The Anti-NEA Podcast
Episode #16: The Teacher “Pay Penalty” – Fact or Fiction?
9/15/18
The Teacher "Pay Penalty" - Fact or Fiction?
“The overdue national attention on the erosion of teacher salaries across the nation couldn’t come at a more urgent time … the teacher pay penalty – the percent by which public school educators are paid less than comparable workers – has reached an all-time high.”
Tim Walker, NEA Writer
“Interesting. When you adjust the teacher ‘pay penalty’ to account for the fact that teachers only work 9 months a year while comparable workers put in a full 12 months, it vanishes completely.”
Jonathan Smith, Anti-NEA Writer
Listen to the podcast to hear how I adjusted the “pay penalty” to get a more accurate figure.
Episode #15 – A History Teacher is in Need of an Economics Lesson9/8/18
A History Teacher is in Need of an Economics Lesson
Here is what the teacher said:
“… the goal of business is to make a larger profit and the easiest way to save money is to pay your workers less.”
What is interesting when you first read this statement, is that it appears to be factually correct. After all, if you cut your payroll costs (assuming revenue remains the same), profits/income will obviously go up.
This is simple math, right?
Simple math it may be, but it is also a simplistic understanding of how successful businesses operate in the real world.
While cutting costs in order to “make a larger profit” may be the “easiest way to save money,” a business will not remain solvent for the long term if this is its strategic plan.
But businesses don’t make larger profits simply by “saving money.” They make larger profits by capital investment which leads to greater productivity of their workers.
Episode #14: Opting Out – A Practical Guide8/31/18
Opting Out - A Practical Guide
I have gotten several questions from readers about what happens to their teacher contracts once they opt out of the union.
“Will you have to appear before the Board of Education each year and negotiate on your own?”
“Will you get paid less because you are one individual negotiating against the Big Bad Board?”
These are legitimate questions, because if you look at your last contract, it is an agreement between your Board of Education and your District union.
So, if you are no longer a member of that union, are you bound by it?
The short answer is yes – you are still bound by that contract. It is all about monopoly or exclusive representation.
Listen to the podcast for all of the details.
Lucky Episode #13 – Vouchers for PUBLIC Schools – Inter District School Choice8/28/18
Vouchers for PUBLIC Schools - Inter District School Choice.
Teachers unions do not support vouchers for private schools.
No surprise there, but what about the idea of vouchers for PUBLIC schools?
“Vouchers for public schools,” you ask, “what the heck is that?”
Its called Inter-District School Choice and it is currently being practiced in New Jersey and Massachusetts (and possibly other states).
What exactly is it?
Listen to find out!
The popularity of the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program (IPSCP) is strong proof that parents want choice when it comes to the education of their children. They want options, and, at least in New Jersey and Massachusetts, they have some.
Episode #12: Propaganda or Journalism? The NEA ReLIES on a Biased Report.8/24/18
Propaganda or Journalism? The NEA ReLIES on a Biased Report
NEA writer Tim Walker is at it again. When it comes to school privatization, he can’t seem to help himself – he loves to stretch the truth (lie) when it comes to vouchers and charter schools.
By the way, Mr. Walker is paid big bucks for writing this kind of garbage, and your union dues are paying for it if you are a member of the NEA.
According to UnionFacts.com, his salary and benefits in 2017 totaled $116,449 while the average teacher salary was only $58.950.
Just saying….
The point of his latest article, “Fewer and Fewer States Escaping School’s Privatization Reach,” is that privatization of education is bad because:
“… charter schools … are unaccountable to the public …”
“… voucher programs … have siphoned off public taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition.”
The only problem is that he bases his entire argument on a biased report.
Listen for the details.
Episode #11 - One Major Problem With Collective Bargaining
8/21/2018
One Major Problem With Collective Bargaining
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IS INHERENTLY UNFAIR
If someone does a better job at something, shouldn’t she be compensated accordingly?
This was the question that came to mind after I read that Mandy Manning had been chosen 2018 National Teacher of the Year.
