Should teacher salaries in Michigan be cut by 10%? That would make them the thirteenth higest paid.?

Question

The average teacher salary in Michigan, for 2005-2006 was $56,973, only California, Conneticut, and DC were higher. A 10% cut would make it $51,275, which would make them the thirteenth highest paid. Would this help Michigan's financial problems?

If they go on strike, fire them. There are 37 states with teacher salaries lower than the new, reduced Michigan salaries, and teachers in those states would be happy to go to Michigan for a pay raise.

Answer 1

That's a nice idea, but what would happen would be that they would strike, and local systems would flip the bill or you would just fire them and hire a whole new batch, that batch would work in madness because they'd all be new teachers working in the schools unwilling to flip for the extra 10 percent, which probably they weren't the best systems to start with, and without any strong leadership in the school, it would fall dramatically quickly.

Now for the systems not willing to fire their teachers, they'd make every activity a fund raiser driven activity, and pay teachers heavily to lead them. Local communities would cover the extra burden of keeping those teacher salaries on line.

You can't just say that we will cut these salaries and because they still do ok, things should be ok. People quickly become accustom to living at their pay level, and normally just a little above their pay level. Forcing them to take less dramatically impacts their lives, and leaves a lasting stigma.

I would imagine most respecting teachers would pack up and leave Michigan and accept a 45,000 teaching job in Indiana, and let Michigan schools fail with the brain drain.

Answer 2

nice try. You want a simple answer for a complex problem. I certainly wouldnt vote for you. Here is what you need to think about:

Do you have any teacher shortages in Michigan? I suspect mathematics, science and special education teachers are in short supply in your inner city areas. (if not state-wide) your simplistic answer of fire them, would worsen the situation. It would disproportianately affect those students in urban areas, primarily the poor. How would you staff? hire subs? they are already there!

*teachers in those states would be happy to go to Michigan for a pay raise.*

So... why havent they been coming in droves if you are the fourth highest? cutting pay might make them more likely to come? get real.

How about offering incentives to teach in hard to staff schools? it doesnt have to be monetary, class size would attract a number.

Last point - the State does not set the salary, individual districts do, there must be some reason so that each and every district came to the same conclusion - pay this amount. I suspect its due to the difficulty in attracting teacher candidates.

Answer 3

I never want to see Teacher Salaries Cut. Never. I do want the School systems and the government to cut out all the waste and fat that goes to admin, contractors, and other pet projects that are forcefully funded by the innocent tax payer. I believe that we could pay teachers a lot more money if we would just cut out the tremendous amount of excess fat within the system.

In California somewhere 60-65 Billion(that's Billion with a B)
dollars will go to public education grades K-12 and the two University Systems this year!!!

60-65 Billion Dollars - That's more money that most 3rd world countries have in their entire Gross Domestic Product.
Now you tell me what on Earth are the Calif Schools doing with all that money. It is estimated that 40% of all students will never graduate or if they do, they are functionally illiterate!!!!!

They have more money than they know what to do with, except pay the teachers a decent salary. The schools have gone from bad to worse. But we can solve all the schools problems overnight if just one thing happens.
The Supreme Court decision in 1963 to ban vocal prayer in Schools must be reversed and reversed NOW!!! Allow God back into the schools and you will see a sweeping change not only in the school systems but throughout the United States in general.
I graduated in 1964 and believe me, my generation would never put up with what is going on in the schools nowadays.
We would have revolted years ago.
When a child or teacher goes to school they should go for one purpose only. To learn, mature and be a good citizen. Not
to fear for his or her life.

Pray for our schools, and pray for our Supreme Court.
I Cr 13;8a

Answer 4

The answer to that is no. Teachers don't make enough as it is for their education and the number of hours they put in. The class room is just a small percentage of the hours a teacher has to put in during a school year.
I could give you a whole list of who needs their salaries cut first starting with the Governor's salary.