Wisconsin Teacher Salaries in Context

19Feb/11149

Wisconsin Teacher Salaries in Context

On average, including benefits, Wisconsin teachers earn about $78k per year. I'm going to leave aside the "for nine months work" part of this, because I think it's been hammered enough. The average household income in Wisconsin is about $52k per year. So, teachers earn about 1.5 times the average household income in Wisconsin when you factor in the benefits, and many of those households are two-income households.

Leaving the issue of benefits out of the equation, teacher salaries in and of themselves average about what the average Wisconsin family earns, even though many of those have more than one wage earner. A two-teacher family employed in Wisconsin public schools (and it's not uncommon), is pulling in double what the average Wisconsin family does, and about treble if you include the benefits disparity.

When Wisconsinites see that, and consider whether schools are successfully teaching their children what they need to make the most of their lives and careers, they're not really very happy with the "sick out" stuff, and they're even less happy about it when they consider what tenure means and how difficult it is to get rid of incompetents and loons within the system. Democratic State Senators playing hooky as well, causing disruptions for families who perhaps already committed to travel plans for the now-delayed summer vacation in order to buy time for OfA, the DNC, AFL-CIO, SEIU and various socialist orgs to bus in their people really doesn't play well, either, particularly in a time of inflation.

WEAC, the Wisconsin Educational Association Council, published the non-personal contact information of all the State Senators but one (pdf). That in itself, as well as the home addresses of the Senators, isn't that big a deal, as it's probably all public information. But take a look at the page. Right above the pdf link there's this graphic:

Erpenbach, from an undisclosed location in Illinois, is the ringleader of the Runners from Walker, and the one whose home address is missing:

As all of you would be aware, that kind of language was considered an invitation to violence just a couple of weeks ago, in the wake of the Giffords shooting. But when you combine that with the (gauzily) veiled threats that some of the Republican Senators have received (of the "we know where you live" variety), the picketing already conducted outside of some of their houses, the pounding on the windows and blocking of doorways in the Capitol, and Obama's very unhelpful "assault on unions" statement, you really do have the kind of bullying that most Wisconsin voters are going to be incensed over.

Stacy and some of his readers have done the math over those WPS employees earning more than 100k per year. He's also covering the ramen menace that I wrote about yesterday.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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chris dorf
March 7th, 2011 - 13:18

Dan Collins,
Good will bargaining is not a word in the vocabulary of corporations; Master/slave relaitionship is what they understand – workers are mere wage slaves.

Thanks for defending a moral right of workers in a supposedly free country.

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- Dan Collins
  March 7th, 2011 - 13:45
  
  Taxpayers are corporations?
  
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  - Enoch_Root
    March 7th, 2011 - 13:56
    
    Dan – technically-speaking. That is what ssn’s are for.
    
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joseph stevens
March 7th, 2011 - 13:26

wage slaves, my guess is you have never lived elsewhere in this world.
be glad you have a job , most workers in this country are much concerned with their time off than with doing a fair days labor for what they supposedly earn. i have done studies that prove that the average worker spends less than 2 hours actually working.

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- jefferson101
  March 7th, 2011 - 15:32
  
  I resent that. It’s usually closer to four hours with me.
  
  And I’m at work now.
  
  This “wage-slavery” thing is terribly oppressive. It’s a good thing I’m not in a Union, or I might have to do something more often!
  
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chris dorf
March 7th, 2011 - 17:41

…and I assume that you are a criminal because you use a pseudonym.

I rarely proof my writing; it is difficult enough to attempt to converse with ideological demagogues.

chris dorf

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chris dorf
March 7th, 2011 - 17:48

History lesson:

My Grandfather came from Poland in 1914.

My father was a WWII infantryman and owned a small factory for 50 years where he shared his profits fairly with the workers.

Wisconsin’s Governor allowed state militia to kill Polish workers that were peacefully marching from St. Stanislaus in Milwaukee to the court house in Milwaukee as they protested working hours, days, and conditions.

Norm Kurland, a man whom Reagan appointed to an economic commission, and Bob Crane, whom worked for Kissinger under Nixon, would like you to check out the CESJ website at http://www.CESJ.org , The Center for Economic and Social Justice.

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chris dorf
March 7th, 2011 - 17:51

Who’s Creating Walker’s Playbook?

Yes, these Koch Bros. surely represent the people of Wisconsin.
Funding CATO; father founds John Birch Society.

http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-14041-we-all-know-who-is-behind-scott-walkers-scheme-it-.html

Through the Koch Family Foundations, the brothers are very politically active in conservative and libertarian causes. The sons of a founding member of the ultraconservative John Birch Society, the brothers fund a network of think tanks and grassroots groups (that are anything but truly grassroots) that preach their gospel of low taxes, few regulations and global warming denial. Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the Cato Institute, Reason Magazine and the Heartland Institute are among the many front groups they fund.

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- jefferson101
  March 7th, 2011 - 18:12
  
  You keep saying “John Birch Society” like it’s a bad thing.
  
  And, if we’re visiting the Sins of the father onto the sons, it could be noted that Barack Obama’s father was a Communist.
  
  That’s probably not a fair analogy, though. The John Birch Society never managed to kill several hundred million people, so they are clearly a failed political dead end.
  
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