Speaker 1: What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to
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smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for
your support. I was not planning. I did show prep
for three different topic multiple topics actually for the whole show.
But people really want to keep talking about teacher pay,
and so I will keep talking about teacher pay. Lord
knows I've talked about it enough over my twenty five
year career. Here. So let's start off with Steve. Welcome
to the program.
Speaker 2: Hello Steve, Hey Pete, thanks for shaking my call. Sure,
just wanting to correct John something that before breaking made
it sound like, Hey, it's such a great gig. It's
like a thousand dollars pay increase per year, et cetera,
et cetera. Let me challenge you on something.
Speaker 1: Okay, first, hang on, hang on, I'm going to correct you.
I said, it's a pretty good gig. I didn't say
it's a great gig. I said it's a pretty good gig.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, it's a quote unquote pretty good gig. All right, Okay,
find me one company, and I want you to be
on this task as well as your listeners. Find me
one company in corporate America that freezes your pay for
a decade of your career, and then after that you
get one pay increase. So it's not like a big
pay increase. It's like another two thousand dollars a year.
So for those that are keeping score at home in
a fifteen year time span, that's half of a thirty
year career, right in fifteen years, two pay increases. Find
me one, I would say, find me somewhere.
Speaker 1: I found one.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no no.
Speaker 1: I found one. Steve, I found one, Steve. I found one.
I found one. Go ahead, yeah, shoot me my career.
Why because that's what they do.
Speaker 2: How are you not getting paid for a decade? You
get no pay increases for a decade. Yeah, I'm finding
this hard to believe.
Speaker 1: You can find it hard to believe. I got no
base pay increase in my last job work there almost
nine years doing what radio?
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's your requirements? You have to have? What kind
of certifications?
Speaker 1: What kind of certifications?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Do you have to have a degree, Do you
have to have a certification? And do you have to
maintain your certification?
Speaker 1: Well, they used to have the FCC certifications, but they
don't really do that in.
Speaker 2: A yeah, that's that's not true, but go ahead, No,
they don't do that. SEC's not part of go ahead?
What else? What other kind of certifications you need to
maintain your job?
Speaker 1: No, I need ratings. I need Actually, I have to
deliver advertising revenue. That's a metric. That's what it's called. No, Steve,
that's a metric that I have to deliver. And if
I don't deliver it, I am then let go? Right? Right?
Is there a compara? Is there a comparable for you?
Speaker 2: Is there? If we don't perform? Yeah, we end up.
I know it's hard to believe because people think we're
a unionized state down here and you can't fire teachers.
Speaker 1: I said, it's difficult. It's difficult.
Speaker 2: Yes, of course, there's due process.
Speaker 1: Huh right, it's not difficult to fire me.
Speaker 2: Okay, right, okay, Well good, so you don't compare. Are
you done for? You don't comp your apples oranges.
Speaker 1: You it's not apples to orange. And Steve, you asked
me for another industry that freezes pay, and I gave
you one mine. Now I will tell you also that
when the pandemic hit, are my industry cut people's pay
and it's in it. Yeah, it's that's the industry norm
is they cut everyone's pay ten percent across the board.
That's normal. So and I'm not saying that this is
that this makes my job harder or better or worse
or whatever. I'm just you asked for an example, so
I just gave you one. But I understand your argument
because way back when the Democrats ran the legislature, they
froze teacher pay. Absolutely, they froze it.
Speaker 2: They froze this, yes, because of the economics.
Speaker 1: And they write they and they let go a bunch
of teachers.
Speaker 2: Right, teachers work for free for a week, right, And
that was wrong, free for a week.
Speaker 1: And you know what happened, right, and that was wrong.
And what happened was the Democrats lost control of the legislature.
The Republicans came in and they attempted their reforms, their
compensation reforms. They wanted to redo the whole compensation structure.
Speaker 2: Just terrible.
Speaker 1: I know teachers opposed it right.
Speaker 2: Because it was a nightmare. It was a joke. It
was an absolute nightmare. Oh I write, I wrote a
huge letter to the to the board that was was
I can't remember what they're called, it was there. And
the reason is they're trying to make a quote unquote
confusing system less confusing by offering a more confusing way
to evaluate teachers.
Speaker 1: So what's the best way to pay teachers based.
Speaker 2: On merit not merit pay? Merit pay is stupid. I
know you guys keep running the merit pay.
