The newspaper apparently created a searchable database including the salaries of teachers in the Springfield school district. Naturally, the teachers complained that their privacy had been invaded:
"I don't understand the motivation except that they just can so that they did," said Ray Smith, president of Springfield National Education Association, a group representing Springfield teachers. "I've lived here my whole life and I've never seen anything like it."
And perhaps that is the problem. While I have nothing but respect for Smith and others who work with students on an everyday basis, in this instance he is dead wrong.
The taxpayers have every right to know what each school employee is paid. We should never forget they are the bosses. They are the ones who are footing the bill and they have every right to know how their money is being spent right down to the penny:
News-Leader Data Editor Matt Wynn said he envisions many stories coming in the future as we get more databases and are able to do comparisons.
In an e-mail responding to one teacher who complained, Wynn wrote, in part: "I think posting the school district data has done more than a thousand 'teachers don't get paid enough' editorials. Even when doing some cursory in-house analysis, it was easy to see that the median and average school salaries pale in comparison to many of the other public agencies we have posted. I have to assume that readers, going through the same process I did, are getting the same feeling and drawing their own conclusions about what that means."
Wynn continued: "One of our primary functions at the News-Leader is to shine the light, to provide readers with information they can use to make up their own minds. We live in a society that strives to keep government open — and we at the News-Leader, and specifically on the Data Desk, seek to facilitate that openness at all times."
Teachers, like most other people who work for the government, aren't in it for the money. Because tax money pays their salary, government workers are often unfairly targeted as being paid more than their worth.
They deserve more thanks and less grief. I hope Wynn is right that people will see the great monetary value we get in Springfield with our school district.
I, too, have mixed emotions about thrusting the salaries of school teachers online as we have, but if it gains them any more respect, than perhaps it's worth it.
I hate reading that Lewis has "mixed emotions" about making the salaries available. He shouldn't.
I would like to see it done with every school district and every governmental body in this state.
And for the record, I will be paid $37,400 during the 2007-2008 school year. My base pay is $34,400, while I receive $3,000 in Career Ladder money for work that includes sponsoring the South Middle School Quiz Bowl team, sponsoring the Journalism Club, serving as chairman of the school's Writing Improvement Committee, and serving on the SMS Discipline Committee, as well as attending various after-hours school meetings.
It is likely I will also be paid a little bit more for attending workshops next summer so that I will be able to bring more back into the classroom for my students in the fall of 2008.
In an open society, the public has the right to know what its servants are making and how its money is being spent.
4 comments:
$37,400 for nine (9) months of work is a good salary, $4155.55 per months. With that salary teachers get Holidays off which includes two weeks off at Christmas.
A normal person working the entire year would have to earn $50,000 a year to get the same hourly rate with fewer days off.
Whatever!! They put in more hours in a day than the average joe working somewhere else. In my eyes to put up with all they put up with, be everywhere they are supporting the kids, and pouring hours over grading papers and setting up assignments they aren't paid enough. For the record I am not a teacher nor do I ever desire to be one!
I think it safe to say that the people of Joplin are getting screwed. If that much tax money is going to Turner then there needs to be a blog featuring the headline "The Fleecing of Joplin Schools." Turner certainly doesn't earn that money from what I hear about his "teaching" performance in the classroom.
The first poster has no clue.
First of all, teachers work more than nine months a year. If they expect pay raises and to receive tenure, they must continue their educations in the summer months.
Second, holidays aren't always "days off." Many non-school days are scheduled for professional development and other duties. Teachers are in the school even when students are not.
Third, hourly pay rate is not an accurate way to rate this. Teachers put in more hours than this poster computes into his or her formula. Also, in considering per hour pay one must consider value. This poster would not likely criticize the hourly rate of the lawyer who defended them in court, the doctor who treated them in the hospital or the realtor who sold their house.Is teaching your child well less of a value?
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