In the never-ending saga of teacher woes in their quest to further their union’s agenda, create talking points for their Democratic candidates, and pad their own pockets in the process, we see this story today from Thompson teachers in the Reporter-Herald.
What do they want? Billions of tax dollars. When do they want it? Right now.
Not only does the story repeat the now debunked myth that Colorado teachers are some of the lowest paid in the nation with a salary of $46,000 (they actually rank 31st with an average salary of $51,808), but it also suggests other problems we suspect are not true, either.
But like so many teacher stories flooding state news media, few reporters are bothering to fact check anything the teachers are saying.
For example, under the new numbers released by the teacher’s union, and counting the days teachers work in the Denver school system, the average pay is nearly $270 a day, about $34 an hour.
Not exactly poverty wages. But in addition to more pay:
Several teachers said their decision to rally was more about providing smaller class sizes, safe buildings and quality education to the students.
If building structures are unsafe, then why are we letting students in there? We need to know more about these unsafe buildings.
As for class size, the unions again tell us in their latest report that the ratio of student to teacher in Colorado is 15-1. Not exactly spilling over into hallways.
Quality education is up to the teachers, and for $270 a day, we expect that.
But of course the only talking point that will make it’s way through the media clutter is the emotional blackmail:
“It’s all about the babies,” said Shana Cundall, who works in the health office at Ponderosa. “It’s all about the kids … this is about getting the services our children need.”
What the children needs are teachers to teach. That would require teachers to get off the “poor me” pity train, do the union’s bidding on their own time, and get back to work.