Teachers in Texas writing their wills before classes begin again

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://twitter.com/Newsweek/status/1282881298781089793?s=19

The outcome of Trump's and Greg Abbott's America!

[DabbingSanta]

LOL, man, the media is such a joke these days.

[Inmate Trump]

LOL, man, the media is such a joke these days.

Your signature says you endorsed Kanye West for president.

[Pyro]

Jfc teachers need to go on strike if they insist on opening schools. Your job isn't worth your life.

[Del Tachi]

Leave it to public school teachers to be dramatic af.

[Badger]

Leave it to public school teachers to be dramatic af.

Compressing so much Badness on so many levels into that short of sentence is truly impressive.

[John Dule]

I'm starting to fear that for Trump supporters to turn on their cult leader, several of their family members will have to die first. Right now they just see the Coronavirus as something that's "happening to everyone else." It's like these people have no object permanence; the virus doesn't stop existing just because you don't know anyone who has it.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I'm starting to fear that for Trump supporters to turn on their cult leader, several of their family members will have to die first. Right now they just see the Coronavirus as something that's "happening to everyone else." It's like these people have no object permanence; the virus doesn't stop existing just because you don't know anyone who has it.

Well, that's really always been true of many Republican supporting types. I always think back to the example of Rob Portman finally favoring LGBTQ rights only after his son came out. There is an incapability of understanding past one's own experience in the GOP, and in the Trump era it has only been exacerbated.

[Kingpoleon]

Wow. What’s next, will they take out responsible life insurance policies? Outrageous!

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

I prepared an informal will and made sure the right beneficiaries were marked on my retirement accounts and pension during the first week of this whole thing. What took them so long?

[pbrower2a]

Leave it to public school teachers to be dramatic af.

Soldiers being deployed to wage war against Satan Hussein were given orders to write wills.   

[Mr. Smith]

I missed the memo to have to do that. Hmmm, I wonder if that's why I'm going through such hell trying to get hired.

~shrugs~

[Xing]

Leave it to public school teachers to be dramatic af.

Maybe if we were given an iota of respect and paid more than 50% of what engineers are paid, we wouldn’t have to be.

[Kingpoleon]

Maybe if we were given an iota of respect and paid more than 50% of what engineers are paid, we wouldn’t have to be.

A teacher who works thirty-five years can retire in virtually all states at the age of 57 - seven years before the average person. And the average teacher who does so today, can expect a pension of almost $75,000 annually for the rest of their lives. The sixty percent of teachers eligible for Social Security can expect to have a fixed income of $85,000 annually by their mid-60s.

If teachers want to have a higher salary, they should ask for smaller pensions as a trade. Pensions cost the state more money beforehand than a simple salary raise does.

[T'Chenka]

Sacrificing grandma the American education system [/S] to own the libs.

If teachers want to have a higher salary, they should ask for smaller pensions as a trade. Pensions cost the state more money beforehand than a simple salary raise does.

Maybe states could pay teachers a respectable wage AND give them a pension? Radical idea, I know.

[Del Tachi]

Leave it to public school teachers to be dramatic af.

Maybe if we were given an iota of respect and paid more than 50% of what engineers are paid, we wouldn’t have to be.

Maybe, if they want to be paid more, then they should be engineers?  Take really hard classes in school for four years, operate under very strict project timelines, and and spend all day on CAD?  instead of, y'know, spending all their time with kids, and getting 2 weeks off at Christmas + the summer, and having virtually no accountability in their positions?

[Pulaski]

I'm starting to fear that for Trump supporters to turn on their cult leader, several of their family members will have to die first. Right now they just see the Coronavirus as something that's "happening to everyone else." It's like these people have no object permanence; the virus doesn't stop existing just because you don't know anyone who has it.

Well, that's really always been true of many Republican supporting types. I always think back to the example of Rob Portman finally favoring LGBTQ rights only after his son came out. There is an incapability of understanding past one's own experience in the GOP, and in the Trump era it has only been exacerbated.

