Note that people want teachers to be paid more yet taxpayers complain when teachers are paid more.
TEACHING has always been known as a noble calling, but as affluent parents and administrators strive to give their children every possible advantage, it has also become a better-paid profession than in the past, with thousands of public school teachers in the New York suburbs now earning more...
www.nytimes.com
The Rise of the Six-Figure Teacher
By
Ford Fessenden and
Josh Barbanel
TEACHING has always been known as a noble calling, but as affluent parents and administrators strive to give their children every possible advantage, it has also become a better-paid profession than in the past, with thousands of public school teachers in the New York suburbs now earning more than $100,000 a year.
The salaries, among the highest in the country, are paid only to the most experienced teachers, with the most education, in an area where the cost of living is notoriously high. But they are high enough to have raised the ire of some taxpayers, who are making it an issue in budget votes on Tuesday....
Still, critics of the salaries as well as those who consider them necessary agree that the image of teaching as an altruistic, low-paid occupation is no longer the case in the suburbs. A family with two public school teachers can earn enough to put it in the top 4 percent of families on Long Island.....
“There are a lot of people out there who make a lot more than I do," said Patricia Daniello, 53, an East Islip teacher at the pinnacle of her profession -- 30 years' experience, a master's degree with 90 hours of additional credit, and a $116,772 salary. "Do I think my salary is high, based on what I do for children and the amount of education I have in my background? No, I do not."
But some taxpayers in her district disagree. Ms. Daniello is one of more than 100 teachers whose six-figure salaries appear on a list circulated to voters by the East Islip TaxPac, a group campaigning against the district's proposed 8.8-percent tax increase.
“We're trying to convince people that our teachers and teachers' union and administrators do not have the children's interest at heart," said Richard Graham, a member of the anti-tax group. "The people who couldn't do the engineering, and anything else that required some brain power, became teachers, and they now have $100,000 salaries."
The median salary for teachers in Great Neck is $85,007, and 24 percent make $100,000 or more, the fourth-highest percentage on the Island. The highest-paying district in the state is Scarsdale, where the median salary is just under $98,000, and 43 percent of teachers make six-figure salaries....
Our taxpayers are your average Joes who work two jobs to pay the mortgage," Ms. Camacho said. "We have wonderful teachers. But some are not wonderful, and they're making $115,000.".....