NASD Contract

FROM ROSS NUNAMAKER

The Nazareth Area School District approved a teacher's union contract providing new teachers a 4% pay raise in order to attract the best and brightest new teachers according to an article in the Express-Times.

The article goes on to note that teachers are encouraged to get masters and are reimbursed up to $3000 per year for classes. As a union organization, teachers are paid based on years employed and credits earned, so for each class they take they move toward higher pay. These classes can be in person, but more and more often they are online and can be achieved with little effort.

Finally, the article notes the average teacher earns between $57,000 and $58,000 dollars. Doesn't sound like a ton of money until you consider that teachers work 180 days a year and 7.5 hours per day including lunch, have a guaranteed pension, and pay next to nothing for healthcare. If you consider 2 personal days and 2 sick days per year they work 176 days for 7 hours per day without lunch earning $47 per hour. If you work 52 weeks *5 days and get 25 days off between holiday, vacation, and illness for 8 hours a day, you'll work 1,880 hours. At $47 per hour you'd earn $88,360, receive a guaranteed pension and get most of your healthcare paid. And remember, this is the average. I'd expect a good number of people would be very happy with that arrangement.

Considering the economy and number of people out of work, I'm not sure how tough it is to fill teaching positions, but I'm thinking HR isn't up at night scratching their heads. If we could barely make the budget work this year, how will we do it next year with these raises?

Posted via email from Ross Nunamaker

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