Speaker 1: No, I'm asking, I'm asking Steve. So you say there's
no way that I can measure a teacher's performance. Listen, now,
just simple question. Can I measure a teacher's performance? And
if you tell how? Yes, okay, how.
Speaker 2: Classroom observations there's one, uh, you can call it. You
know how people do on their on their on their testing,
which I do have a problem with that. The state tests.
You can see if the teachers measuring up that way
that The problem with the merit pay is, how are
you going to have the teachers that want to take
on the high risk that the kids are most likely
to fail at a test. No teacher is going to
want to take that on if they're not going to
make any money. If they're not going to they're going
to lose their job. But their jobs in jeopardy by
taking on the most volable kids in our community. That's
what merit pay is. That's a bad idea. So then
another teacher, that's not how good. It's all the smartest
kids in the in the school building and hey look
at me, I'm the grace say all my kids pass
my you know, third gradio c's and all that stuff. Yeah,
but you got the best and brightest minds of them.
Speaker 1: So what's the what's the optimal pay system?
Speaker 2: The optimal pay system? That's a great question, and this
could be a soapbox topic for me. But no, if
if half the teachers in the United the States leave
with them the first five years, that means that means
we're constantly the first three to five years, we're constantly
getting new teachers. You're not a good teacher until you're three.
Your three is what is the It's.
Speaker 1: Okay, So what's the optimal I already know that what's
the optimal system.
Speaker 2: Well, I would say yearly bonus, like a yearly that
back in nineteen ninety seven when I first started on,
you can see about a thousand, about seven to fifty
one thousand dollars every five years. You need to get
the biggest one. But you get the steps down the GP. Yeah,
the steps twenty ten. GP came in. They took away
the steps. They took it.
Speaker 1: They didn't take away. Say no, no, no, no away, opinion, fellow,
hang on, hang on. They implemented fifteen.
Speaker 2: Steps, right, the steps were a joke.
Speaker 1: The fifteen steps are one thousand dollars, which you just
said was a good number. Well, one thousand dollars a
year for the first years.
Speaker 2: Now they're about seven to fifty maybe every five years
about a thousand. But that's how you know.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, the fifteen you're starting with. The
GP did it out what four years ago whatever it
was five years ago they did. They they implemented starting
pay at thirty five K. Now it's like fifty the
thirty five K, and you would get to fifty K
over fifteen years with one thousand dollars step increases, not
including cost of living increases or anything else that's just guaranteed.
Speaker 2: Cost of living increases. There isn't cost of.
Speaker 3: Living in there.
Speaker 1: What are you talking about their cost of living Carolina.
I'm talking North Carolina, Steve, I don't know about South Carolina.
I'm talking about North Carolina.
Speaker 2: It's built in in South Carolina's built in a state
constitution that they get cost a living increase.
Speaker 1: Year in North Carolina. So a constitutional amendment is what
you're demanding, that a cost of living increase every year
for teachers.
Speaker 2: There's all kinds of things we can do to say.
Speaker 1: So you want guarantee, okay, So you want guaranteed increased
pay for all teachers, no matter if they suck or not.
Speaker 2: Listen, if you're going to start first year teachers at
fifty thousand, when you have veteran teachers that took twenty years,
you know I'm not taking up to that.
Speaker 1: I'm asking you for what you're so is, and I'm
asking if the solution you are proposing is annual increases,
whether or not the teachers are good or not.
Speaker 2: Yes, here's my ocation.
Speaker 1: So every teacher gets a pay raise forever, and that's.
Speaker 2: Okay, the solution right now? If you want to keep
and retain good teachers in the state of North Carolina
is a twenty percent pay increase across the board for
all certified teachers. That would take starting pay for a
teacher to fifty guys at fifty to sixty and someone
that's like fifty five to about sixty five. If you
think sixty five thousand a year is too much for
a bet, that's just.
Speaker 1: The state though. You're just talking about the state allocation.
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, the federal Yeah, no, not the federal.
Speaker 1: The state, but there are I haven't even touched on
the federal funding allocations. I'm just talking about state.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there isn't federal the state.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but no, they go to the schools and then
they use the money for incentives and stuff. But you've
got the state that pays a base and then you
have local supplements as well.
Speaker 2: Right by Charlote mckimurg as the second highest wait county
as the first highest counties pretty.
Speaker 1: Well, right, So what is that number? How does that
number figure into your your base pay or do you don't?
You just don't even You just ignore the supplements.
