Florida Teachers Salaries 47th in the Nation but Scott Wants More Cuts to Schools.

[Toro]

For the 2009-10 school year, average teacher salaries in Florida fell to No. 37 among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and estimates for 2010-11 show them falling to No. 47, according to a national report released this week.

Florida's average teacher salary last year was $46,708. The national average was $55,202.

The unfavorable ranking comes as state lawmakers prepare to make sweeping changes to how teachers are hired, fired, paid and evaluated. They may also require teachers to chip in up to 5 percent of their pay towards their pensions. ...

Florida teacher pay, which is set at the district level, has been stagnant for several years. It has dropped in rank as teachers in most other states continue to get small raises. ...

Compared to other states, Florida was No. 28 in 2006-07, No. 29 in 2007-08 and No. 34 in 2008-09, according to annual reports from the National Education Association.

Florida's estimated average teacher salary for 2010-11 ($6 lower than last year's average) puts it behind every state in the Southeast and ahead of only Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah. In the past, the finalized numbers did not change much from the estimates.

The reports do not include comparisons of beginning teacher pay or teacher benefits. They do not consider potentially mitigating factors such as state income taxes or variations in cost of living.

Both Ogletree and Simmons cited a recent Education Week report that put Florida's school system at No. 5 in the country, in part because Florida kids are making big academic gains on national tests.

Both said Florida teachers have been key to those gains. Both said there was a connection between pay and quality.

Florida teacher salaries headed to No. 47 in the nation - St. Petersburg Times

But the skinny bald guy running for President thinks that schools have too much money.

At a highly partisan tea party event Monday, Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his first budget proposal to make sweeping changes to state government by slashing billions in taxes and spending.

Scott proposed spending almost $66 billion — $4.6 billion less than this year's budget. Scott also wants to eliminate 7 percent of the state's government jobs, which would mean about 6,700 state-worker layoffs. He wants even more cuts the following year.

Scott's proposal was cheered by conservative activists and businesses, but it provoked a lukewarm response from fellow Republicans in the state Capitol. Democrats, unions and state workers could barely contain their bitterness with Scott's calls to cut billions from schools, pensions and health programs. ...

State Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, noted the big cuts to education: $4.8 billion in the first year. She said that would hurt the state's children, its educational environment and the state's business climate.

"The No. 1 question businesses ask when they come here is how is the education system," Sobel said. "If you're cutting money at that level, you're not going to attract the kind of businesses that we want to have." ...

Scott is reducing per-pupil K-12 spending by $703 — a roughly 10 percent reduction from current spending. But school boards say the governor's office has informed them that, because he's proposing to reduce taxpayer-backed pension costs, school boards can use the savings to boost spending.

Scott's budget team has told education groups that the per-student cut would be smaller — about $300 — if school districts used pension savings and the very type of federal stimulus money that Scott said was a type of accounting "gimmick." Scott, who said Thursday he would "keep the school budgets the same," backtracked on that pledge Monday, when he insisted that he wanted to keep the state's share of education spending the same.

Regardless, his budget cuts the state's share of K-12 school spending by $154 million overall.

BUT ...

... he wants to increase spending on his own staff!

Scott isn't shrinking all government services, though. He's increasing the small size of the staff of the Executive Office of the Governor, for instance.

Gov. Rick Scott unveils budget of deep cuts to spending, taxes - St. Petersburg Times

Well done, Governor. Education is over-rated anyways!

 

[Mad Scientist]

Well done, Governor. Education is over-rated anyways!

Yes, in America, Education IS over rated! People just don't realize how terrible it is.

You could cut the Education budget 50% and I'd bet you'd get the same results.

 

[Toro]

Well done, Governor. Education is over-rated anyways!

Yes, in America, Education IS over rated! People just don't realize how terrible it is.

You could cut the Education budget 50% and I'd bet you'd get the same results.

But you know what is under-rated?

