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$101,091: Annual Compensation for Average Milwaukee Teacher

Nevergolfpar said:
Actually, he was basing his numbers off of $55,000 per year and not $50,000 per year. As a result that equates to an annualized salary of $73,333.33. While your math is indeed correct, the variables you used were wrong. The problem with both calculations is the fact that neither formula factors in the deferred compensation packages that these teachers are making (at least in Wisconsin) to fund retirement/pensions. On top of the $55,000 per year salary another 11% needs to be added to account for the deferred compensation package. The new math looks like this:

$55,000*1.11= $61,050 (4/3)*61,050=$81,400 based on an average teacher salary of $55,000 in the state (which admittedly I believe is high). I will post another with the real numbers, but let me do the research first....
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Using 2009 data, the average teachers salary in the state of Wisconsin is (according to teachersalaryinfo.com) $48,743.33 per year. With total teacher salary expenditures of $3,571,389,694. With this information we can accurately estimate the amount of teachers in the state at 73,269.

Benefit expenditures for the state: $1,719,827,769. With this information we can accurately conclude the average teacher in the state of Wisconsin is paid an additional $23,472.00 (rounding) in state provided benefits.

Based on this information the average teacher salary in the state is $72,215.33 per year in total compensation. This number is accurate to within in +/-$25. Unless someone on this board can prove me wrong mathematically, then I suggest both sides on this board use the $72,200 number when discussing teacher salaries in the state.

Furthermore, Wisconsin is rated at 24th in the nation in teacher salaries and this $72,200 would also be a good barometer to suggest the average teachers salary in the entire United States.

Now lets annualize this ACCURATE data which was CPwill's original intent: 1.3333*$72,215.33=$96,287.10 per year. The average teacher in the state of Wisconsin makes an annualized salary of $96,287.10 per year!!!!!
 
The Giant Noodle said:
Ive been saying this for years! Teachers are paid TWICE what they are worth! Reading this REALLY pisses me off!
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What should really piss you off is the media making up exaggerated stories to piss you off... Especially when don't have anything to compare it with.

ricksfolly
 
For the record, I'd think 100k to be a fair salary for a 20+ year reputable, career teacher.....but, 100k average means they're making to much to soon, imo.
 
mac said:
For the record, I'd think 100k to be a fair salary for a 20+ year reputable, career teacher.....but, 100k average means they're making to much to soon, imo.
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Personally, I think thats about 35k too high, but thats must me I guess.

Nevergolfpar said:
Using 2009 data, the average teachers salary in the state of Wisconsin is (according to teachersalaryinfo.com) $48,743.33 per year. With total teacher salary expenditures of $3,571,389,694. With this information we can accurately estimate the amount of teachers in the state at 73,269.

Benefit expenditures for the state: $1,719,827,769. With this information we can accurately conclude the average teacher in the state of Wisconsin is paid an additional $23,472.00 (rounding) in state provided benefits.

Based on this information the average teacher salary in the state is $72,215.33 per year in total compensation. This number is accurate to within in +/-$25. Unless someone on this board can prove me wrong mathematically, then I suggest both sides on this board use the $72,200 number when discussing teacher salaries in the state.

Furthermore, Wisconsin is rated at 24th in the nation in teacher salaries and this $72,200 would also be a good barometer to suggest the average teachers salary in the entire United States.

Now lets annualize this ACCURATE data which was CPwill's original intent: 1.3333*$72,215.33=$96,287.10 per year. The average teacher in the state of Wisconsin makes an annualized salary of $96,287.10 per year!!!!!
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Problems with your math
1. Annualizing the salary is unnecessary because total salary is whats important here due to that salary being what teachers actually make.
2. You took benefits, which are annualized, and then annualized them again.
 
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megaprogman said:
Personally, I think thats about 35k too high, but thats must me I guess.
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Maybe, but I think with that much time on the job plus the high level of education required...it's fair. MBAs in the corporate world are making over 100k after 20 years, I guarantee it.
 
an awful lot of teachers deal with 5 year olds, 8 year olds, ten year olds

a lot of em shoot hoops

it aint rocket science

(that's not to take away from pe teachers, they have huge classes these days, often no walls, i think more principals i've known have come from pe than any other discipline)

very few teachers do calculus

all kinds of math teachers, for example, have trouble with algebra, i've helped dozens, maybe a hundred

i work 181 days a year, i start at 8:15 and finish at 3:05

very few of us take work home, tho english teachers do, hundreds of pages of the worst writing you can imagine, i taught high school english once

if you teach block schedules here in the CA east bay, you get ONE HUNDRED MINUTES OF PREP per day

retirement was sposed to be about 400% social security

there's tenure, it's great

i sure have had a lot of kids who can't add fractions tell me how teachers are underpaid, several hundred kids, at least

that's one thing their teachers sure taught em

teachers make bank, my opinion

party on
 
The Giant Noodle said:
ALright man...... teachers hardly do any work. They are there for SIX hours a day! Thats 30 hours a WEEK! They are off around 2 days a month for whatever lame holiday comes around. Then they have THREE MONTHS OFF!!! Their job is EASY! At least 3 out of 10 people could walk in and do their job with ZERO training.
You know why its hard to get a teachers position? Because everyone and their cousin wants to be one! So they made it more difficult in Illinois to qualify. My friend Rob is a teacher. He used to be a retail book store manager. He said that was TWICE as difficult.

