What “I” stand for/ want!

[Fresno Bob]

Is there a legal way right now for insurance companies to do this?

how much should they be paid?

the same as police

[swampdragon]

Universal health care. That would be # 1, and financially it makes more sense than current system, where more is spent per person on health care than any other nation on earth including all the industrialized nations that have universal coverage, but so many here are without coverage. Also, k-12 teachers need a raise, and budgets restored so that schools can again offer art, home ec, music, autoshop, drama, gym. That "fluff" is the stuff that provides enrichment, motivation, resulting in higher grad rates and well rounded students eager to tackle rest of life.

as a teacher of fluff - I support that - the kids actually learn process and transferable skills from my class and they do understand that concept even in middle school

[cardboardbox]

A starting salary of 55K for a k-12 teacher is way, way above average. As BB pointed out, there are exceptions, and some areas do pay teachers well, but if you look at averages, that 55k starting figure for an out of field teacher is super high end--it is above every state average, including Cali and NY and NJ. In fact, Jersey is the only state with a starting salary of 50k. Where is that? Maybe I'll move there .

Cy Fair in TX. I'll ask and find out what the starting salary was, might have been 52k, was definitely over 50k.

ETA: Average starting salary for a teacher nationally is $38,617, which ain't bad when comparing to everyone, overall, but way lower than the starting salary for other college grads, who start out at $50,390. In the board game of Life, spending those years and dollars getting those degrees set you back big time. To make it worth it, you have to make a lot more than those who don't get those degrees, or why bother getting the degrees?

why shouldnt there be varying starting salaries for different degrees?

[frae]

A starting salary of 55K for a k-12 teacher is way, way above average. As BB pointed out, there are exceptions, and some areas do pay teachers well, but if you look at averages, that 55k starting figure for an out of field teacher is super high end--it is above every state average, including Cali and NY and NJ. In fact, Jersey is the only state with a starting salary of 50k. Where is that? Maybe I'll move there .

ETA: Average starting salary for a teacher nationally is $38,617, which ain't bad when comparing to everyone, overall, but way lower than the starting salary for other college grads, who start out at $50,390. In the board game of Life, spending those years and dollars getting those degrees set you back big time. To make it worth it, you have to make a lot more than those who don't get those degrees, or why bother getting the degrees?

I started at 36,500 16 years ago. I think our starting salary now is closer to 45? That said I worked for 14 years slowly moving up from 36,500 to 65,000 before our jump steps at years 15 and 16. It is a bit of a grind and you required to do at least 25? or 30 post grad credit hours. I don't feel underpaid now that I am at the top, but to have a bachelors and most of a masters degree and spend most of my years making under 60k isn't great. I don't know the answer to education and the many problems to deal with. Salary, tenure, test scores, etc. There is a lot to unpack and even in a dream scenario, I don't know what I'd do to make education work and make the budgets work.

[Sour Masher]

why shouldnt there be varying starting salaries for different degrees?

I'm unclear on the question. I'm saying spending the time and money to get more education should, in general, result in making more money. Currently, the extra money one makes getting a degree in education does not generate income close to what a similar degree is most other fields does. The numbers provided are averages for everyone. The starting salary for teachers of $38,617 includes those with BAs, MAs, and EDs. Of course, they make different amounts, lumping them all together seemed fine for illustrative purposes. If you want to get more granular, the difference is more extreme for more advanced degrees between teachers and other professions. That is, the higher the degree you have, the more stark the difference in pay between education and other professions.

ETA: if you are talking about degrees by field and not level of education, the answer is, of course, there should be differences. I'm not calling for some communistic approach. But if we agree that education is a very important job in our society, then it makes sense to me that teachers should at least be middle of the pack in terms of compensation. That is not at all the same thing as calling for all people to be paid the same, regardless of field of study and profession. That would be a disaster, and not at all fair. Harder/more competitive fields should come with better pay. Right now, though, education isn't such a field. It is fairly easy to get an education degree, and lots of people fall into the profession for lack of another passion or plan. The pay sucks, so lots of people who want to teach end up doing something else for better money.

[OaklandA's]

The repubs and Trump tried to change ACA but their bill didnt deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions either.

There are three aspects to pre-existing conditions in the ACA, and all three are critical for the entire system to succeed:
1) Insurance companies cannot deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.
2) Insurance companies cannot charge you more if you have pre-existing conditions.
3) All insurance plans must provide coverage for certain essential benefits.

Promising #1 (as the GOP claims) without #2 and #3 is not very useful, if companies can charge whatever they want, and if they can offer plans that don't cover what you need. All 3 items are crucial.

Actually, a 4th item is also crucial to make the whole thing work, and that is the individual/employer mandate. Since those with pre-existing conditions are more expensive, you need more "healthy" people in the system to help balance the costs. And, without the mandate, people could potentially wait until they got sick before they bought insurance, since they couldn't be denied or charged more.

[gcstomp]

My wife has been a gr 7 - 9 STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) teacher for about 15 years. She holds 2 masters degrees and is national board certified, with student loans that may never get paid off. While we live in Boca Raton, she teaches in a low socio economic area with significant challengers in north lauderdale. 100 percent of school is on free lunch, when schools are closed many kids do not eat. Kids do not have required supplies so teachers provide out of pocket. She runs the civil air patrol program, is a captain in that, and runs fund raising that supports the only after school clubs at the school, such as robotics. Without her direct fund raising, there would be no clubs, as budget allocated is zero.

My wife earns in the high 50s k per year.