Speaker 2: The local supplement isn't the problem.
Speaker 1: People aren't lead I'm not saying it's a problem. I'm
saying I'm asking it's compensation. But the number that you
gave me is just the state baseline. You want all teachers.
So when they start off, what do they make?
Speaker 2: Well, Republicans right now trying to push it to fifty.
I think that's fair if they want to push it
a fifty fine. So the problem is they're pushing the
starting paid of fifty and then the veteran teachers are
stuck where they're at. And what I just said people,
we're twenty years to get.
Speaker 1: Because they move in. But do you know the rationale
for that?
Speaker 2: Yes, I know exactly what's the rationale for The rationale
is to it's expensive having veteran teachers teaching is the only.
Speaker 1: Part that's not the rationale. No, that wasn't the rationale.
Speaker 2: That's the hidden rationale.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, sorry, So okay, I will give you the
other rationales. I'll give you the other rationales for it,
which is number one, people move into the administrative roles
right in order to make big money.
Speaker 3: But also big money that's good.
Speaker 1: Yeah when compared to the teachers, right. Yeah, do you
know what a superintendent in Charlotte Mecklenberg makes you get
on that path. Not even close, buddy, not even close.
They're pushing it. They're pushing half a million. They're pushing
half a mill. No, okay, well don't believe me. That's fine.
You don't have to believe me, Steve. I appreciate the call.
I don't think you're going to win a lot of
public support by simply saying more twenty percent across the board,
pay raises for everybody. Like I said, I'm happy to
pay great teachers one hundred K plus two hundred k.
I'm happy to do that, but I'm not going to
pay the terrible teachers the same amount of money. So
you guys, figure it out. Figure out some plan where
I can assess performance. And before you tell me that
you can't figure out how to assess performance, that's literally
your job. Literally your job is to assess performance. And
if you're telling me that you can't figure out a
way to do it for yourself, I don't believe you.
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dot com once again with caler Steve, just like with
Tina in the previous hour, I think a lot of
people in the K twelve education industry have a blind
spot of what occurs outside the industry. His first premise
or his assertion was that name me another profession or
industry that has pay freezes for a decade, and then
I gave him one and it just so happened to
be me, me personally, and that does not change his mind.
That's not like, that doesn't alter his argument. Which then
why are you asking the question if you are truly
seeking information?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: Is it a good faith question? And it wasn't. It
was done in order to try to make some point
that we have it worse than everybody else, but you don't.
And that was my point, is that the things that
you experience in your profession, in your industry, other people
in other professions and industries also suffer. And sometimes they
suffer different things, and sometimes you suffer different things. Right,
every job has its pros and cons. And you know,
I'm sorry if somebody told you you would get rich
being a teacher, I don't know who that person is.
That's never been my understanding of the profession. But there
were trade offs, and people who get into the line
of work love the line of work. That is a
similarity that I have with teachers. People who love radio
will stay in radio for as long as possible because
they love it. We love it, and management knows it,
and so like that same thing with police and firefighters.
They love the job and the cities know it, and
they can pay accordingly. That's the game. So and if
the point comes where you're not making enough money to
do the thing that you love, then you have a
decision to make. All right, let me go back to
the phones here, Susie. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2: Hey Susie, Hey, how are you doing.
Speaker 1: I'm good? What's up? Okay?
Speaker 4: The two things. The first point is that I called
and I talked to your screener about the situation is
because there is such a cap on how much a
teacher can earn, a lot of teachers go into administration
right when they're really, really good teachers that really should
stay in the classroom because they're needed there. And I
was told many times they say, well, all as smart
as you are, as much as you know, and you
should go into administration. I thought in that to work
with students. I didn't get in to tell other people
what to do, you know, other adults. So anyway, I think,
and especially me, and because you men feel like they
be the provider, they're home and they would be they're
needed as teatures. But because of the structure of the
pay skill, then they are they leave. You see what
I'm saying, So there's a brain drain of good teatures
into administration so that they can make more money.
Speaker 1: Okay, if that's the primary motivation, yeah, I know, right,
just like you're not motivated by making more money, right
you didn't. You said you were staying in the profession
because you wanted to keep teaching kids. Yeah, right, so
if you, But if you, but if you get to
you that that length of service and you've got all
of this institutional knowledge, and then you and then at
that point you're like, you know what I do want
to make more money, then I will go do the
administrative side.
