Chicago Teachers Strike Proves Wisdom of Scott Walker
September 10, 2012 13 Comments
The teachers union in Chicago is on strike. The average teacher in Chicago earns $76,000 per year not including generous heath and pension benefits. By comparison, the average Chicagoan only earns $47,000 per year. Those in the private sector don’t get the lavish health and pension benefits, which bring the average Chicago teacher’s benefit package to well over $100,000. The teachers rejected a 16% increase in pay, totally more than $400 million. Chicago government school teachers have the highest salaries in the country and they want more. The pro-union press is very concerned about all the children which are “loose” in Chicago. As though those kids weren’t loose all summer long. I guess only in September are unleashed children a major concern.
The teachers unions will of course pretend like they have the best interest of children at heart. Nothing could be further from the truth. With the highest teacher salaries in the country and a 16% increase on the table (who in the private sector has gotten a 16% raise in the last four years?) the teachers said no, they want more money. These people already pay less than 3% towards their health and pension benefits, their compensation packages average well over $100,000. Yet they want more and they’ll lie about their concern for children in the process in order to garner sympathy from already overtaxed taxpayers. Keep in mind, Chicago has some of the highest tax rates in the country.
The Chicago government school strike illustrates everything Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was fighting for in Wisconsin. Government employee unions are completely out of control. Their members earn more than private sector employees, in the case of Chicago government school teachers earn nearly $30,000 a year more in salary. Chicago teachers also earn lavish healthcare benefits and pensions, lavish plans that no one in the private sector get anymore. Yet all you hear from the teachers is how difficult life is with the summers off and how hard their jobs are. Maybe no one told them that most jobs that earn more than $50,000 a year are difficult.
Taxpayers can’t afford this nonsense anymore. Especially when the government schools produce such poor results. Chicago government schools are among the 10 worst in the nation, yet the teachers want a 16% raise on their already #1 ranked salaries. If these people operated in a competitive environment, they’d be out of a job. Who would willingly send their kids to such awful schools and who in their right mind would pay such poor teachers so much money? Only in the public sector, which shields itself from competition, can this sort of nonsense take place. There’s a reason why parents in Chicago are flocking to charter schools, it’s because the public school teachers are fat and sassy with their $100k+ pay packages to the point that they don’t actually do a good job teaching.
Chicago is providing us with a good example of why we all need to follow Scott Walker’s lead. States need to restrict the power of government employee unions, for the good of taxpayers. Government employees aren’t altruistic, they don’t care about children or the public good. They care about themselves and milking taxpayers of every last dime. They get more pay on average than private sector employees, their benefit packages far exceed what most people get in the private sector. Yet they want us taxpayers to pay even more for even less service. It’s time to restrict these unions, it’s time for all of us to do what we can to make sure our city and state doesn’t become the next Chicago.
UPDATE: According to the Department of Education, 79% of Chicago government school students are not proficient in reading. It appears that the highest paid teachers in the country want a raise nearly equal to the amount of 8th graders who are actually capable of reading at an 8th grade level. Pathetic.
About Steven
you can hear the same cribbing from government employees in India..they enjoy decent salaries, great benefits, job security, pension benefits and yet keep cribbing. Not to mention, they rank lowest in productivity.
Government employees always rank last in productivity because they have no incentive to be productive.
Cites, please.
For what? Click the links if you want more detailed information.
I’ve followed the links; interesting stuff. I am asking for empirical support for your statement immediately above: “Government employees always rank last in productivity because they have no incentive to be productive.”
You’re entering the world of economic theory. We’re talking about Chicago government school workers so let’s look at their productivity. 79% of 8th graders aren’t proficient in reading, 80% aren’t proficient in math. The teachers will blame everyone but themselves but the fact is there are charter and private schools teaching the same kids in Chicago from the same neighborhoods and they produce better results. Why? Because charter and private schools compete for kids while the government schools don’t.
I’m not entering the world of economic theory (whatever that means). You made a very pointed, far-reaching statement that government employees always rank last in actual productivity. Show us the evidence.
“…the fact is there are charter and private schools teaching the same kids…”. You’re kidding, right? You aren’t actually saying that kids in private school are representative of the Chicago school district are you?
