I listened to a speech by candidate for Governor David Poythress this last Saturday and I was impressed… until he said this: “teacher pay is on par… that is not the problem.”
I told his staffer, that ain’t cool. But then I saw this today from about 17 days earlier and I am left wondering which side of his mouth to believe.
So which is it, sir? Are you happy where teacher salaries are right now? If so, let me quote you: “It is no longer good enough to be better than Alabama and Mississippi…” That is what you said less than 3 sentences later when referring to performance. How about the direction in which salaries are headed?
Educators, and education as a whole, has suffered over the last 8 years due to the lack of leadership provided by our Governor and Superintendent of School. Are you cut from the same cloth? Will you tell us you are the “education candidate,” and then quickly forget what that means?
Waffling aside, what kills me is the oblivious nature of the statement.
In a year where some teachers have faced pay cuts, yearly step freezes, larger and almost unmanageable class sizes, an increase in health insurance premiums with a decrease in choices, and at least one, if not more, rounds of furlough days, you have the gall, to come into a room with democratic educators in it and say there is nothing wrong with our pay?! We teachers are college educated professionals and should not have to supplement our pay by working at the local Pizza Hut!
Clarify sir, because if you would like to woo us teachers, you certainly are not getting off on the right foot.
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