If you are a
superintendent of one of our local school districts, Springfield is probably a
dirty word.
Now
lawmakers want a minimum salary of $40-thousand dollars a year for teachers.
There’s nobody paying a 40K base salary to incoming teachers in Wayne County
now, as far as I can tell. Insiders say the bill will become law.
Proponents
of the minimum salary for teachers think it will drive more people into
education. It probably will. This
measure follows the increase of the minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour a few
months ago. So everybody working at the school will get be getting raises. To
be clear, both minimum wage measures are going to be phased in.
As always,
mandates from Springfield are unfunded. And,
as always, the northern part of the state has a different financial reality
than those of us south of Springfield. This legislation will either force
higher property taxes or necessitate layoffs, cut programs or increase
classroom sizes. It might also be a way
to drive consolidation.
So let me
take a moment to say that generally I believe educators are underpaid., Their
jobs are vital and they deserve our respect. But, I think these matters should
be handled by the people we elect to represent us on local school boards. They
know best
If a rookie
teacher must make $40-thouand, everybody else along the seniority chart will
get a commensurate bump.
….Which is probably
not a problem in Joliet. It probably is in Geff.
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