In private schools in Chicago? Yes. You think Catholic schools don’t teach kids from the same neighborhoods as the government schools? The same can be said of Charter schools, which also perform better than the Chicago government schools. In fact, many of the charter schools in Chicago target the poorest neighborboods and they routinely out perform the government schools. This happens everywhere where charter schools and vouchers are in place.
The Chicago government schools have 400,000 students. Around 80% aren’t proficient in math and/or reading when they hit 8th grade. That means over 300,000 Chicago government school students fail at those subjects and thus aren’t prepared for the sort of jobs that lift people out of poverty. These schools are failing and yet the teachers want more money. It defies logic.
Still waiting on your evidence that government workers always under-perform. I’m beginning to think you don’t have any and are instead making yet another unsubstantiated ideological statement of faith.
“You think Catholic schools don’t teach kids from the same neighborhoods as the government schools?” No, they don’t. My kids are all in Catholic school. In Illinois. The families in our schools are undeniably systematically different than the population in our school district as a whole – the families are generally richer, healthier, better nourished, more educated and more conservative. There is a massive self-selection issue. Put a teacher of a given ability in our schools and their ‘performance’ in terms of outcomes will differ spectacularly from what they would ‘achieve’ in one of our public schools.
As for Charter schools, “routinely out perform the government schools. This happens everywhere where charter schools and vouchers are in place.”, this just isn’t supported by facts. Sometimes they do better. Sometimes they don’t. Just google ‘Chicago Charter schools’ and you get a bunch of cool data. For instance:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/9145306-418/story.html
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-30/news/ct-met-charter-schools-performance-1130-20111130_1_chicago-international-charter-schools-andrew-broy-school-report-cards
More broadly (the first link is especially good on data): http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnepc.colorado.edu%2Ffiles%2FComparing%2520Charters.pdf&ei=sXNPUJ2aAemVyAG5_oHQCw&usg=AFQjCNGKrQrCtxTtAEi-rf2BrV16WxqeMQ
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=30
80% of Chicago government school 8th graders aren’t proficient in reading or math. Many Chicago high schools cannot even graduate 60% of their students. District wide only 8% of Chicago high school graduates are prepared for college. Those numbers suggest that government school teachers aren’t very good at teaching children. You’re going to pretend like a free market won’t change those numbers, that’s hog wash. Chicago government school teachers have no incentive to produce good results because their job and their pay are not dependant on it.
Reblogged this on OneSquareLight.
If a teacher’s entry wage is from 30K and 40K (masters) and after 20 or 30 years getting small raises like any other job they should make that amount. Corporate workers would scoff at those small wages. Furthermore teachers don’t work 9 to five they work many more hours per day and are responsible for the welfare of others just like nurses,doctors, pilots etc.
In Chicago they pay more because the conditions are tougher..bad neigborhoods, no air conditioning, hazards such as gangs…you would not want to work there..and to keep decent people they have to pay….
Overall like anywhere else most people work hard and you have some bad apples.
Student achievement,well I visited certain schools. If children are sleeping in class you could be the best teacher on earth, and it would not matter. Lets not blame teachers for all of society’s ills.There were no standards in the seventies,and children performed, graduated and became successful.
What do corporate wages have to do with any of this? You realize that Chicago teachers are being paid more than their college educated counter parts in “corporate” America don’t you? Getting $30k out of college is pretty much par for the course no matter what career you’re in, it may even be a little high. This idea that people working in the private sector are earning bundles of money is ridiculous when you consider the average American only makes $51k/year.
Chicago school teachers are being paid around $75k per year on average. That’s more than $25k more than the average person in Chicago, to say nothing of the average Chicagon with a college degree. Add in their lavish health and pension benefits, which are not available to anyone in the private sector anymore and Chicago teachers have a benefit package well over $100k. Yet they claim poverty and mistreatment, it’s ridiculous.
The government education system is responsible for untold damage to society. They’ve lied to parents, they say trust us we know what’s best because we’re experts. Then they deliver a shoddy product and they blame the kids and the parents who trusted them. It’s amazing to listen to the excuses made for a school system that sees 80% of the kids fail.