Lets not even get into how difficult it is to fire a crappy teacher! Or their INSANE pensions! Beginning teachers should make no more than $27K a year and after ten years make no more than $37K a year. Now divide that salary by NINE...... NOT 12 since they only work 9 months. Plus they need to pay 20% of their benefits.
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You have no idea what you are talking about. In the U.S. I NEVER had a six-hour day as a teacher... NEVER... and in fact, I commonly had 10-hour PLUS days... and I worked weekends many times as well... grading papers and preparing lesson plans, amond other things... The notion that being a teacher is a cushy job is a common myth held by those who are not in the peaching profession...
 
ludahai said:
You have no idea what you are talking about. In the U.S. I NEVER had a six-hour day as a teacher... NEVER... and in fact, I commonly had 10-hour PLUS days... and I worked weekends many times as well... grading papers and preparing lesson plans, amond other things... The notion that being a teacher is a cushy job is a common myth held by those who are not in the peaching profession...
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I would hate to be a peacher, personally.
 
mac said:
Some teachers do, summer school and things like that. Some teachers work a different job for extra cash. Many just take the time off.

100k and 4 months a year off is pretty good though. Wouldn't mind that myself.
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Many also take classes that they pay for out of their own pocket to MAINTAIn certification...
 
ludahai said:
Many also take classes that they pay for out of their own pocket to MAINTAIn certification...
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Agreed, but a lot of those are funded here in the US through tuition assistance. Sometimes they're even free with the states university system
 
mac said:
Most recently in promoting the legitimization of homosexuality. There are others, but this is the front burner atm.
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that is being taught in schools? link?
 
mac said:
Agreed, but a lot of those are funded here in the US through tuition assistance. Sometimes they're even free with the states university system
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???? Never seen it in Utah or AZ.....
 
megaprogman said:
Problems with your math
1. Annualizing the salary is unnecessary because total salary is whats important here due to that salary being what teachers actually make.
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True, however when it comes to making an apples to apples comparison of teachers salaries vs. most of us that work year round either annualizing their salary or de-annualizing mine is necessary.
megaprogman said:
2. You took benefits, which are annualized, and then annualized them again.
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No I did not. I took the total compensation paid out in salaries by the state and divided by the total teachers in the state. Annualizing the salary is still necessary when making an apples to apples comparison.
 
UtahBill said:
that is being taught in schools? link?
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Easily enough there is a rather weak example of it in a thread here on dp. But, to be fair I don't think it's widespread....yet.
 
UtahBill said:
???? Never seen it in Utah or AZ.....
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You're getting screwed then, that's the way it is in New York, Maryland, and DC that I know of first hand.
 
whysoserious said:
Actually, Mathmatically it works out to be no where near that:

If X = a years worth of work, then (9/12)X = 50,000. Therefore, X = (4/3)*50,000 = 66,666.67 (it's a little more devilish but yeah).
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:) I was utilizing a 55K base-pay, which is perhaps the reason for the difference.


but perhaps i could turn the question on you: can states and localities, as they face brutal deficits, afford to continue to spend more than 100,000 on each teacher, a price whose tag is sure to spike as retirements increase in the near future? or should they begin to shift to defined-contribution benefits packages for retirement (as the private sector has done) and HSA's (as Indiana has very successfully done)?
 
UtahBill said:
that is being taught in schools? link?
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Fistgate

In 2000, the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network sponsored a statewide conference called "Teach-Out." Included among the conference-goers were high school students and preadolescents, some as young as twelve...

Scott Wiseman, a parent present at the meeting, made a recording, and asked Middlesex County District Attorney Martha Coakley to investigate the explanation of sexual activities to minors by state employees. He and members of the above groups alleged that conference attendees discussed how sexual education teachers could circumvent their administration and include information about homosexuality in the curriculum. The incident gained wider attention when Jeanine Graf, a talk-show host on station WTKK, broadcast the tapes on her talk-show.....



basically along with general promotion, the event picked up the tag "fistgate" due to a particular controversial explination/demonstration by some of the (yes, public) employees.



GLSEN Speakers Tout ‘Gay’ Lessons for Kindergartners



and so on and so forth. plenty of "johnny has two daddies" book selections in elementary schools these days.
 
I am curious as to what folks think the AVERAGE compensation package should be to attract the best and the brightest of our college graduates to take on the job of educating ALL those who will determine our future.
 
my concern is more that it include defined-contribution retirement and HSA insurance benefits; that alone will significantly drive down the total cost of hiring a teacher. This would allow localities and states to actually increase teacher pay, while still decreasing the danger to their budgets of future pension nukes.
 
cpwill said:
my concern is more that it include defined-contribution retirement and HSA insurance benefits; that alone will significantly drive down the total cost of hiring a teacher. This would allow localities and states to actually increase teacher pay, while still decreasing the danger to their budgets of future pension nukes.
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But what do you feel the total compensation average should be to attract the best and brightest of our college graduates?
 
i would imagine that would differ fairly wildly from one state to the next, just as the cost of living does :shrug:

i do know that pay is going to matter more than compensation when it comes to attracting new talent. someone who is 24 is going to care alot more about an extra 5-10 grand a year than they are about the specifics of their pension fund.

i'm also not sure our brightest and best should all go into teaching. the private sector always needs intelligent and inventive individuals.
 
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