Speaker 4: Yes, But what I'm saying is we need tatures in
the classroom and it should not be set up that
you can't you can advance unless you leave the classroom.
You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Well, well, hang on a second, no, because you're saying advance.
You're not talking about advancement, you're talking about more money.
Speaker 4: Well, and let me tell you why I was listening
to you. I learned a lot about North Carolina, how
different they are from South Carolina. Number One, that guy
that did tax is that said they make sixty five
thousand dollars in pension? I want to know.
Speaker 1: And that included social Security, he said? He said social
Security said their and their retirement pay right combined. He
said his clients were pulling in like eighty k. So yeah, probably, yeah,
sixty thousand.
Speaker 2: Well I want to know more.
Speaker 4: That's difference in South Carolina. But anyway, let me tell
you something. Another thing is this, there is no such
thing as vacation. I thought over forty years, I never
had a vacation day, but I had plenty of unpaid
work days. Because when school is out in June, you
have to go in there and pack up room. Then
you have to take graduate classes on your own time
to keep your certification up. And as I got new
students because of that, and the students were classified in
new ways, and that no child left behind a highly
qualified teacher. To be a highly qualified teacher, I had
to keep going back and back and back and getting
new and new, more and more certifications on my own time,
on my own time.
Speaker 1: See, no, I would see I would agree with you
that I wouldn't. I wouldn't incentivize any of that stuff.
And I don't like the way that the education establishment
constantly shifts gears and says, we're gonna do it a
new way. We're going to change this, We're gonna change that.
I think that they just rearrange deck chairs on the
Titanic by doing that and make everybody scramble. I would
prefer to let teachers teach, but I would also then say,
if you're not doing a good job, there has to
be a way to assess the outcome in order to
say you're not doing a good job.
Speaker 4: She made a point about the tatures that deal't violence students.
I dealt with some really violent students. I have been
bit I have been spit, I have been slapped. And
one time we got this. The bus driver called in
and said.
Speaker 1: Susie, can I put you on hold because I want
to hear this story, but I'm late for news, So
can I put you on hold and then we'll come
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make memories that'll last a lifetime. We were talking with
Susie before the bottom of the UR newscast there and
I asked her to hang on. She is still there.
Sounds like so, Susie, you were about to tell a story.
I think it involved a bus driver or something. Yeah.
Speaker 4: The bus driver radio Dan that one of the students
whom I tut had gone out of control and was
screaming and carrying on and hitting. So as they contacted me,
and they also contacted the resource to meet the bus.
So I ran out the poor tim pulling and as
he was getting off, the other students got off her
quick and then the UH. As that student was getting off,
he was screaming and yeeling, and I used what I
had learned to calm him down, how to approach him,
how to talk to him, and how to diffuse the situation. Well,
the Resource, who have been a deputy share for many,
many years, and he said that he was getting there
as fast as he could, but he watched what I
did and he said that I was able to do
things that they taught them at the Police Academy of
how to deal with situations like that. Now I want
to ask you that.
Speaker 1: Okay, there, how.
Speaker 4: Can a you don't do that on the standardized tests?
Speaker 1: Hang on a second, What was the point, Susie? Hang on?
What was the What was the purpose of the of
the bus driver story?
Speaker 4: Okay, the bus, the student was on the bunk.
Speaker 1: I know the story. What was the point of it?
Speaker 4: The point is this, I've had to use skills that
cannot be measured by standardized test and if my pay
is dependent on what the students make on standardized testes,
where does that lead?
Speaker 1: I've got an answer? Yeah, all right, so I can
answer that. So when I talk about a merit based system,
I'm not talking about it based solely on a single metric.
I'm not saying it's only based on test results. I
would submit that you could base it on improvement. Right,
you measure kids on the way in, you measure them
on the way out. Did they show improvement? You can
have something like that. You can also do yes testing,
You could also do student and parent and coworker and
principal evaluations and such. Right, they do this at the
college level. So I would submit that there are ways,
through various metrics to create some sort of a scoring system,
much like you, as a teacher do for your students.
You have to grade them. You have to assess their progress, right,
you have to assess their mastery of the material. So
I would submit that there is a way that you
can craft some sort of a system. Now, I'm not
telling you how that should be crafted. I will leave
it to the people like yourself, who are professional assessors.
So I would be.
Speaker 4: All here, they don't take into consideration the other things
we deal with, like I deal with the violent children.
Speaker 1: Right, Well, then we could put that into the mix. Yeah,
we could put that into the mix.