Here is what NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia had to say about this exceptional woman:
“Mandy is a shining example of how teachers transform the lives of their students every day, engaging them and creating enthusiasm for learning … she takes the time to connect with all of them one-on-one to find out who they are and discover their passions. Mandy sees no barriers—only bridges. She believes in her students, and it shows in the growing confidence they have in themselves.”
I think most would agree that people who work harder and accomplish more should be paid more than those who do and accomplish less.
And yet, unions ignore this obvious fairness issue when they champion collective bargaining as the answer to teacher compensation in schools.
Collective bargaining results in a salary guide where teachers are compensated, not by how well they do their jobs, but by how long they have been teaching in a school district.
So, if you put in more time, you will get paid more – it doesn’t matter how well you teach your students.
How is that fair?
Episode #10 - Promises vs. Reality - Teacher Pension Costs are Unsustainable
8/5/18
Promises vs. Reality - Teacher Pension Costs are Unsustainable
I wrote a blog post back in October of 2017 about the state of teacher pensions.
Teachers unions need to stop demanding so much in their negotiations with states.
My conclusion:
“Teachers will need to be super flexible in negotiations if they want to save the [pension] system. Taking a hard line is selfish, and will simply destroy the retirement system sooner rather than later.”
Unfortunately, the NEA is anything but “super flexible” when it comes to this issue:
“NEA strongly supports protecting public defined benefit plans. Such plans provide a defined, predictable, guaranteed benefit, usually based on factors such as age, earnings, and years of service. In contrast, defined contribution plans offer no guaranteed, predictable retirement benefit and place retirement security at the risk of stock or bond markets.”
Well, a recent article from Wirepoints.com (Overpromising has crippled public pensions. A 50-state survey) makes pretty clear that defined benefit plans are not sustainable in many states because the pension promises way outstrip the local GDP:
“Wirepoints found that the growth in accrued [pension] liabilities has been extreme in many states, often growing two to three times faster than the pace of their economies.”
Episode #9 – Sorry, NEA, higher taxes will not solve the education funding gap in the states.
7/30/2018
Sorry, NEA, higher taxes will not solve the education funding gap in the states.
NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia calls state funding of education a “man-made crisis” created by lawmakers who can fix the problem “if they choose to.”
The NEA “Solution?”
The NEA’s list of simplistic solutions reminds me of recent comments made by the new darling of the Democrat party, democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In a recent interview on the Daily Show, Trevor Noah asked her how she intended to pay for all of the new governmental programs she want to put into place.
Two of the NEA’s “solutions” were covered in her answer:
“One of the things that we saw is, if people pay their fair share, if corporations and the ultra-wealthy … raised our corporate tax rate to 28 percent … If we get people to pay their fair share, that’s $2 trillion in ten years.”
Sad, but she is as clueless as the NEA.
Both forget the law of unintended consequences – often people and corporations simply vote with their feet.
Raising taxes will do just that.
Episode #8 - Motel 6 Explains Why Teachers (and Other Workers) Can’t Make Ends Meet
7/26/2018
Motel 6 Explains Why Teachers (and Other Workers) Can’t Make Ends Meet
Today’s episode uses Motel 6 to provide a possible answer to why many teachers (and workers in general) just can’t seem to make ends meet.
I have written about the teacher pay gap in several previous blog posts but I found a new and interesting way to look at it which I think goes a long way to explaining the pay gap that many of us feel.
But what does Motel 6 have to do with it? Here is where it gets interesting. Motel 6 was founded in 1962 – and do you know why it was called Motel 6? Because it only cost $6.00 to stay at the hotel for a night. The average price in NJ to stay at Motel 6 is $63.28.
Has the price really gone up that much? Not at all. Consider this - 60 dimes from 1962 are now worth $67.20 Listen for more details....
Episode #7 - The NEA and Educational Negligence – Promoting Unproven Liberal Policy Initiatives
7/24/2018
The NEA and Educational Negligence – Promoting Unproven Liberal Policy Initiatives
The NEA is concerned about "How Exclusionary Discipline Creates Disconnected Students." That was the title of a recent article from NEA Today.
