I'll give you one gue$$...

"Let's hope that means these units will be torn down and not replaced" seems like a pretty bizarre response to that.

This thread's refrain of "better pay" is starting to sound like the "not enough time" chorus that I hear from the public (and private) school teachers I've worked with my entire professional career.

Pay is not the heart of the matter.

It's about respect.

Respect for those who choose to teach -- absolutely.

But also respect for those learning.

And the pandemic put the lie to everything that we told our children about schooling.

Pay and other spending that our teachers and students touch and see can be signals of respect.

But as OP began to itemize only at the end of their post, there are many immaterial challenges to our teachers and schools.

No student -- or for that matter, parent -- would ask a teacher why they teach, and feel satisfaction with a response of "For the bucks." Quite the contrary.

And fundamentally, conveying to children that the adults around them "follow the money" does a poisonous disservice to the teachers (especially the Title I teachers I work with -- but the administrators, too) who have kept the faith through the pandemic.

I just came back from visiting half a dozen Title I classrooms in one of the few states larger than Pennsylvania -- and hanging out with those teachers late into the night. I heard them catch up with each other over pizzas and beers, and volunteer their backstories.

Could every single one of them earn much more in other fields? Yes. (Does this also reflect on their particular subject matter expertise? It does.)

But having seen them pouring their hearts into their craft by day, I know a light would extinguish in each if they did leave the profession.

Actually, about 36 lights per, times four or five preps.

(Further evidence that teachers are not in it for $: my current project doesn't compensate them any better than their union-mandated hourly. But still, they engage because they want to become better for their kids.)

To be clear ... our teachers definitely deserve better salary ... safer and more welcoming working conditions ... adequate supplies for which they don't pay out of pocket or resort to fundraising.

But no one has ever gone into education to make bank.

The teachers still teaching our children do so because of our children.

So respect for u/jekomo.

Can we respect OP's colleagues enough to get past/go deeper than "just throw money at it/them"?

'cause all the cheese in the world doesn't stand a chance "amid constant attacks, accusations of indoctrination, less teacher autonomy, etc."

These unpopular opinions brought to you by a proud graduate of this state's public schools who benefitted from its free and reduced lunch and summer programs, stayed in-state for college, holds teacher certification here, pays taxes here, and has worked on several multi-year, multi-million-dollar private and federally-funded educational efforts launched or co-designed by teachers.

P.S. It is not lost on me that PSEA's own "issues & action" tab on this exact subject has gone AWOL.

Nurses and social workers also work outside their paid hours. I work in a nursing home and the typical nurse is there an hour after her shift finishing computer work five days a week. Social workers have more irregular extra hours, but they have them. Also teachers aren’t scheduled for an 8 hour day so their extra hours compared to those other jobs shouldn’t begin being counted until they work more than 8 hours. I know many teachers work far more than 8 hours. But I wonder if you added up the hours worked per year how it would compare.

They also work a lot more outside of their paid hours.

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Well if it's your time to sell then salaries don't need to be raised to compensate for that time.

With that argument you're saying that the $60,000 teachers are making working 8 months a year isn't enough? Seems like a stretch.

Pay them. Stock their classrooms with the supplies they need to do their job. Free the copy machine.

The Point.

Your head.

We're talking America here - and Pennsylvania to be exact.

I'll get 15 days off next year. You're saying that at the low end (just for summer) you get over two full months.

Factor in the spring break (full week off) that you're enjoying now, winter break, thanksgiving break, and all federal holidays...and then add in your own PTO on top of that, it's easily 4 months.

I'm not saying teachers don't work hard when they work. I'm saying they work less and are paid commensurate per hours worked in exchange for a unique and freeing lifestyle. Which is that should be communicated to the next generation of teachers to attract talent.

For sure. Just saying the state representative thing has worked for me.

It’s easy to obtain if you’re background is clean

I thought it was just the atf that killed dogs

FWIW - All PA teacher salaries are available on line in a fully searchable format

https://www.openpagov.org/payroll/

No…let’s spend multiple billions of dollars so you can have 10 more buses. Fuck off…

You still don’t get it. The issue is NOT me getting to and from work. It is doing anything else in our area…which goes way beyond me.

I’m a ham and live on northern border , talk to Canadians everyday who bitch there teachers are making $80k , I’m like do you want an educated child who grows into a well reasoned adult or do you want the average American ? You can pay your teachers well now or you can pay with idiots later , it’s that simple , I am very proud to be well educated by some amazing teachers , I easily became a life time learner because I had teachers who inspired the best in us , unfortunately within a few years of my graduation many of these teachers were replaced with inferior models who work cheap and the the whole abortion of No child left behind happened and ended all electives in school ( I had wood shop, metal shop, automotive , small engine repair, pottery, photography , year book , home economics , Spanish, French , drivers education , swimming , sculpting , archery among the many that I took ) that sadly don’t exist anymore . I had such a great experience in elementary school that’s also no longer done ,the entire school participated in hunting turkeys ,growing vegetables , picking apples , peeling and chopping apples potatoes and then cooking the meal in fire pits in huge cast iron Dutch ovens , some of my best memories even after more than 50 years . Back in those days your teacher was determined by your last name so I had the same teachers as my older sister and brother , so there was a strong family bond already when I got to school . A good or bad teacher can make or break a child’s future. TYFYS to all the educators on this thread , you don’t feel the love in your paycheck , but there are many who love you and respect your service and sacrifice .

Treat teachers with respect and back them up against the QAnuts

Actually, the marketing for the field already over-performs. Lots of people think they want to be teachers, and go into debt to become them.

A dose of reality leads many to switch careers. I've worked with a lot of them over the years.

Many, many people have a side hustle or second job these days. It's not double-dipping when you use your scheduled time off to make ends meet or try to get ahead a little. That's still your time to sell. You weren't aware?

> 4+ months off per year

Bullshit. I'm so tired of this.

You get hair over 2 months of summer break. This time needs to be spent on continued education to keep your certs up to date.

And before you go "Oh but 2 weeks for Christmas, a week for easter, all those days off." Those are almost all spent on prep and catchup work.

Stop talking about things you don't know anything about.

> whereas most Americans get 15 days

This is bullshit too, the rest of the world figured out ages ago that 6 weeks of vacation increases overall productivity, start fighting for workers' rights.

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The answer is always $$$

All of the obvious things that others have said. I think you also have to look at around 2011 there was an abundance of teachers and it was impossible to find a job. Even now, I graduated in 2017 and it took me about 5 years to get a contracted position. Teaching in PA is one of the best states thanks to the unions.

Free life insurance and body armor would be a good start and not electing a governor like Ron deathsantis ( no more Corbetts !)

At $60,000 in a low cost of living city (basically any city in PA), teachers should be comfortable. And that's the average teaching salary in Philadelphia.

If someone lives outside of their means and wants to subsidize their income with another job, that's on them.

But there's no reason for taxpayers to subsidize what otherwise would constitute 4-months of PTO and allow teachers to double dip.

Again, if you want to attract the next generation of educators - the original point of this post - the answer isn't more money (because it's unjustified). It's instead more of a marketing issue, where teaching should be framed/sold more in terms of freedom and impact.