Speaker 4: You only work fifteen hours a week, you have.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not true, Susie, Susie, that is not true.
Speaker 4: Well, okay, I'm on.
Speaker 1: The air, Susie. I am on the air for three
hours a day, five days a week. I do minimum
two hours of prep for every one hour on air minimum.
And that's not including all of the other events that
I go and I attend. That does not include the
work I do for the podcast. It does not include
any of the other things that I am called to
do by the employer. Okay, So I have not You just.
Speaker 4: Not my point, which is what teachers are in the
classroom seven hours a day. They have four hours of prep,
parent conferences, bush duty, car all those other duties, PATO meetings,
And in the summer, which I'll call vacation, which is
not a single day of vacation.
Speaker 1: It just I don't believe you, Susie. I don't believe
you that it's not a single day of vacation over
the summer.
Speaker 4: Oh No, vacation means you get paid for it. What
I'm saying is this, we're just not employed. And let
me tell you when I started, you.
Speaker 1: Get paid for a full year's salary for a ten
month work. No, sure you do, Sure you do shorten.
Speaker 4: You get short in your check in September, you get
short in your check. In October, you get short in
your check. You don't get your full check for what
you work. They pay it to you in the summer.
Speaker 1: They hold on, so you do get paid over the summer.
Speaker 4: But it's the money that I earned in September.
Speaker 1: Is no, it's an annual. It's no, it's an annual salary,
just divided over twelve months. And the reason why they
pay you over the summer like that is because teachers
complained about not having any income coming in over the summer,
so they spread it out over the summer. So it
sounds like so it sounds like you're you're not happy
with that either.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: See, Susie, Susie, this is about all right, Susie, Susie,
this is this was what I was saying earlier.
Speaker 4: Okay, you are not you say it about our insurance.
I paid six hundred.
Speaker 1: Dollars, Susie. I fit, Susie. I feel like you need
to tire.
Speaker 4: A lot of that insurance just went away.
Speaker 1: Susie, I retired. I think you need to quit your job.
You sound miserable at it.
Speaker 4: No, no, I talked for forty three years. I loved
every minute.
Speaker 1: Oh so you are retired.
Speaker 4: Talking about but I'm talking about this. I am taught that.
It's like you'd sayers get vacations. We don't get vacation.
Speaker 1: I don't believe it. I know, Susie. I know, Susie.
I know too many teachers, Susie, Susie, I know too
many teachers that take vacation. They have vacation days. So
when you tell me they don't get vacation, that's not true.
They do have vacation. Now, you're saying, oh, well, they don't.
They don't. They're not working getting a salary for those
summer months, although they are actually drawing a paycheck. But
then they have the opportunity to go work at another
gig as a waitress. You know who. I can't do that.
I don't get six weeks eight weeks straight off where
I could take on another gig for two months. I
don't get that. And by the way, I don't begrudge
you for doing it. I don't have any problem with
anybody taking as many opportunities as they can. What I
am simply highlighting here, Susie, is a blind spot that
you a lot. I'm with the caller Steve and the
caller Tina, who are all teachers. You guys have a
blind spot for the way things work outside of the
K twelve government model. And I'm simply suggesting that maybe
it's a pretty good gig the way you've got it.
It may be.
Speaker 4: And by coming hour from six thirty in the morning
to four point thirty at night, and I still took
paper work home.
Speaker 1: I have heard, Susie, do you think you're the only
person that works at home and takes work home with him.
I woke up at five in the morning. I work
until on a city council or a county commission night
until nine o'clock at night. So it's But this is
the thing, Susie. If you love your work, why are
you bitching to me about it? I love my work.
I don't complain about the hours that I work because
I love my work, and if and if it was
if I didn't like it, I would stop doing. Of
course you are. You're trying to tell me that your
job is so much harder than everybody else's.
Speaker 4: Complaining about your brittiness representation.
Speaker 1: What was my misrepresentation? Okay, that it's not a good game.
Speaker 4: Do you have to buy your own sound board and
take it to work?
Speaker 5: You?
Speaker 1: I operate all of my own stuff. All of this
stuff here is mine. I have my own soundboard, my
own computers, my own phone lines. I have all of
that myself. Yes, Susie, this is my point. Once again,
you've illustrated it. Thank you for the call. You have
a blind spot. You think that you're doing something that
nobody else in the private sector does, and you are wrong.
You're wrong. That's all I'm trying to communicate to you.