President Lily Eskelsen Garcia says "We’ve been working to … [highlight] … the philosophy of restorative justice while focusing on ‘restorative practices,’ including peace circles, peer juries and mediation and community service ...”
In case you don't know what "restorative practices" and "restorative justice" are, they refer to discipline without a punitive component.
Why is the NEA more concerned about the bad kids and what happens to them? What about the good kids who benefit from the removal of the bad kids from the class?
Here is a better title for that NEA Today article: "How exclusionary discipline creates a positive classroom environment by removing the disruptive students and therefore allowing the good students a chance to learn in peace and quiet."
By the way, research does not support "restorative justice." “In general, the research evidence to support RJ [restorative justice] in schools is still in a nascent state. Despite the exponential growth of RJ in U.S. schools … evidence to date is limited and the research that has been published lacks the internal validity necessary to exclusively attribute outcomes to RJ.”
Episode #6 - Poor Choice for Students or Poor Choice for the NEA? Supreme Court Nominee Brett Cavanaugh.
7/21/2018
Poor Choice for Students or Poor Choice for the NEA? Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh
The NEA is no fan of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh – but this opposition is only nominally about a concern for students (you know, The Children). The NEA lists several reasons why it doesn’t like Kavanaugh, but in this podcast I focus on the one highlighted in the title of an article I found at NEA Today: “NEA President: Kavanaugh is a Poor Choice for Students.” Basically, President Garcia doesn’t like Kavanaugh’s stance on vouchers. This podcast argues for the positive aspects of vouchers.
Episode #5 - My Google Search Rankings Look Very Good
7/16/2018
My Google Search Rankings Look Very Good
Where a website ranks on Google is the ultimate sign of success or failure. If you don’t come up on the first Google results page, you basically don’t exist in the world of the internet.
As the Anti-NEA Blog approaches its first anniversary, I got to thinking. What have I really accomplished in the past year? Am I really having any impact? Am I just wasting my time?
Well, one way to figure this out is to use Google because this is where most people go when they want to search for information on topics that they are interested in.
This morning I used Google to figure out where I stood – and I was quite pleased. Let me share with you a couple of searches I performed and where the Anti-NEA Blog ended up in the results …
Episode #4 - $130,000 – That is the Adjusted NEA Employee Average Salary. Teachers only make $58,000 on average.
7/13/2018
$130,000 – That is the Adjusted NEA Employee Average Salary. Teachers only make $58,000 on average.
It is worse than I originally thought. I did some further research and found that the pay gap between the average teacher and the average NEA employee is really about $70,000. In my last podcast I noted that the pay gap was only about $40,000. But then I refined my research a bit by removing token Board of Directors and temporary employee salaries. By the way, did you know that there are 186 Board of Directors at the NEA and they get paid $1.2 million in total? I sure hope that most of them are teachers ...
Episode #3 - Average NEA Employee makes $98,802 – Average Teacher makes $58,064
7/13/2018
Average NEA Employee makes $98,802 – Average Teacher makes $58,064
I think that the title of this podcast says it all. The average NEA employee makes $40,000 more than the average teacher. This seems fair to you? The NEA is looking out for teachers? And you know how much our fearless president Lily Eskelsen Garcia makes? Listen and find out.
Episode #2 - Why I intend to opt-out of my state union dues.
7/13/2018
Why I intend to opt-out of my state union dues.
Today I am going to discuss one of the reasons why I intend to opt-out of my state union dues. As you probably all know by now, the recent Supreme Court decision Janus has given us the option to opt out. Approximately $100 of my dues goes to the National Education Association (NEA) – an organization that primarily supports liberal democrats. But I found out an interesting fact – most NEA members are not liberal democrats – a full 58% are moderate, conservative or very conservative.
Episode #1 - Welcome to the Anti-NEA Podcast
7/13/2018
Welcome to the Anti-NEA Podcast
I am keeping it short for this first podcast. This is where I introduce myself and explain why I started the Anti-NEA Blog and why I am now expanding it to podcast format.
