Support Our Teachers. They Deserve Competitive Pay. WVEA. Signs with the wording above found their way into groups of candidate’s campaign signs during the recent election. Nothing on the ballot I saw had anything to do with teacher’s salaries. Nothing to indicate which candidates were for higher salaries and which weren’t. Those signs gave me a small nudge, a poke on my thought starter button. First thought, it must be nice to rake in so much cash from WVEA (West Virginia Education Association) union members’ dues that they can afford to waste it on near meaningless signs. I have no idea if their signage ran state wide or just locally, but either way they cost teachers a bunch of money. As such they constitute evidence that teachers have a bunch of money to spend frivolously. What is competitive pay? Competition suggests there are two or more people, groups of people, ideas, thoughts, plans or whatever involved. One entity is playing against the other or others for ascendency. One entity wishes to come up to same standard or even rise above others. Competition demands definition of that which one plays against. I find no competition in public education. Are we talking pay competitive with salaries for comparable positions in other states? Do we want salaries comparable to bank presidents or tellers, bridge building civil engineers or crane operators or pick and shovel laborers? How about pay that fluctuates with markets such as farmers? How about compensation earned by line workers in Pilgrims Pride or American Woodmark? With whom and what level of pay do teachers wish to compete? I’ve often said the Justices of the United States Supreme Court are the only group of working people in America who have better job security than tenured West Virginia public school teachers. Those nine justices are guaranteed their position for life unless they are convicted of a felony. How about competition for salaries commensurate with those paid teachers in other states? Sort of a “keep up with the Jones” situation perhaps? Maybe it’s compensation for not going to the trouble of quitting in West Virginia and moving off to hunt work in higher paying venues. In case teachers do decide to move perhaps they’ll need more compensation for giving up their job guaranties until they find and qualify for comparable protections elsewhere. Salaries comparable to those paid in other states might attract more and better teachers to West Virginia, except that when they get here, there’ll be no jobs because tenure will keep present positions filled. Face it, Teachers. You have better job security than anybody else in the community. It’s hard to imagine working people in today’s economy in any local business or industry who wouldn’t give up a few dollars pay for the sort of job guarantee you flaunt with your signs. Nine months work for twelve months pay isn’t bad either. Add in bad weather days and holidays available only to public workers and time on the job becomes controversial. For my part, I’ll go all out for higher salaries for teachers. After all they are most important after parents in development of our children. Without teachers, society would quickly revert to cave dwelling levels. Good Teachers deserve much higher pay and I’ll support it for one thing in return. GET RID OF TENURE. Compete for jobs and positions like everybody else in the community around you. You’ll find folks will gladly pay selected good teachers much more if they can save money by firing incompetents. Give Principals, Superintendents and Boards of Education the simple power to judge incompetence and discipline or fire accordingly.