[Del Tachi]

Sacrificing grandma the American education system [/S] to own the libs.

Making sure kids, some of who only have addicted/abusive/otherwise no good adults at home, have a place where they can go to learn, be socialized and receive access to critical services like free meals can of course only be justified as "owning the libs"

It's time for you to check out, man.

The evidence - scientific, health and economic - suggests overwhelmingly for schools to reopen in the fall.  Scientists are recommending it.  Liberals and are politicizing the issue; when Trump pushes schools to reopen, Democrats heed the unions' and demand more federal money and even then may not return.  The losers, as ever, will be our children.

[Kingpoleon]

Maybe states could pay teachers a respectable wage AND give them a pension? Radical idea, I know.

Canada and America pay very similar salaries to teachers based on GDP (PPP). However, the average annual pension for a Canadian teacher after ~35 years of service is less than $38,000. The average annual pension for an American teacher after ~35 years of service is $75,000.

I’m not exactly saying to abolish teacher pensions. But we have the fourth highest starting teacher salaries, the fifth highest salaries after fifteen years of experience, and the ~3rd highest teacher pensions in the world. The average teacher, retiring before or at the age of 60, can expect an annual income three to four times that of the average person over the age of 65. That is a stunning gap. The only equivalent to it? A Brigadier General who has served forty years in Active Duty would have a similar pension.

By the way, Florida’s entry level engineer salaries is in the $45-50k area, the exact same as Floridams entry level teacher salaries. But saying teachers deserve the same base pay as lawyers, doctors, accountants, and engineers is nonsense. When teachers begin saying $60-70,000 annually isn’t enough money, plus a gigantic pension, they sound out of touch. That’s double what the average American makes. There’s a reason public sector unions like for police and teachers are unpopular.

Sources:
https://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance/
(Canada and America).
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/how-bc-teachers-measure-up-against-others-in-canada/article20378154/
https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/teacher-pensions-sweeter-they-would-you-think
https://www.chalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Most_Least_Paid_1.png
https://www.pensionrights.org/publications/statistic/income-today’s-older-adults

https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Entry-Level-Engineer-Salary
http://www.nea.org/home/2017-2018-average-starting-teacher-salary.html

[T'Chenka]

Sacrificing grandma the American education system to own the libs.

It's time for you to check out, man.

The evidence - scientific, health and economic - suggests overwhelmingly for schools to reopen in the fall.  Scientists are recommending it.  Liberals and are politicizing the issue

LOL!

When have Republicans ever given a s___ about what scientists have to say, unless it happens to agree with their talking points?

[RINO Tom]

Maybe if we were given an iota of respect and paid more than 50% of what engineers are paid, we wouldn’t have to be.

A teacher who works thirty-five years can retire in virtually all states at the age of 57 - seven years before the average person. And the average teacher who does so today, can expect a pension of almost $75,000 annually for the rest of their lives. The sixty percent of teachers eligible for Social Security can expect to have a fixed income of $85,000 annually by their mid-60s.

If teachers want to have a higher salary, they should ask for smaller pensions as a trade. Pensions cost the state more money beforehand than a simple salary raise does.

This is an argument based on logic, math and accepted economic science, but it lacks emotional appeal and a real guilt-inducing "gut punch" at the end.  Therefore, I'm sorry to tell you that it has absolutely no place in discussion about any form of income inequality!

[T'Chenka]

Maybe states could pay teachers a respectable wage AND give them a pension? Radical idea, I know.

Canada and America pay very similar salaries to teachers based on GDP (PPP). However, the average annual pension for a Canadian teacher after ~35 years of service is less than $38,000. The average annual pension for an American teacher after ~35 years of service is $75,000.

I’m not exactly saying to abolish teacher pensions. But we have the fourth highest starting teacher salaries, the fifth highest salaries after fifteen years of experience, and the ~3rd highest teacher pensions in the world. The average teacher, retiring before or at the age of 60, can expect an annual income three to four times that of the average person over the age of 65. That is a stunning gap. The only equivalent to it? A Brigadier General who has served forty years in Active Duty would have a similar pension.

