I have a difficult time sympathizing with the Kent teachers and their plea for higher pay and less workload.
This is especially true at this time when there is high unemployment and the wages of many of those in the private sector are frozen or they are taking pay cuts.
I am retired and have been informed that Social Security pay, which is tied to the rate of inflation, will be frozen for the next two years. There will not be a cost of living increase, and there actually will be a cut in pay, as the prescription-drug deduction will increase and as in the past, the Medicare deduction will probably increase as well. In addition, many of us retired from the private sector receive no cost of living allowance in our retirement income, yet our taxes increase every year to pay for the wage increases and benefits of those on public payroll. Unlike the teachers, we have no strike option.
Teachers always complain that they are underpaid. If you calculated their pay rate based on the actual time spent in the classroom, allowing for a normal amount of vacation time, I am certain their hourly pay rate would be more than adequate. They always use the argument that they spend a lot of their own time on school business. I’m sure that is true, but so do many of those people working in the private sector.
James Lowndes
Renton
(in the Kent School District)
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