I have read here where people have said public school teachers relinquish any claim to social security and that they can't draw social security even if they work other jobs and accrue benefits. I would like to know if that is indeed accurate. My wife is a kindergarten teacher at a private school. Both her parents were teachers. Her dad, who is still living, was a principal in Jefferson County. He has been retired for 30 years. He used to work summer jobs when he taught to pick up extra money. He told me he was 1 quarter away from having enough social security paid in to draw it but didn't want to find a job to get the extra months he needs. So he has never drawn social security. But from his perspective, he certainly thinks he could draw social security, based on his work in the private sector during the summer months, if he had worked enough months. Is he right or wrong on that assumption? I don't see how the state of Kentucky could require anyone who has paid in to social security enough to draw when they retire to relinquish those payments. Furthermore, why would the state care?
Teachers are severely underpaid in the U.S.. or are they?
- Thread starter USMC Cat_rivals309254
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They can get SS but there is a formula based on subtracting your pension benefits from what your SS benefit would be which basically reduces your SS benefits to 0 assuming reaching full retirement. It’s not the state’s decision. Federal.
Again, ignore what happens without unions.
Are they perfect? By no means. But employers will get by paying as little, offering as little in the way of benefits, maximize what comes to THEM as much as they can get away with. Observe the mining industry pre-union days. Pay **** wages and in company script on top of it. Didn't really matter how much you made because you were captive to the company store.
My mother's first teaching job required that she live with 2 other young teachers simply to make rent making a whopping $500/yr. Rent was $50/mo, more than each made individually. God forbid someone with a Master's degree be able to afford a nice car or house.
As unions have been weakened the wages of those workers has steadily declined, meanwhile the profits taken by "management" have grown. The lack of unions is directly tied to the decline of the American middle class.
If a person has earned full retirement benefits through KTRS and has not worked elsewhere during his career, he or she likely wouldn’t receive a spouse’s Social Security or survivor benefits, Barnes said. That rule is a result of federal law known as “government pension offset,” he said. Benefits for widows or widowers are reduced by two-thirds of the person’s government pension, according to the federal law.
“In most cases, it will eliminate any survivor benefits,” Barnes said.
Under a federal law known as the Windfall Elimination Provisions, Social Security benefits can be reduced even if the person has worked another career, he said. The law affects people whose career includes working for an employer that doesn’t withhold Social Security taxes from a salary and one that does.
A common example, Barnes said, would be a second-career teacher — someone who became a teacher later in life after a career elsewhere.
Barnes and KTRS spokesman Greg Hall said teachers are made aware of how their retirement earnings may affect Social Security earnings in an initial employment agreement
There are several professions where affording a "nice" car (whatever that means) or a house is not necessarily attainable. I'm sorry, but a graduate degree does not necessarily guarantee you a salary at all.
I don't completely disagree with your take on unions. However, I do disagree with a union being able to negotiate with a government agency when I, the tax payer, am on the hook for the result of the negotiations.
Ky teachers are required to contribute 12.9% of their salary into the pension plan. Claiming that their retirement is equivalent to a $1.5M nest egg is disingenuous. That nest egg can support and even grow at a 3-4% withdrawal rate in perpetuity and then is there to pass on to their heirs. A pension ends at death regardless if they die before retirement, one year into retirement or 50 years later and it can't be inherited.
Also, how much of that pension goes to replace the Social Security that they would have received?
My wife has taught in TN for 25 yrs and current estimate of SS benefits will net her $25K/yr.
It's a good deal for those who live long, a bad deal for those who die early. Balance that all out...
I wish I could tell you what is being protested on Friday, but I’m honestly not sure. Then pension thing is a doe deal unless Beshear is successful. The other bills that Bevin vetoed were the best-of-the-worst-case scenario. I think that’s what we’re supposed to support now. As you can see, I pretty much stay out of it.
I've had some amazing teachers in my life and a appreciate everything they contributed.
But Yes. My average day is anywhere from 11-16 hours AT work. Any Officer is on call 24/7 and has 30-300+ Marines (soldiers, etc) under their responsibility (dealing with pay, marriage, addiction, suicide, performance; all falls back on the lowest level of leadership i.e.: LTs and Capt) up to the XO/CO. LCpl shmuckatelli gets a DUI or in a fight at a bar guess who gets that phone call and the resulting paperwork (and *** chewing), the LT. That isn't counting the monthly 24 hour watch duties when you are in garrison. Just last year I stood a 24 hour duty the Easter Day, Christmas Day, and the day after Thanksgiving.