Having enough staff in your own office. You can never have enough of those government employees!

 

[uscitizen]

It is the race to the bottom so we can compete in the world.

 

[WillowTree]

For the 2009-10 school year, average teacher salaries in Florida fell to No. 37 among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and estimates for 2010-11 show them falling to No. 47, according to a national report released this week.

Florida's average teacher salary last year was $46,708. The national average was $55,202.

The unfavorable ranking comes as state lawmakers prepare to make sweeping changes to how teachers are hired, fired, paid and evaluated. They may also require teachers to chip in up to 5 percent of their pay towards their pensions. ...

Florida teacher pay, which is set at the district level, has been stagnant for several years. It has dropped in rank as teachers in most other states continue to get small raises. ...

Compared to other states, Florida was No. 28 in 2006-07, No. 29 in 2007-08 and No. 34 in 2008-09, according to annual reports from the National Education Association.

Florida's estimated average teacher salary for 2010-11 ($6 lower than last year's average) puts it behind every state in the Southeast and ahead of only Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah. In the past, the finalized numbers did not change much from the estimates.

The reports do not include comparisons of beginning teacher pay or teacher benefits. They do not consider potentially mitigating factors such as state income taxes or variations in cost of living.

Both Ogletree and Simmons cited a recent Education Week report that put Florida's school system at No. 5 in the country, in part because Florida kids are making big academic gains on national tests.

Both said Florida teachers have been key to those gains. Both said there was a connection between pay and quality.

Florida teacher salaries headed to No. 47 in the nation - St. Petersburg Times

But the skinny bald guy running for President thinks that schools have too much money.

At a highly partisan tea party event Monday, Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his first budget proposal to make sweeping changes to state government by slashing billions in taxes and spending.

Scott proposed spending almost $66 billion — $4.6 billion less than this year's budget. Scott also wants to eliminate 7 percent of the state's government jobs, which would mean about 6,700 state-worker layoffs. He wants even more cuts the following year.

Scott's proposal was cheered by conservative activists and businesses, but it provoked a lukewarm response from fellow Republicans in the state Capitol. Democrats, unions and state workers could barely contain their bitterness with Scott's calls to cut billions from schools, pensions and health programs. ...

State Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, noted the big cuts to education: $4.8 billion in the first year. She said that would hurt the state's children, its educational environment and the state's business climate.

"The No. 1 question businesses ask when they come here is how is the education system," Sobel said. "If you're cutting money at that level, you're not going to attract the kind of businesses that we want to have." ...

Scott is reducing per-pupil K-12 spending by $703 — a roughly 10 percent reduction from current spending. But school boards say the governor's office has informed them that, because he's proposing to reduce taxpayer-backed pension costs, school boards can use the savings to boost spending.

Scott's budget team has told education groups that the per-student cut would be smaller — about $300 — if school districts used pension savings and the very type of federal stimulus money that Scott said was a type of accounting "gimmick." Scott, who said Thursday he would "keep the school budgets the same," backtracked on that pledge Monday, when he insisted that he wanted to keep the state's share of education spending the same.

Regardless, his budget cuts the state's share of K-12 school spending by $154 million overall.

BUT ...

... he wants to increase spending on his own staff!

Scott isn't shrinking all government services, though. He's increasing the small size of the staff of the Executive Office of the Governor, for instance.

Gov. Rick Scott unveils budget of deep cuts to spending, taxes - St. Petersburg Times

Well done, Governor. Education is over-rated anyways!

Well, when it comes right down to it I think even you have to admit that throwing lots of money at education doesn't educate the kids. Now does it?

 

[JamesInFlorida]

For the 2009-10 school year, average teacher salaries in Florida fell to No. 37 among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and estimates for 2010-11 show them falling to No. 47, according to a national report released this week.

Florida's average teacher salary last year was $46,708. The national average was $55,202.

