The Scam of the Babysitter's.

I woke up this morning and reviewed dove into the world of Twitter. I must confess that it is not something that I do and it is not how I normally choose to start my day. However this morning one of my favorite children's authors put up something about teachers and their salaries.

omiof5 writes:

I'm fed up with teachers and their hefty salary guides! What we need is a little perspective.

If I had my way, I'd pay these teachers myself -- I'd pay them babysitting wages. That's right -- instead of paying these outrageous taxes, I'd give them $3.00 an hour out of my own pocket. And I'm only going to pay them for 5 hours, not coffee breaks. That would be $15.00 a day -- each parent should pay $15.00 a day for these teachers to babysit a child. (Even if you have more than one child, it's still a lot cheaper than private day care.)

Now, how many children do they teach every day -- maybe twenty? That's $15.00 X 20 = $300 a day. But remember they only work 180 days a year! I'm not going to pay them for all those vacations! That's $300 X 180 =$54,000. (Just a minute -- that can't be right; let me check my calculator.)

I know what you teachers will say -- What about those who have ten years experience and a Master's degree? Well, maybe (to be fair) they could get the minimum wage -- instead of just babysitting, they could read the kids a story.

We can round that off to about $5.00 an hour, times five hours, times twenty children. That's $500 a day times 180 days. That's $90,000 ..... HUH??

Wait a minute; let's get a little perspective here! Babysitting wages are too good for these teachers. Does anyone see a salary guide around here?

(http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=7299)

This is a travesty. Teachers are one of the most important people in a child's life. As the pay of teachers drops the desire for people to want to teach also drops. Some people that would be the best teachers will not do it because they will make barely enough money to support themselves.

In Florida our esteemed governor is cutting teachers pay to make a balance the budget. The amount of money that Florida puts into its education is below the national average of $10,500 per student. (http://tinyurl.com/3za6gyb) As a comparison New York spends $18,000(http://tinyurl.com/6b8a5k5) a year per student. Florida on the other hand spends about $9,000 a year per student.(http://tinyurl.com/6gky56b) Teachers are leaving Florida for other states that will actually fund education and pay them more than that of a baby sitter.

And people wonder why the education system in Florida is terrible.