Delaware’s War on Teachers (and other public employees)
Delaware teachers make $4,000 a year less now than that did 15 years ago. Adjusted for inflation, the average teacher pay in Delaware is now $60,214 down from $64,176 in 2003. That’s a 6% decline.
This has been a steady and uncompromising attack on teachers and teaching initiated by Ruth Ann Minner and happily carried out by Jack Markell and John Carney, all in the name of further enriching the state’s wealthiest 1%.
Source: www.vox.com/policy-and-politics
I wonder how this compares to the private sector workforce?
Too bad there isn’t some way to type a well phrased question into a… like a search computer that’s, I don’t know… interconnected with other computers and data bases to find out something like that. A web of knowledge, as it were.
I’m not sure why Minner, Markell, Carney decided to use teachers as their “whipping boy” but I can tell you that we sure felt it. The maniacal rollout of “new” education initiatives every adminstration that required extensive retraining only to be dropped unceremoniously by the next, made us all irritable and disheartened. Carney himself presided over the most recent policy disaster, repealing the inheritance tax and permitting the underfunding of schools to the tune of $36 million dollars. No discussion or restoring those funds, the assumption being that schools can do without. I blame a self-absorbed press for this. They are not asking questions like, “where are the cuts to the 36M going to be addressed? What is going away? What are the effects of this on students?” No one has addressed a very simple conundrum: introducing computer technology to schools vastly increases the cost of education, and unless school budgets are increased to deal with this, what everyone should understand is that other line items will be cut. If these were necessary before computers, then something of what is necessary will be cut. And because no one is talking about this, schools are “hollowed out”. The bottom line is that our children will be less prepared to be adults. Is this what we all want? It’s time to speak up.
Thanks for that view from the front lines. The pre-cave in inheritance was/is infuriating
It’s time for Delaware teachers to tear a page out of WVA, Kentucky, AZ, Oklahoma..go on a wild cat strike, show up at Leg Hall. Carney, Markell and Minner were/are just closet republicans. When we had dough, they never gave raises to teachers or state workers. A blue wave is coming….so why not in Delaware.
Too bad there isn’t some way to type a well phrased question into a… like a search computer that’s, I don’t know… interconnected with other computers and data bases to find out something like that. A web of knowledge, as it were.
Yet you chose to type a wiseass reply rather than doing so yourself. Too bad you’re not a reasonable person who wants to have a conversation about facts.
FWIW, I’m a liberal and I have no problem paying taxes to support government employees, especially teachers.
That said, DE teachers still earn roughly $2k over the national average based on the link you provided…and it’s really unfair to everyone else who works for a living to single out teacher salaries. LOTS of workers took a big haircut between 2007-2011. Many are just now beginning to recover, and many more will never recover.
@lebay: If you’re talking about the private sector “haircuts,” that’s not up to the public or the people they elect. If you’re talking about other state workers, the headline says “other public employees.”
SW can look it up himself if he’s so interested. Nobody here is getting paid to fetch information for lazy readers. I haven’t tried it and may never get to it, but it’s a lot easier to look up statistics for a single job category from public payrolls than to compare that to various other unspecified jobs.
I’m always surprised by how many commenters think it is my job to do their homework for them.
I didn’t look it up because I don’t care. I already know everyone’s wages are stagnant. I already know that the top 10% have seized 95% of all income gains over the past 20 years.
This post is about Teachers. In addition to declining pay they’ve been scapegoated, maligned and basically held in contempt by elected officials – Democratic and Republican
@l “That said, DE teachers still earn roughly $2k over the national average based on the link you provided…”
Yes, but consider these:
1. Educational standards are higher in Delaware than in most parts of the country. If you compare teachers’ wages in states with similar educational profiles (i.e. same fraction of masters degrees), you’ll find that it doesn’t look so good…
2. The cost of living is higher than in most parts of the country.
If you factor in both of these, being a well educated teacher in DE isn’t such a great deal…
I’m sympathetic to the plight of the teacher, but I think non-teacher state employees are actually doing worse. Many districts give their teachers pay raises on a somewhat routine basis, and there may be opportunity to receive pay benefits/promotions for things like experience and education. Not so in many state agencies. Mass retirements in my agency are leading to many open positions — shameful starting pay means we can’t attract good people. From my desk I can see the workspace of 5 great state employees who have left within the past year — all leaving for jobs where they would make 15-20K more each year with similar or better benefits. I actually spoke with John Carney about this during the campaign and he seemed surprised and skeptical when I told him morale was in the dumps and we were headed for a hiring crises. Teachers have unions. Most state employees are not represented by unions, leaving us with no voice and no advocates. And searching for better jobs.
Alby, the initial comment was from SussexAnon, not to be confused with moi.
Sorry about that. I guess all you downstaters look alike to me. 😉
lol, cost of living in DE is high?
No matter what county you live in…the rent is too damn high. In Sussex the average rent for a one bedroom is $900 plus utilities. There is no affordable housing in this state. In New Castle County many of the apt. complex’s have been bought up by out of state land barrons. They raise the rents every year. Try finding an apt. in NCC for less than $l000?
The median household income in Sussex is like 53 K. Half are less. Houses within 10 miles of the beach are going for 400K
@m “lol, cost of living in DE is high?”
It’s higher than 2/3 of all states.
County-wide averages are misleading. Housing is a lot cheaper in Seaford/Laurel than in Millsboro and points east.
Cheapest apartments in NCCo are about $850/month.
I do believe the point of the post was that wages for Delaware teachers, like those in states where teachers are on strike, have been stagnant.
Delaware tries to run itself like a Southern state: Low taxes, low pay for state workers. That works in Mississippi, because the pay is just as bad in Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee, so workers stay put. It doesn’t work in a state that’s a 15-minute drive from Maryland or Pennsylvania, which pay much better. That’s why Delaware prison guards get their training here and eventually move to New Jersey, where they pay guards double what we do.
@Alby-
“I do believe the point of the post was that wages for Delaware teachers, like those in states where teachers are on strike, have been stagnant.”
As have wages for most Americans, particularly blue collar workers, over the last 30 years.