9/15/18
The Teacher "Pay Penalty" - Fact or Fiction?
“The overdue national attention on the erosion of teacher salaries across the nation couldn’t come at a more urgent time … the teacher pay penalty – the percent by which public school educators are paid less than comparable workers – has reached an all-time high.”
Tim Walker, NEA Writer
“Interesting. When you adjust the teacher ‘pay penalty’ to account for the fact that teachers only work 9 months a year while comparable workers put in a full 12 months, it vanishes completely.”
Jonathan Smith, Anti-NEA Writer
Listen to the podcast to hear how I adjusted the “pay penalty” to get a more accurate figure.
Episode #15 – A History Teacher is in Need of an Economics Lesson9/8/18
A History Teacher is in Need of an Economics Lesson
Here is what the teacher said:
“… the goal of business is to make a larger profit and the easiest way to save money is to pay your workers less.”
What is interesting when you first read this statement, is that it appears to be factually correct. After all, if you cut your payroll costs (assuming revenue remains the same), profits/income will obviously go up.
This is simple math, right?
Simple math it may be, but it is also a simplistic understanding of how successful businesses operate in the real world.
While cutting costs in order to “make a larger profit” may be the “easiest way to save money,” a business will not remain solvent for the long term if this is its strategic plan.
But businesses don’t make larger profits simply by “saving money.” They make larger profits by capital investment which leads to greater productivity of their workers.
Episode #14: Opting Out – A Practical Guide8/31/18
Opting Out - A Practical Guide
I have gotten several questions from readers about what happens to their teacher contracts once they opt out of the union.
“Will you have to appear before the Board of Education each year and negotiate on your own?”
“Will you get paid less because you are one individual negotiating against the Big Bad Board?”
These are legitimate questions, because if you look at your last contract, it is an agreement between your Board of Education and your District union.
So, if you are no longer a member of that union, are you bound by it?
The short answer is yes – you are still bound by that contract. It is all about monopoly or exclusive representation.
Listen to the podcast for all of the details.
Lucky Episode #13 – Vouchers for PUBLIC Schools – Inter District School Choice8/28/18
Vouchers for PUBLIC Schools - Inter District School Choice.
Teachers unions do not support vouchers for private schools.
No surprise there, but what about the idea of vouchers for PUBLIC schools?
“Vouchers for public schools,” you ask, “what the heck is that?”
Its called Inter-District School Choice and it is currently being practiced in New Jersey and Massachusetts (and possibly other states).
What exactly is it?
Listen to find out!
The popularity of the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program (IPSCP) is strong proof that parents want choice when it comes to the education of their children. They want options, and, at least in New Jersey and Massachusetts, they have some.
Episode #12: Propaganda or Journalism? The NEA ReLIES on a Biased Report.8/24/18
Propaganda or Journalism? The NEA ReLIES on a Biased Report
NEA writer Tim Walker is at it again. When it comes to school privatization, he can’t seem to help himself – he loves to stretch the truth (lie) when it comes to vouchers and charter schools.
By the way, Mr. Walker is paid big bucks for writing this kind of garbage, and your union dues are paying for it if you are a member of the NEA.
According to UnionFacts.com, his salary and benefits in 2017 totaled $116,449 while the average teacher salary was only $58.950.
Just saying….
The point of his latest article, “Fewer and Fewer States Escaping School’s Privatization Reach,” is that privatization of education is bad because:
“… charter schools … are unaccountable to the public …”
“… voucher programs … have siphoned off public taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition.”
The only problem is that he bases his entire argument on a biased report.
Listen for the details.
Episode #11 - One Major Problem With Collective Bargaining
8/21/2018
One Major Problem With Collective Bargaining
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IS INHERENTLY UNFAIR
If someone does a better job at something, shouldn’t she be compensated accordingly?
This was the question that came to mind after I read that Mandy Manning had been chosen 2018 National Teacher of the Year.
Here is what NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia had to say about this exceptional woman:
“Mandy is a shining example of how teachers transform the lives of their students every day, engaging them and creating enthusiasm for learning … she takes the time to connect with all of them one-on-one to find out who they are and discover their passions. Mandy sees no barriers—only bridges. She believes in her students, and it shows in the growing confidence they have in themselves.”
