Teacher Raises: Good Policy, Good Politics

by | May 28, 2014 | 2014 Elections, Carolina Strategic Analysis, Education, Features, Issues, Politics | 25 comments

The just-announced Senate plan that would give substantial raises for teachers is a home-run for the NC GOP. You can tell by how the plan is being criticized not because of the salary increases but because of the cuts that will have to be made elsewhere (tax increases are out). Under the new plan, North Carolina’s teachers would be among the highest-paid in the Southeast, not quite at the national average but far from the bottom. The plan is unique as it would allow teachers to make a choice: keep tenure but earn less, or lose tenure but get the chance to earn a lot more. No other state in the nation has adopted such a plan.

Politically, the plan is a home-run because it would give the GOP cover from attacks on the education front. Education has always been this legislature’s Achilles heel. Respect for public education, and educators, are a part of this state’s cultural fabric. Perceived callousness to the plight of teachers is not a way to win elections in North Carolina. It’s the one issue where transplants, rural people, urban dwellers, natives, blacks, whites, rich and poor, are on the same team. They’re all for a strong public school system and for recruiting good teachers. Yes, it’s the most cliche of cliches, but it’s about their children’s future.

Contempt for public educators seems to be something imported from elsewhere. I think Republicans from states like California, New York, New Jersey, etc., are much more suspicious of teachers than their Southern counterparts. It’s easy to see why: in those states, teachers’ unions wield an incredible amount of power and this has probably lessened the quality of education, and the quality of educators, in those states.

On the other hand, teachers in North Carolina work for peanuts and get few benefits. Attempts to depict otherwise inevitably fail. In small towns and rural communities especially, teachers get a lot of respect. And most people have a friend, or a family member, or a neighbor who is a public school teacher. Not being kind to teachers is a loser politically, even with the GOP’s own base.

Sure, not every teacher is a saint. I’ve had my share of teachers who, quite frankly, I wondered why in the world were in the profession at all, especially given the low pay. And there seems to be an epidemic going around of female teachers having sex with male students. But most teachers are good people who do it because they love teaching, not because of the money (there isn’t any).

Going into election season, adopting this plan would change the nature of the debate. The Democrats can no longer credibly attack Republicans as being callous toward teachers and desiring the complete destruction of the public education system, not after giving them a huge raise. And GOP legislators can return to their constituents and say, “Democrats talked about raising teacher pay for years. But we actually did it.” If the GOP gives teachers the compensation they deserve, they’ll reap the benefits at the ballot box.

25 Comments

  1. Von Marco

    The ignorance displayed in some of the comments here are astonishing. It is clear to me that the author of this piece supports this ruse concerning teacher pay raises. My wife retired from the system a few years ago and still work within it part time. She and many of those working in the school system know this is nothing more than a deceptive scheme. If you disagree, place yourself in these teachers shoes. Imagine working for a company and the employer told you he will give you a raise if you give up your seniority…..what would you do? Would you take a short term raise over job security? Stupidity is taking over NC and we will compete with SC in which state can regress faster!!!!!

  2. Eilene

    wow.. lots of activity on here today! I have a couple issues to discuss. First, Geek… while I have been places where the overwhelming majority of teachers are Democrats, that is not true here. I’d bet there are twice as many card-carrying Republicans at my rural school than Democrats, so your argument doesn’t hold as much water here.

    Also, one of the reasons that we need a little more protection (tenure that isn’t really tenure but a right to due process) is because we have a specialized degree that doesn’t always translate to other fields of work. So if they continue to stagnate my wages, I might have to take another low wage job or go back to school.. which seems harsh and unnecessary if you are a good teacher and have put many years into a system with the benefit of a retirement system. We take less money than people with equal degrees because we have a bit of a safety net and a small but reliable nest egg. And we are judged by bizarre systems designed and implemented by non-educators that do not know what the hell they are talking about. They buy into companies like Pearson’s BS about how if we use their tests, and their evaluation systems, at the low, low price of millions upon millions of dollars, we’ll find out who the really good teachers are.

    And, John Wynne, if you are really trying to lay the blame for poor education systems in places like California on teachers’ unions, I’d like to see some proof. Every state underfunds education, load classrooms to the rafters with kids, and then piss and moan about teachers’ unions when the test scores look bad. Really? Somebody making sure I earn a decent paycheck is responsible for the degradation of public education? That’s foolish. And New Jersey blows the ceiling off the comparison chart in student achievement and test scores. Do your homework. http://www.nj.com/education/2014/01/nj_schools_near_top_in_nation_in_student_achievement_new_study_reports.html

  3. Virginia Curtis

    Apparently Senator Berger would rather look like a jerk than admit taking away teachers’ earned tenure (which only guarantees due process, not job security) is a demeaning, insulting idea. I hope he chokes on the polluted water in the Dan River.

  4. Mick

    Geek:

    Never paid any attention to Gore, never listened to MMoore, so stop bringing them up, lest you further demonstrate your obsession with them.

