MIAMI-DADE TEACHERS ASK FOR BETTER PAY

This past week, Miami-Dade teachers carried out numerous protests asking for better pay. Right now, the starting salary for a teacher is around $34,000 a year, not enough to support a family, especially in Miami. Here, among other things, the cost of housing, property taxes, and hurricane insurance have risen to such levels that many families opt to move to another part of Florida or to another state altogether. That is not a viable option for people with strong ties in the community. Many of those staying here cannot keep up with the expenses. Some of them survive on credit, until exhausted. Then, filing for bankruptcy is the only way to get out of the mess.

Teachers deserve a decent salary. Starting pay should be sufficient to attract the best minds available. Bright students with a vocation to teach may not choose Education as their major in college, if they could do better financially in another field. Furthermore, in addition to regular salary increases based on seniority, there should be merit increases as reward for excellent performance in the classroom. Objectivity must prevail. Sound assessment standards and measures would be necessary, and the absence of favoritism guaranteed.

Will all the monies slated for education from our property taxes, there should be enough money to pay teachers what they deserve. If it is not enough, it should be when one adds all the millions (or is it “billions” by now) from the Florida State lottery. Citing the lack of budget funds, for not paying teachers a decent salary, is a bad excuse.

Appropriating an ever-increasing amount of funds for education is not going to solve the problem. To find the money needed for teachers, look into waste and mismanagement. If my mind serves me well, I remember reading and hearing about the squandering of millions of dollars in the purchasing of land and construction of public schools. There is more.

Protesting teachers call our attention to what they consider misuse of public funds. First, there is the cost of remodeling the offices of members of the School Board. The figure is somewhere around $400,000 dollars. Second, there is the payment of one million dollars to a consulting firm to negotiate teachers’ benefits. Is that not the job of the School Board? Finally, there is the expenditure of millions of dollars on a program to teach students to read. Wow! Learning to read has become so complex, we need all these special programs. I remember when a book and a teacher were all that was necessary. It goes to show taxpayers how easy it is for public officials to spend money, when it is not coming out of their own pockets.

To top the teachers’ complaints, consider the large number of school administrators earning (getting) big bucks, many of them over $100,000. Such high salaries are unmerited, especially when so many students come out of public schools lacking the skills necessary to succeed in college, or in life itself. American students are way behind foreign students on education—in general knowledge as well as in science. How can our country be competitive in the future unless we reverse that statistic?

Fight that bloated bureaucracy. Streamline the system. Cut out the fat. Begin a fitness program for the institution itself .One hour daily on the treadmill would be a good start. Then, another hour of spinning would be wonderful. Finally, a period of meditation and lecture focused on the mission of the education system and the duties of those entrusted with its administration.

Recommended Reading: Ercian Testament - Part II, chapter 12 “Leaps of Knowledge.”