I think most would agree that people who work harder and accomplish more should be paid more than those who do and accomplish less.
And yet, unions ignore this obvious fairness issue when they champion collective bargaining as the answer to teacher compensation in schools.
Collective bargaining results in a salary guide where teachers are compensated, not by how well they do their jobs, but by how long they have been teaching in a school district.
So, if you put in more time, you will get paid more – it doesn’t matter how well you teach your students.
How is that fair?
Episode #10 - Promises vs. Reality - Teacher Pension Costs are Unsustainable
8/5/18
Promises vs. Reality - Teacher Pension Costs are Unsustainable
I wrote a blog post back in October of 2017 about the state of teacher pensions.
Teachers unions need to stop demanding so much in their negotiations with states.
My conclusion:
“Teachers will need to be super flexible in negotiations if they want to save the [pension] system. Taking a hard line is selfish, and will simply destroy the retirement system sooner rather than later.”
Unfortunately, the NEA is anything but “super flexible” when it comes to this issue:
“NEA strongly supports protecting public defined benefit plans. Such plans provide a defined, predictable, guaranteed benefit, usually based on factors such as age, earnings, and years of service. In contrast, defined contribution plans offer no guaranteed, predictable retirement benefit and place retirement security at the risk of stock or bond markets.”
Well, a recent article from Wirepoints.com (Overpromising has crippled public pensions. A 50-state survey) makes pretty clear that defined benefit plans are not sustainable in many states because the pension promises way outstrip the local GDP:
“Wirepoints found that the growth in accrued [pension] liabilities has been extreme in many states, often growing two to three times faster than the pace of their economies.”
Episode #9 – Sorry, NEA, higher taxes will not solve the education funding gap in the states.
7/30/2018
Sorry, NEA, higher taxes will not solve the education funding gap in the states.
NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia calls state funding of education a “man-made crisis” created by lawmakers who can fix the problem “if they choose to.”
The NEA “Solution?”
- Stop subsidizing corporations
- Ask companies to pay their fair share in taxes
- Raise income tax rates for top earners
- Eliminate ALL voucher schemes
The NEA’s list of simplistic solutions reminds me of recent comments made by the new darling of the Democrat party, democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In a recent interview on the Daily Show, Trevor Noah asked her how she intended to pay for all of the new governmental programs she want to put into place.
Two of the NEA’s “solutions” were covered in her answer:
“One of the things that we saw is, if people pay their fair share, if corporations and the ultra-wealthy … raised our corporate tax rate to 28 percent … If we get people to pay their fair share, that’s $2 trillion in ten years.”
Sad, but she is as clueless as the NEA.
Both forget the law of unintended consequences – often people and corporations simply vote with their feet.
Raising taxes will do just that.
Episode #8 - Motel 6 Explains Why Teachers (and Other Workers) Can’t Make Ends Meet
7/26/2018
Motel 6 Explains Why Teachers (and Other Workers) Can’t Make Ends Meet
Today’s episode uses Motel 6 to provide a possible answer to why many teachers (and workers in general) just can’t seem to make ends meet.
I have written about the teacher pay gap in several previous blog posts but I found a new and interesting way to look at it which I think goes a long way to explaining the pay gap that many of us feel.
But what does Motel 6 have to do with it? Here is where it gets interesting. Motel 6 was founded in 1962 – and do you know why it was called Motel 6? Because it only cost $6.00 to stay at the hotel for a night. The average price in NJ to stay at Motel 6 is $63.28.
Has the price really gone up that much? Not at all. Consider this - 60 dimes from 1962 are now worth $67.20 Listen for more details....
Episode #7 - The NEA and Educational Negligence – Promoting Unproven Liberal Policy Initiatives
7/24/2018
The NEA and Educational Negligence – Promoting Unproven Liberal Policy Initiatives
The NEA is concerned about "How Exclusionary Discipline Creates Disconnected Students." That was the title of a recent article from NEA Today.