    I’ll compare my science degrees and my long environmental science career vs. yours any day. Bring it on, if you want.

    I have read all the IPCCs and much more real peer-reviewed research in climatology. Don’t care what you claim surface temps show or suggest. Climate and weather extremes are real, and now almost daily news items. The oceans are warming significantly, and that means expanding. Add in thinning polar ice reserves, and that all means major sea level rise. And NC will either plan for it and cope as best it can, or not.

    Let’s move on to the next politicsnc.com post…..

    Mick

    • Thomas Ricks

      I pay attention to Gore and Moore because they anger conservatives. Sure Moore lies. But the Hockey Stick is real. The court that disproved Gore’s film was a conservative petty tiny court. AGW is real. Gore was right. No one but conservatives cares about the solar panels.

      Scientists are not making money off of this and when the cities are sinking, any conservatives still alive should be made to PAY for the lies they have told. It will be an easy sell.

  5. Alex Jones

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Gov. Mitt Romney at least tried to implement a “pay-or-tenure” plan in MA.

  6. Mick

    Geek: Thanks for confirming that your also a science denier. Shoulda figured. Fact is, global climate change is upon us. Period. The oceans ARE warmer and more acidic then in known history, and sea levels have been increasing steadily, and will rise much more rapidly in about 30 years (BTW, there are many home and building mortgages of that term length being entered into NOW in coastal NC).
    Too bad neither of us will be around in about 2050. We could plan to meet on the OBX for lunch, except there won’t be any OBX. But nothing much lost in terms of conversation. I would have only planned to tell you “I told you so.” Mick

    • geek49203

      Mick — confirm what I think of you.

      For the record… 1. Climate is changing. 2. Generally it is getting warmer in this era. No one “denies” that. Then again, we are coming out of that Little Ice age in fits and starts, as we’ve been coming out of that last glacial period in fits and starts over the past 10,000 years. 3. The Al Gore thing is a crock of crap and quite frankly that entire catastrophic “global warming” thing has been abandoned. If you’re still on that Al Gore / Michael Mann thing, science long ago left you.

      Some of us read the IPCC and look at HADCRUT temp graphs. Others throw zingers. You figure out which one is which.

      • Thomas Ricks

        If a conservative is speaking, a conservative is lying.

        Sometimes it is lying to themselves, pretending they understand something when they read it. Sometimes it is deliberately lying when they know better. Sometimes it is merely parroting the lies of others who they admire.

        But when a conservative is speaking as a conservative, they say nothing but lies.

  7. geek49203

    Main Street —

    As a former contract employee of a state dept of ed (not NC), and a huge charter school company, and a large public school district… not to mention my experience as a parent and student…

    1. No one asks me if I will accept whatever pay package. That is just the way life is. And yes, I’m a 6-figure professional, but it doesn’t make any difference to the rest of the 99% of us either — the employer calls the tunes. End. Of. Story.

    We all make what we make according to the Law of Supply and Demand of Labor. Back in the day when colleges taught econ with graphs and maps and stuff, we learned that if there is a glut of qualified labor, or a spike in demand for that labor, or a decrease in the demand for that labor, etc… then the wages increase. Nursing saw a big wage increase for about 10 years when they had a shortage, for instance. And now that my own skills are less in demand, I’ve seen my wages decline by about 50% since 1995.

    And that, parent or not, is the way it works in the real world.

    Sadly for teachers, they could put out a “help wanted” ad for pretty much ever position, and get hundreds upon hundreds of qualified resumes, especially for Early El. So you tell me what the wages would be like in the absence of gov’t mandates?

    2. “Outlaw global warming” is another thread. First, we haven’t seen a temp increase in 18 years — even the IPCC admits that. IN fact, they’ve changed the name to “global climate change” but lots of people are still back in the Al Gore era on this one. (BTW, if you don’t know the term IPCC, hang on, you could learn something here).

    Second, that sea level increase thing was 3x what even the IPCC said would happen if global warming ever happened (which it isn’t). Therefore, what it amounted to was a land / power / money grab by a certain state agency. Tell me — if the State came along and deemed your property to be an environmentally sensitive flood zone, and put on tons of restrictions on your house, would you like it? Nevermind, you might. ‘Cause, parent. Or something.

    • geek49203

      “then the wages increase.” Oops. Should be “wages change.”

    • Main Street Muse

      I see. You are a troll.

  8. Mick

    And I can’t count! I meant “I gave them 22 years.”

  9. Mick

    Geek — I was a registered Republican from 1988 through 2010. Then they got crazy, infected by the TP, bought by big business, and transformed in science deniers. Not for me.