This is interesting. Explain something to me though..  why are there lots of teachers struggling in America? I can't share URLs as I'm mostly just going from memory of news stories.

By the way, Florida’s entry level engineer salaries is in the $45-50k area, the exact same as Floridams entry level teacher salaries. But saying teachers deserve the same base pay as lawyers, doctors, accountants, and engineers is nonsense. When teachers begin saying $60-70,000 annually isn’t enough money, plus a gigantic pension, they sound out of touch. That’s double what the average American makes. There’s a reason public sector unions like for police and teachers are unpopular.

I think a more appropriate comparison is USA teachers versus other teachers (which you provided), instead of USA teachers vs other USA careers.

[Indy Texas]

Maybe states could pay teachers a respectable wage AND give them a pension? Radical idea, I know.

Canada and America pay very similar salaries to teachers based on GDP (PPP). However, the average annual pension for a Canadian teacher after ~35 years of service is less than $38,000. The average annual pension for an American teacher after ~35 years of service is $75,000.

I’m not exactly saying to abolish teacher pensions. But we have the fourth highest starting teacher salaries, the fifth highest salaries after fifteen years of experience, and the ~3rd highest teacher pensions in the world. The average teacher, retiring before or at the age of 60, can expect an annual income three to four times that of the average person over the age of 65. That is a stunning gap. The only equivalent to it? A Brigadier General who has served forty years in Active Duty would have a similar pension.

This is interesting. Explain something to me though..  why are there lots of teachers struggling in America? I can't share URLs as I'm mostly just going from memory of news stories.

By the way, Florida’s entry level engineer salaries is in the $45-50k area, the exact same as Floridams entry level teacher salaries. But saying teachers deserve the same base pay as lawyers, doctors, accountants, and engineers is nonsense. When teachers begin saying $60-70,000 annually isn’t enough money, plus a gigantic pension, they sound out of touch. That’s double what the average American makes. There’s a reason public sector unions like for police and teachers are unpopular.

I think a more appropriate comparison is USA teachers versus other teachers (which you provided), instead of USA teachers vs other USA careers.

The salary figures vary a lot by state. But in a lot cases, teachers in poor places like West Virginia or Oklahoma aren't making a lot of money because those are places that don't have a lot of money to begin with - everyone is making less money at a given job in WV than they would in NYC or Chicago.

But also, for various political/cultural reasons, teacher pay is heavily back-loaded: you work for modest wages your whole life and are "rewarded" at the end with a generous pension. A lot of American public sector jobs are like this and it contributes to cultural problems (ex. police misconduct) and the inability of cities to plan appropriately to fund their future pension obligations.

Teachers in Texas cannot go on strike over this or they will lose their pension benefits. They are effectively trapped.

If they, like people in the private sector, were just getting money deposited in their 401(k) account every month, they could simply give the school district the middle finger and quit and would take their retirement account with them.

[Badger]

Leave it to public school teachers to be dramatic af.

Maybe if we were given an iota of respect and paid more than 50% of what engineers are paid, we wouldn’t have to be.

Maybe, if they want to be paid more, then they should be engineers?  Take really hard classes in school for four years, operate under very strict project timelines, and and spend all day on CAD?  instead of, y'know, spending all their time with kids, and getting 2 weeks off at Christmas + the summer, and having virtually no accountability in their positions?

Just because your teachers apparently failed, that doesn't give you the right to denigrate the entire profession.

[John Dule]

I'm starting to fear that for Trump supporters to turn on their cult leader, several of their family members will have to die first. Right now they just see the Coronavirus as something that's "happening to everyone else." It's like these people have no object permanence; the virus doesn't stop existing just because you don't know anyone who has it.

Well, that's really always been true of many Republican supporting types. I always think back to the example of Rob Portman finally favoring LGBTQ rights only after his son came out. There is an incapability of understanding past one's own experience in the GOP, and in the Trump era it has only been exacerbated.

What does libertarianism have to do with being anti-gay? Seems unrelated.