I'm not saying that your job is all sunshine and rainbows.
There are definitely massive challenges for teachers. Absolutely, it's difficult work.
Not everybody can do it. It is a gift the
real people, the real great teachers, It is a gift.
I want to reward them. I would love to be
able to do so, but I don't want to reward
the bad ones. And until you, as an industry can
figure out a way that I don't have to pay
the crap teachers the same amount as I'm paying the
great ones, then we're going to be arguing about this.
And and when you make these I've got My emails
are blown up with people saying that they deal with
the exact same pressures that teachers do in just in
different ways. It's the same stuff. You know, Steve calls in,
Oh we got you know, we have a pay raise
in eight years, and nobody else got that. Like, I've
got tweets and emails, I got loaded phone lines and
people are like, oh, yeah that was us. Yeah we
got furloughed. That's what I mean. Like, you think this
stuff doesn't happen to anybody else, and it does. It does.
That's all I'm saying it does. Man, all right, if
you're listening to this show, you know I try to
keep up with all sorts of current events, and I
know you do too, And you've probably heard me say
get your news from multiple sources. Why well, because it's
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media landscape more transparent all right, so I got tons
of messages. Here tell Susie. In order to do my job,
I have to buy my own t rock, my own tools,
gas increased, insurance, workers comp commercial car insurance and health insurance,
pieces of equipment, and many other things. All right, we
got Spencer up. Next, Spencer, I'm going to give you
a minute because I got a lot of people I
want to try to get on welcome.
Speaker 3: Hey, hey, Pete, here's a good one for you. It's
called Bailey Fested. And back in the eighties, the legislature
kept freezing raises and saying next year we'll fix it,
and then next year they said freeze wage. And the
next year, well, finally there was a lawsuit and all
of those teachers who made at least five years continued
service during this time would get their pension state tax
free when they retired. Oh no, yeah that yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: On top of that, if you were in the four
to h one kent eighty nine or eight, I can't
remember which year it was, but if you were in
the four to oh one k, after you retired and
you had to do the RMDS, you know, the required
minimum distribution, that was tax free as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Spedzer. I appreciate the call man. Thank you. Here's
a message from Melissa says, I recently found out that
a nurse with ten years experience and less education makes
the same as I do with twenty five years experience
and the extra education and certification. So it happens in
every profession. Pete, I'm losing my mind. I'm not busy
now because I have a morning appointments and more evening appointments.
I went to the office at six fifty five am.
I don't look at days off. I work like it's
a normal day, sheep. The Feds have limits my compensation
and I pay fee after fee after fee. This is Eric.
Hello Eric, welcome to the show.
Speaker 5: Hey Pete, I wish you would have given me Susie's time.
I am also a retired teacher Charlotte Mecklenberg Schools. I
retired last June. Thank you, sir. When I started back
in the day, I knew exactly what the payscale was.
It wasn't like as if it was a surprise. I
hate when teachers act all surprised on what their pay is.
If I wanted to get a higher paying job, I
could have gone into something else. When I started out,
I realized that my pay was low and I wanted
to get into coaching, but that supplement wasn't enough, so
I started a business. It was a lucrative business that
I had for a while and I sold and it
was a good choice to supplement my income. I also
won perk for being a teacher is you can accumulate
your sick days. I was able to retire two years
early because I had two years worth the sick days.
Now I'm collecting a pension, and I also went into
the private sector to teach, so I'm double dipping. I
got a considerable raise based on my plan. Teachers, we
need to stop getting this having this idea where we
lose focus on the difference between equality and fairness. The fact,
the fact of the matter is we are not equal
to someone that is managing a you know, a fund,
or you know someone that is you know, a real
estate broker that's getting high commissions. That's not how we
get compensated. You have to be realistic and find ways.
Another thing that I did is for twenty years I
was National Board certified. When you get that certification, the
state gives you a twelve percent pay increase and that
was also on top of the twelve percent, on top
of the local supplement as well. And that's another thing
that teachers need to understand, those local supplements. Yes, that
is summer pay, and it varies from district to district.
Charlotte Mecklenberg is one of the top ones. That's why
I stayed there for as long as I did. It's
about ten yeah, thousands of dollars of decreased.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like ten k. You're right now, it's ten
thousand dollars the supplement take Yeah, Eric, I I got
a run. I appreciate the call. It's great information. I
should have given you Susie's time. You are correct, all right,
that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much
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