Enough of the teacher bashing

There is an adage that “The more you learn the more you earn.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that of the 182.2 million people 25 or older on April 1, 2000, 80 percent had a high school diploma or more, and 24 percent had completed at least a bachelor’s degree.

In order to be hired as a certified teacher you must have at least a bachelor’s degree. Most teachers continue their education beyond the minimum requirements.

There also seems to be a lot of misinformation going around about Illinois teacher’s pensions, and how we are the cause of the state’s financial woes. First of all, we don’t contribute to or receive Social Security. That actually saves the district money since they don’t have to pay 6.2 percent of our salary each month. Teachers pay 9.4 percent of our salary to the Teachers Retirement System and the district pays 0.58 percent.

The state has not only skipped putting their fair share into the system, they have abused the system. For example, on Jan. 31,1990, the Tribune reported: “The reserves of this system have been subject to misuse in balancing the state budget for a number of years, resulting in an accumulated debt of $4 billion.”

In order to save money some states want to end collective bargaining rights for teachers. In Wisconsin, the union has conceded all of the fiscal proposals that Gov. Walker asked for but won’t concede their collective bargaining rights. But Gov. Walker won’t compromise. Why?

In 2009 the National Assessment of Educational Progress study found that reading and math scores of fourth- and eighth-grade students, in states in which there are no teachers covered under binding collective bargaining agreements, score lower than the states that have them.

Howard Miller

Batavia