The unfavorable ranking comes as state lawmakers prepare to make sweeping changes to how teachers are hired, fired, paid and evaluated. They may also require teachers to chip in up to 5 percent of their pay towards their pensions. ...

Florida teacher pay, which is set at the district level, has been stagnant for several years. It has dropped in rank as teachers in most other states continue to get small raises. ...

Compared to other states, Florida was No. 28 in 2006-07, No. 29 in 2007-08 and No. 34 in 2008-09, according to annual reports from the National Education Association.

Florida's estimated average teacher salary for 2010-11 ($6 lower than last year's average) puts it behind every state in the Southeast and ahead of only Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah. In the past, the finalized numbers did not change much from the estimates.

The reports do not include comparisons of beginning teacher pay or teacher benefits. They do not consider potentially mitigating factors such as state income taxes or variations in cost of living.

Both Ogletree and Simmons cited a recent Education Week report that put Florida's school system at No. 5 in the country, in part because Florida kids are making big academic gains on national tests.

Both said Florida teachers have been key to those gains. Both said there was a connection between pay and quality.

Florida teacher salaries headed to No. 47 in the nation - St. Petersburg Times

But the skinny bald guy running for President thinks that schools have too much money.



BUT ...

... he wants to increase spending on his own staff!

Scott isn't shrinking all government services, though. He's increasing the small size of the staff of the Executive Office of the Governor, for instance.

Gov. Rick Scott unveils budget of deep cuts to spending, taxes - St. Petersburg Times

Well done, Governor. Education is over-rated anyways!

Well, when it comes right down to it I think even you have to admit that throwing lots of money at education doesn't educate the kids. Now does it?

And I think you have to admit that the more qualified the teachers are-the higher quality of education people get. I also think you have to admit that the more incentives to give teachers (not the education system as a whole), more qualified people will become teachers.

 

[California Girl]

Seems to me, if we removed the partisan bitching and actually faced the problems we had with some honesty - and some rational, unemotional, thought... we could probably solve this whole education mess.

I find it sad that we seem to prefer bullshit to solutions.

 

[Ravi]

What's really funny is that I know a few teachers that voted for him...talk about voting against your own best interests.

 

[AquaAthena]

Well done, Governor. Education is over-rated anyways!

Yes, in America, Education IS over rated! People just don't realize how terrible it is.

You could cut the Education budget 50% and I'd bet you'd get the same results.

But you know what is under-rated?

Having enough staff in your own office. You can never have enough of those government employees!

Or czars....

 

[Mr Natural]

Florida makes a ton of money off the tourist trade and how much education does a person need to work in the tourist trade?

 

[Ravi]

Florida makes a ton of money off the tourist trade and how much education does a person need to work in the tourist trade?

Well...wee nead to put in our teef to smile at the furriners.

 

[JamesInFlorida]

Florida makes a ton of money off the tourist trade and how much education does a person need to work in the tourist trade?

Our state makes a lot of money off of tourists because of taxes (mainly sales). I don't know one person who works in a job that's specifically designed to interact solely with tourists/tourism. We're the 4th most populated state, and by the end of the decade we'll be the 3rd (assuming population trends continue). We have 4 metro areas with populations over 1million. There's tons, and tons of farmers down here There's a lot more jobs, and much more to our economy than simply saying "tourism".

 

[bodecea]

Well done, Governor. Education is over-rated anyways!

Yes, in America, Education IS over rated! People just don't realize how terrible it is.

You could cut the Education budget 50% and I'd bet you'd get the same results.

What a wonderful Idea! Let's do it! In Republican states first and see how it works. (Or did they already....)

 

[Ravi]

Florida makes a ton of money off the tourist trade and how much education does a person need to work in the tourist trade?

Our state makes a lot of money off of tourists because of taxes (mainly sales). I don't know one person who works in a job that's specifically designed to interact solely with tourists/tourism. We're the 4th most populated state, and by the end of the decade we'll be the 3rd (assuming population trends continue). We have 4 metro areas with populations over 1million. There's tons, and tons of farmers down here There's a lot more jobs, and much more to our economy than simply saying "tourism".

