nationwide -- from big cities such as Boston and Pittsburgh to smaller towns like Clinton, La., and Shelton, Wash. -- that have either lowered or dropped GPA requirements to keep kids on athletic fields.
Such moves are at odds with conventional practice. The trend is for high schools to raise academic rules for athletes, especially in light of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's plan to raise the required GPA for college athletes to a 2.3.
Eliminating GPA requirements at some high schools has angered some people, including students, who believe that playing sports is a right to be earned.
But educators in Rockford say the standards just weren't working. During the 10 years the 2.0 rule was in place, Rockford educators did not see higher graduation rates or better test scores, said assistant superintendent Matt Vosberg. What they did see were smaller teams, a dwindling morale and students afraid to take hard classes for fear of losing eligibility.
Again, dumbing it down. This is all about sports and ensuring kids stay in school to keep dropout rates low, regardless of whether they learn anything or not.
From CMS just a couple of weeks ago:
Change would give CMS freshmen a clean slate on eligibility
Friday, Jul. 18, 2014
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is fast-tracking a policy change that would give ninth-graders a clean slate for fall athletic eligibility, effective with tryouts that start Aug. 1.
Currently students who fall below a 2.0 grade-point average (a C average) or 85 percent attendance during their last semester of eighth grade are ineligible for ninth-grade sports and other school-sponsored activities.
Proponents say the change, which is up for a vote Tuesday, will help motivate new high school students at a crucial point in their academic career, even if they struggled in middle school. Ninth-graders will have to meet the GPA and attendance standards first semester to remain eligible second semester.
...and the dumbing down continues...
Simple test, ask your CMS high school student to identify all 50 states and 7 continents. Most will NOT be able to do this. Parents, wake up and get your kids out now. We should all expect more from our school system.
Will the last VERTERAN TEACHER please turn out the lights upon your departure.
CMeS is done !
This is an excellent point!! Thank you.
My question is simply..WHEN?!!!
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