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KELO quotes Baltic teacher and interp/drama director (and my pal!) Tara Melmer on the paltriness of the increase in education funding proposed by the Legislature and awaiting our stingy Governor's approval:
Lawmakers have made their decision, but the fight to increase teacher salaries is far from over. A bill is on the Governor's desk that would provide an extra $3 million to school districts next year - that's beyond the $23 million increase recommended by Rounds.
The extra money will go toward teacher salaries. But some teachers say the raise is still not enough.
South Dakota is still last in the nation when it comes to teacher pay, so to Baltic teacher Tara Melmer any increase is welcome.
Melmer says, “At this point any thing's good and we'll take anything. However it’s so minimal that to some degree it’s almost a slap in the face.” [emphasis mine; article Kelli Grant's: "Pay Increase Not Enough for Some Teachers," KELOLand.com, 2008.03.04]
What KELO doesn't note is that Ms. Melmer is the daughter of Governor Rounds's right-hand man for education, state Secretary of Education Rick Melmer.
Unfortunately, education has been delegated to the back of the bus for so many years that teachers are simply resolved to take what they get. After all, most live here for quality of life issues, not the income, but it is so unfair for the State to take advantage of the quality of teacher output which is reflected in testing scores, then purposely keep a thumb on salaries to the point the "people" are forced to sue the State for proper education funding. Governor Rounds could have shown leadership, but instead he pulled his head inside his shell and waited for the school bus to pass.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more! Our testing scores do not reflect our pay. In the business world, you are most often paid based on performance and this is NOT the case in education. That being said, I'm not sure I would want to be paid based on my students' test scores, but when we are one of the top test scorers in the nation, but the lowest paid... there's obviously something wrong.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure Gov. Rounds is completely to blame. Supposedly our State doesn't have the funding - not just for eduction, but for a lot of other areas... is this the case? I'm not sure, but something has to give! As a teacher, I can't even support myself with what I make... it's completely frustrating. Yet... I love my job... so I stay! Such a Catch 22!
Anon 6:08 -- hang in there! Nobody does a better job than someone who loves his/her work. But no school district should take advantage of that love to not pay such a worker for the work that worker does.
ReplyDeleteDoes SD have the money for higher wages? Hard to say. I can tell you this: North Dakota has less money and fewer people than South Dakota, yet they pay their teachers $3000 more on average and found $90 million to add to ed funding last year. Hmmm....