Teachers need dose of reality
The May 8 Daily Herald had a front-page article regarding upcoming teachers' contracts set to expire within the next year. As an overburdened taxpayer, I'd like to remind the school boards and the teachers that the people who pay your salaries are definitely hurting and will see any attempt to wring raises or other perks and benefits as a colossal slap in the face to the taxpayers. Many of us have had no raises for several years, many have seen their hours reduced to just 16 or 24 hours per week and many, many more have lost their jobs. Bottom line, we cannot afford to give you raises whether they are deserved or not, and you should stand with your neighbors, the families of the children you educate, and shoulder your share of the pain this economic meltdown has caused. No one should be immune from the havoc this meltdown has created.
Gail Purkey said that teachers didn't take the job expecting Wall Street salaries, well the taxpayers on the hook for your salaries don't make a Wall Street salary either. She goes on to say that "educating students is an important job, a labor-intensive one ... and there's a cost associated with that." Well guess what, running machines in a factory, packing/shipping products, being a teller at a bank, working in a cafeteria or restaurant, etc., are also important jobs that are labor intensive and there are costs associated with that. The difference is most of us do not have the luxury of demanding or receiving cost-of-living adjustments plus annual merit increases. Your job is no different from the ones your neighbors or the parents of the children in your classrooms get up every day to do ... with one critical difference... whereas we get up an average of 50 weeks per year to do our jobs you are required to work and average of maybe 40 weeks per year and that doesn't include the many holidays and weeks off for spring break and Christmas break. I hardly think you are underpaid given that ratio. Furthermore, while you enjoy a generous health-care package, paid sick time, pension benefits with a guaranteed 3 percent per year increase in retirement and the ability to retire at the age of 55 (after 35 years of service), the people who pay your salaries are required to work until age 67 and now longer, given the decimation to our retirement funds, and many do not get paid sick time or the number of holidays you are awarded. Additionally while we fund our own retirements, (many employers have suspended contributions to employee retirement funds) you are expecting the taxpayers to fund a good portion of your retirement and to make up for the losses your funds have suffered in this current recession. Why do you feel entitled to such demands? It is time for all of you to act responsibly, particularly in this economic mess that our state is in and hold the line on both salaries and benefits.
I also believe Gov Quinn's request to rein in the overly generous pension benefits is a reasonable request that should be given reasonable consideration. You didn't go into teaching to make Wall Street salaries, neither should you go into retirement expecting Wall Street retirement benefits. Show the public that you understand our concerns and our burdens and share them with us. That is all we ask.
Cindy Bandur
Island Lake