President Lily Eskelsen Garcia says "We’ve been working to … [highlight] … the philosophy of restorative justice while focusing on ‘restorative practices,’ including peace circles, peer juries and mediation and community service ...”
In case you don't know what "restorative practices" and "restorative justice" are, they refer to discipline without a punitive component.
Why is the NEA more concerned about the bad kids and what happens to them? What about the good kids who benefit from the removal of the bad kids from the class?
Here is a better title for that NEA Today article: "How exclusionary discipline creates a positive classroom environment by removing the disruptive students and therefore allowing the good students a chance to learn in peace and quiet."
By the way, research does not support "restorative justice." “In general, the research evidence to support RJ [restorative justice] in schools is still in a nascent state. Despite the exponential growth of RJ in U.S. schools … evidence to date is limited and the research that has been published lacks the internal validity necessary to exclusively attribute outcomes to RJ.”
Episode #6 - Poor Choice for Students or Poor Choice for the NEA? Supreme Court Nominee Brett Cavanaugh.
7/21/2018
Poor Choice for Students or Poor Choice for the NEA? Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh
The NEA is no fan of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh – but this opposition is only nominally about a concern for students (you know, The Children). The NEA lists several reasons why it doesn’t like Kavanaugh, but in this podcast I focus on the one highlighted in the title of an article I found at NEA Today: “NEA President: Kavanaugh is a Poor Choice for Students.” Basically, President Garcia doesn’t like Kavanaugh’s stance on vouchers. This podcast argues for the positive aspects of vouchers.
Episode #5 - My Google Search Rankings Look Very Good
7/16/2018
My Google Search Rankings Look Very Good
Where a website ranks on Google is the ultimate sign of success or failure. If you don’t come up on the first Google results page, you basically don’t exist in the world of the internet.
As the Anti-NEA Blog approaches its first anniversary, I got to thinking. What have I really accomplished in the past year? Am I really having any impact? Am I just wasting my time?
Well, one way to figure this out is to use Google because this is where most people go when they want to search for information on topics that they are interested in.
This morning I used Google to figure out where I stood – and I was quite pleased. Let me share with you a couple of searches I performed and where the Anti-NEA Blog ended up in the results …
Episode #4 - $130,000 – That is the Adjusted NEA Employee Average Salary. Teachers only make $58,000 on average.
7/13/2018
$130,000 – That is the Adjusted NEA Employee Average Salary. Teachers only make $58,000 on average.
It is worse than I originally thought. I did some further research and found that the pay gap between the average teacher and the average NEA employee is really about $70,000. In my last podcast I noted that the pay gap was only about $40,000. But then I refined my research a bit by removing token Board of Directors and temporary employee salaries. By the way, did you know that there are 186 Board of Directors at the NEA and they get paid $1.2 million in total? I sure hope that most of them are teachers ...
Episode #3 - Average NEA Employee makes $98,802 – Average Teacher makes $58,064
7/13/2018
Average NEA Employee makes $98,802 – Average Teacher makes $58,064
I think that the title of this podcast says it all. The average NEA employee makes $40,000 more than the average teacher. This seems fair to you? The NEA is looking out for teachers? And you know how much our fearless president Lily Eskelsen Garcia makes? Listen and find out.
Episode #2 - Why I intend to opt-out of my state union dues.
7/13/2018
Why I intend to opt-out of my state union dues.
Today I am going to discuss one of the reasons why I intend to opt-out of my state union dues. As you probably all know by now, the recent Supreme Court decision Janus has given us the option to opt out. Approximately $100 of my dues goes to the National Education Association (NEA) – an organization that primarily supports liberal democrats. But I found out an interesting fact – most NEA members are not liberal democrats – a full 58% are moderate, conservative or very conservative.
Episode #1 - Welcome to the Anti-NEA Podcast
7/13/2018
Welcome to the Anti-NEA Podcast
I am keeping it short for this first podcast. This is where I introduce myself and explain why I started the Anti-NEA Blog and why I am now expanding it to podcast format.