    If the GOP was a party that didn’t just say no, that came up with some truly innovative notions, didn’t look the other way at the big problems affecting the 95%, wasn’t just so damned mean-spirited and often bigoted, didn’t wrap itself in the American flag for one photo shoot then talk about either secession or nullification in another, didn’t risk the faith and good credit of the nation by stalling on the debt limit, and supported private enterprise but didn’t unduly favor private enterprise over workers and consumers, I’d consider re-registering Republican. I gave them 18 years as a voter/supporter, but no more until they become caring human beings again. Right now, I’ll remain a registered “unaffiliated.”
    Mick

  10. Mick

    Oh, John, John, John. Your high opinion of the NCGA GOP proposal is just…well…bonkers.
    Did you look at the current/proposed tables of increases? You actually think those are “huge”? That table is an embarrassment. A 28-year teacher, who as been denied promised structured longevity raises for years, and denied salary increases for the last 8 years, making $47K would be lifted to $50K? That’s not huge; that’s barely “substantive.”

    And you blame transplanted Repubs for the demonizing of teachers, giving “natives” a pass? Do I have to roll out the stupid and demeaning statements about teachers made by the NC-born or raised GOP elected over the years?

    And where do you think the money is going to come from to pay for such raises? Once a closer look and analysis of the budget is done, we’ll see plainly what pots and good programs have been set back to make this salary fix. Why? Because the GOP’s ill-crafted tax reform didn’t allow for any monies for major issues such as this one.

    And what sort of increase do teachers et if they want to keep tenure, a status that was pledged to them when they signed on? Nothing!

    If you think this is a home run, and that it sets up the GOP as the party of champions of education, you are seriously mistaken.

    • geek49203

      Mick — can you honest think of any circumstance where you’d be a card-carrying GOP member?

      Didn’t think so.

      • Thomas Ricks

        If a conservative is speaking, a conservative is lying.

  11. Someone from Main Street NC

    Why do teacher raises have to align with an end to due process/tenure? I don’t like the idea that to get a long-overdue, well-deserved raise, a teacher has to align with GOP ideology on tenure.

    • geek49203

      Dunno, why do teachers contracts look a like like the 1970’s AFL-CIO contracts? Are the ones in NC different? I mean, you have “bid” systems, can’t-fire contracts, a pension plan (as opposed to a non-profit version of the 401k), etc etc. Is that not the case? Tell me where I have misunderstood.

      ‘Cause the previous states I worked in, the union teachers sure acted like the AFL-CIO circa 1975. Bid systems, can’t-fire contracts, pension plans, zero-copay union-controlled health insurance, etc etc.

      • Main Street Muse

        Geek – What does this have to do with anything?

        I am reacting as a parent – I have never seen a teacher’s contract. To say you get a raise only if you agree with GOP ideology on tenure (i.e. it must be banned!) is a terrible precedent.

        With regard to this teacher salary “raise” (with no details on funding or if there will ever be another raise again), I think it is alarming that the party that criminalized discussion of global warming and wants to make it a felony to mention the chemicals used in fracking now wants to remove due process from K-12 educational sector. This opens the door to allowing teachers to get fired for not teaching creationism. THAT’s how looney NCGOP is these days.

      • Thomas Ricks

        If a conservative is speaking, a conservative is lying.

  12. geek49203

    “…it would give the GOP cover from attacks on the education front.”

    You do politics much?

    “The teachers” are always in the Dem corner in every place, as is the university crowd. It’s a recipe straight out of the Dem playbook. You get a new GOP Gov, or a GOP legislature, and the teachers are paraded around and made to picket and protest. They make great “useful idiots” — so compelling, so afraid that a GOP government will indeed mean the end of life as they know it. I’ve seen it first-hand in Michigan (twice) and Wisconsin –you remember those drum-bangers when Walker took over?

    In Michigan, I watched a MEA union rally on one side of the street, and a “recall” rally on the other 3 years ago, on the last day of school (first day of a 3-month vacation!). I was supposed to think they were totally separate. And such protests happened for both Gov Engler as well as Gov Snyder. Those gentlemen sandwiched a Dem Gov (she ended up on Current TV) who did nothing but cut, and they in turn have boosted spending, but guess who never got a peep of protest?

    BTW, I did a counter protest at that protest. I offered $1000 to any teacher who got a written job offer for more than they were making now, countering a well-worn meme that they could make more money elsewhere. Yes, I met a few union goons. Yes, the MEA did in fact check me out. And I spent the $1000 on a new bicycle. Damn, I loved it.

    So the “teachers” are always a built-in Dem political tool. If you think for one minute that the teachers, or the university crowd, will EVER be GOP friendly, or even remotely neutral, you’re hopelessly naive. ‘Cause this isn’t about “the children” or even about teachers, it’s about control of the biggest stack of cash that the state actually controls. And that is real power.

    • Thomas Ricks

      If a conservative is speaking, a conservative is lying.

  13. are you kidding me?

    cogent post, but what the heck is this line (?): “And there seems to be an epidemic going around of female teachers having sex with male students.” really? after this week in the news we’re going to talk about women as predators?!! you need to sit the — down . . .

    • geek49203

      “This week in the news..”??? What? Did I miss something? Yes, we’ve had a spate of those IN THIS NEWS. Seriously. Did something happen this week to make that not true? Maya Angelou mourning period or something?

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