Seattle Public School Teachers on Strike, Since 6-Figure Pay Isn't Good EnoughAfter a whole year of COVID-related learning loss, kids are now losing out on even more instructional time thanks to Seattle's teachers union.
LIZ WOLFE
9.8.2022
The school year didn't start yesterday, as planned, for Seattle public school students, who have gotten an impromptu extension of their summer vacation due to striking teachers.
The Seattle Education Association (SEA) began its strike on September 7, demanding higher teacher-to-student ratios, particularly in special needs and multilingual classrooms, laptops for teaching assistants, and—naturally—higher pay.
The union notes on its website that 93 percent of its members "are working more than our assigned or contract hours," while a quarter of its members log an additional 10 hours per week. Meanwhile, "the cost of living in Seattle is skyrocketing, shortages of educators are getting worse, and our pay is not keeping pace," argues SEA. Accordingly, Seattle Public Schools (SPS) "must pay all staff respectful wages and must address the unacceptably low wages for Education Support Professionals."
But public employee salaries are searchable for the state of Washington, and some 40 percent of SPS' full-time teachers actually make more than $100,000 per year, according to 2020–21 salary data reported by The Center Square (and easily searchable via this database). The pay scale for SPS teachers, which depends on tenure and educational attainment, ranges from roughly $60,000 to $123,500 annually for 7.5-hour workdays (37.5-hour workweeks) and a shorter working year than people in the private sector typically endure. That's not including pension benefits, which can be quite generous depending on the number of years teachers log in the system.
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Source:
https://reason.com/2022/09/08/seattle-public-school-teachers-on-strike-since-6-figure-pay-isnt-good-enough/