The money for education has to come from defense, if you look at a fed budget pie chart it is only item possible. Note that little 2% sliver for education, note the 1/4th of budget devoted to defense, not even including another sliver for protection in form of police and firefighters. Or you could repeal the recent tax cuts that just passed for billionaires would more than offset any possible social program and education filling out. The tax cut will bloat budget some 2 trill over next 10 years. As an example of how big that is, free higher education for everyone, the Bernie Sanders pie in sky idea, would cost some 50 bill a year, you could also pay off all outstanding student loans for everyone for another 1.4 trill, which is source of much lifelong harship for literally millions of people, and cost would still come in under 2 trill for a 10 year period.

[B-Fly]

why shouldnt there be varying starting salaries for different degrees?

They do in most school districts with unionized workforces and a collective bargaining agreement. The salary guide generally has rows for years of experience and then columns for education (e.g., BA only, MA, MA+20, PhD).

What's more rare are opportunities to stagger salary by supply and demand. E.g., if the district is finding it very difficult to find/attract the bilingual math teachers they need to serve their population, should they be able to advertise that position for more money than, say, a monolingual English/Language Arts teacher where they receive 80 resumes for every vacancy?

Or should there be opportunities to offer more salary to teachers to work with the most at-risk kids in the district's most-troubled school(s)?

[B-Fly]

There are three aspects to pre-existing conditions in the ACA, and all three are critical for the entire system to succeed:
1) Insurance companies cannot deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.
2) Insurance companies cannot charge you more if you have pre-existing conditions.
3) All insurance plans must provide coverage for certain essential benefits.

Promising #1 (as the GOP claims) without #2 and #3 is not very useful, if companies can charge whatever they want, and if they can offer plans that don't cover what you need. All 3 items are crucial.

Actually, a 4th item is also crucial to make the whole thing work, and that is the individual/employer mandate. Since those with pre-existing conditions are more expensive, you need more "healthy" people in the system to help balance the costs. And, without the mandate, people could potentially wait until they got sick before they bought insurance, since they couldn't be denied or charged more.

And it's all of these issues where the health coverage needs of the American people don't align with the best fiscal interests of private insurance carriers and/or employers that creates so many moral hazards and inefficiencies, which is why I think we're better off with a nationalized universal health care program like Medicare for All. Then, on a holistic level that balances societal interests and needs, you can assess what checks, balances, brakes and incentives can and should be built into the system to contain costs.

[Gregg]

The biggest part of my property tax goes to schools. I have never complained about my taxes as I picked where I live. They have more than doubled in the 20 years that we have lived here. They are more than my mortgage payment.

My youngest has been out of high school for 4 years. Eventually I will be taxed out of my house.

So while I truly want teachers to make more, I do not want to have my taxes go up anymore.

[B-Fly]

The biggest part of my property tax goes to schools. I have never complained about my taxes as I picked where I live. They have more than doubled in the 20 years that we have lived here. They are more than my mortgage payment.

My youngest has been out of high school for 4 years. Eventually I will be taxed out of my house.

So while I truly want teachers to make more, I do not want to have my taxes go up anymore.

There's a strong argument to be made that we should figure out a way to scrap the use of municipal property taxes as the primary mechanism for funding public schools and replace it with a weighted student funding formula at a countywide or statewide level. But ultimately, yes, if you want to pay public school teachers more so as to attract and retain the best, then it will drive higher taxes and/or spending cuts elsewhere.

[Gregg]

There's a strong argument to be made that we should figure out a way to scrap the use of municipal property taxes as the primary mechanism for funding public schools and replace it with a weighted student funding formula at a countywide or statewide level. But ultimately, yes, if you want to pay public school teachers more so as to attract and retain the best, then it will drive higher taxes and/or spending cuts elsewhere.

How about cutting the school portion in half upon graduation of the youngest. We still contribute to the school community even when benefits are done.

[cardboardbox]

They do in most school districts with unionized workforces and a collective bargaining agreement. The salary guide generally has rows for years of experience and then columns for education (e.g., BA only, MA, MA+20, PhD).

What's more rare are opportunities to stagger salary by supply and demand. E.g., if the district is finding it very difficult to find/attract the bilingual math teachers they need to serve their population, should they be able to advertise that position for more money than, say, a monolingual English/Language Arts teacher where they receive 80 resumes for every vacancy?

Or should there be opportunities to offer more salary to teachers to work with the most at-risk kids in the district's most-troubled school(s)?

actually I meant my question like SM understood in his edit. I didnt think just because teachers have degrees, or multiple degrees, that they should get paid as much as harder, more in demand degrees which is what I thought he wanted.

[cardboardbox]

How about cutting the school portion in half upon graduation of the youngest. We still contribute to the school community even when benefits are done.

I think thats a great idea but probably not fair at all. We can argue for less spending, less govt, less taxes, but I think after that discussion is done, we pay our taxes. Around here, you get a significant reduction in property taxes when you reach 65 so thats something.

If we head down your path, people without kids will argue for half taxes also. Or maybe half taxes until they have kids, and then half again when they are out of school. Then those with kids in school will have double taxes.

edit: now I dont think thats a great idea anymore.

[hacko]

I think thats a great idea but probably not fair at all. We can argue for less spending, less govt, less taxes, but I think after that discussion is done, we pay our taxes. Around here, you get a significant reduction in property taxes when you reach 65 so thats something.

If we head down your path, people without kids will argue for half taxes also. Or maybe half taxes until they have kids, and then half again when they are out of school. Then those with kids in school will have double taxes.

edit: now I dont think thats a great idea anymore.

You come from the keep cost down side( my past) but not having these programs ( healthcare, boarder security,Education...) has probably left the barn . What is your compromise suggestions? - cost paying ideas

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