You know those big buildings that line the coasts? They are called hotels. Each person that works in them is designed to interact solely with tourism...be it local tourists, business tourists, or other tourists.

 

[KissMy]

I have no problem with teachers pay. I have a problem with public employees jacking up salaries in the last few years to raise their retirement & pension creating a golden parachute that we have to pay for the rest of their life. This cause a major underfunding because contributions were being made based on their lower salary that suddenly spiked. If the public employees had to contribute their own money into the fund then they would not allow the near retirement people to screw them with by creating a sudden golden parachute. The tax payer should not have to guarantee the bad investments of their pension funds. We are not afforded any guarantees of our retirement.

When you add up all the public employee benefits, they are the top 10% rich in the USA. They get twice the total compensation of the private sector workers that are taxed to pay their compensations. Toro tried to say in another thread the the president should get paid millions. The fact is he gets benefits that equal $1.5 billion a year. Then he get billions in tax payer benefits after the retire & make billions in private sector just because he was president.

We should not be paying the retired public employees 3 times what they made when they were working. The working man should not be making 1/3rd of what the retired public employee is getting paid from the tax payer.

 

[JamesInFlorida]

Florida makes a ton of money off the tourist trade and how much education does a person need to work in the tourist trade?

Our state makes a lot of money off of tourists because of taxes (mainly sales). I don't know one person who works in a job that's specifically designed to interact solely with tourists/tourism. We're the 4th most populated state, and by the end of the decade we'll be the 3rd (assuming population trends continue). We have 4 metro areas with populations over 1million. There's tons, and tons of farmers down here There's a lot more jobs, and much more to our economy than simply saying "tourism".

You know those big buildings that line the coasts? They are called hotels. Each person that works in them is designed to interact solely with tourism...be it local tourists, business tourists, or other tourists.

One example...think of any others?

 

[Ravi]

Our state makes a lot of money off of tourists because of taxes (mainly sales). I don't know one person who works in a job that's specifically designed to interact solely with tourists/tourism. We're the 4th most populated state, and by the end of the decade we'll be the 3rd (assuming population trends continue). We have 4 metro areas with populations over 1million. There's tons, and tons of farmers down here There's a lot more jobs, and much more to our economy than simply saying "tourism".

You know those big buildings that line the coasts? They are called hotels. Each person that works in them is designed to interact solely with tourism...be it local tourists, business tourists, or other tourists.

One example...think of any others?

Sure...but why do I need more? You pretended that we don't rely on tourism...but we most certainly do...hotels, restaurants, charter boats, time shares, etc............................heck the friggin South Americans come here just to shop at our malls.

 

[Toro]

Florida makes a ton of money off the tourist trade and how much education does a person need to work in the tourist trade?

I am guessing that you are being sarcastic. The nuances of sarcasm are often difficult to interpret online.

 

[Toro]

You know those big buildings that line the coasts? They are called hotels. Each person that works in them is designed to interact solely with tourism...be it local tourists, business tourists, or other tourists.

One example...think of any others?

Sure...but why do I need more? You pretended that we don't rely on tourism...but we most certainly do...hotels, restaurants, charter boats, time shares, etc............................heck the friggin South Americans come here just to shop at our malls.

The government is actively involved in trying to lure other businesses besides tourism to the state. And that includes our new governor.

 

[Ravi]

One example...think of any others?

Sure...but why do I need more? You pretended that we don't rely on tourism...but we most certainly do...hotels, restaurants, charter boats, time shares, etc............................heck the friggin South Americans come here just to shop at our malls.

The government is actively involved in trying to lure other businesses besides tourism to the state. And that includes our new governor.

Yep...it has been for years, hence the tax cut bennies for business.

That doesn't mean that our primary business isn't and hasn't been tourism for decades.