Deployments for a squadron/company are usually 7 months away, 7-14 home depending on ops tempo and mos saturation; 1:2 ratio being the "slow" side and "optimal".
In addition to countless exercises and workups while technically on your non-deployment cylcle that last 1-2 months away from home either on a ship or in the California desert. If you're in the field its 24/7 w usually a couple hours of broken sleep to rotate who's up on guard.
Typically I see family 1-2 times a year and am away from my home station (deployed or exercises) a minimum of 2 months to 8 months a year.
We won't dive into the inherent risk that comes w it bc everyone signs up and accepts that. Hypothetically, your life is one thing but living w someone else's life that you were responsible for on you conscious is another ball game.
Don't take this as complaining though. I love that I get the privilege of putting that uniform on everyday and getting to influence young people regardless of how much I'm away or what hours I have.
Just expressing how ignorant (in the sense of not knowing) of an argument/comparison that is.
Not to mention you used an Officers pay which makes up less than 10% of the armed forces.
Let's look at an E-4 (corporal) which is the average rank of 80% of the military. I'll even give you an E-4 with 20 years to max out their pay scale. Ready?
$28,836. $2,403 a month. While they don't have the same level of responsibility as the very small Officer population so they aren't on call at night when working their average day, they still work 24 hour duties and do the same exercises when not deployed.
The amount of hours spent at work to pay is definitely incomparable and, the amount of time away from family is as well. But, agree with knowing what we got into and, the world education plus, the places I got to go to was worth it. Loved the travel.
I used an officers compensation as a comparison because of the relative educational standards for each.
Almost every job is compensated based on how hard it is to fill vs. the value society places on it.
Teachers in certain places most definitely feel that their value to society is being questioned as a means to control their compensation.
Time will tell if they have overplayed their hand as how easily replaceable they are.
I feel we both agree that there is a value to our society to have a proper military and a proper educational system.
Given that there is an acute shortage of teachers pretty much nation wide I'm not sure that they are so replaceable. And seeing that there has been a drastic drop (35%) in enrollment in the numbers of students going into education and that 8% of the teaching workforce leaves the profession (retirement or otherwise) each year, who will replace them?
This is incorrect anyways. An 0-2 with 4 years makes $4,855 a month equaling $58,260 a year.
https://militarybenefits.info/2018-military-pay-charts/
To break down a little bit of the "why" teachers salaries are what they currently are (in comparison to the scenario you brought up):
Considering that less than 1% of Americans serve on active duty and less than 10% of that in the officer ranks (0.1% of Americans are Military Officers) compared to the number of teachers in any given state (approx. 2% nationally), it would essentially take each state to raise the same or more than the FEDERAL government's budget for Officer pay just to pay their teachers. State Govs make a fraction of what the Feds make so that would be a massive achievement on its own, that's without getting into all the other things the state has to fund as well. They could make it work by a massive jump in taxes but the end state would likely be the same amount in your pocket; the only thing it would change would be getting to see a larger # on your paycheck before taxes.
I agree with you that its an important field and is valuable to society. The problem is that its a relatively easy degree compared to Med School, Engineering, or other "valuable to society" fields so its a very popular choice. Colleges across America pump out 50,000-100,000 or so new teachers a year; teachers don't retire at near that rate. Any field that becomes that oversaturated loses its ability to negotiate and effectively caps its earning potential. (2,618 4 year colleges x 25 teachers a year = 65,450) If an "education degree" wasn't a thing any more and you had to major in the subject you were going to teach and then get a teaching cert on the back end, it would likely balance the incoming/outgoing spectrum thus increasing the "value" from a pure numbers scale as well as the quality of education.
In the current climate, IMO, $40,000-$70,000 a year dependent upon cost of living factors state by state + health care is/would be reasonable considering it also comes with Summer Break, Christmas Break, Spring Break, and most other federal holidays off.
I am going by the https://www.goarmy.com/benefits/total-compensation.html website.
Just like teachers like to not consider the time they have off, you want to ignore the $26,000 in housing, food, and tax advantages the military pays.