The Joys of Economic Woes and People That Don't Respect Educators and All They Provide For Society

Authors: Melissa and Adam Turney
Last night, Governor Jim Gibbons proposed a state budget which would greatly affect the Turney's. Due to the state of the economy at this time, Nevada has suffered huge budget cuts in the Education Department. This year alone, the state is paying less per student for education, cutting down on school budgets (Adam's school went from a budget of $120k a year to $40k a year) and programs and teachers are being cut. Let alone the fact that class sizes are getting larger with a growing need for teachers (Clark County estimated a need for over 900 teachers they couldn't hire because of Gibbons budget cuts so that's over 900 classrooms approx 27,000 students are being taught by substitute teachers or a surplus in the classroom). This is only the tip of the iceburg. Think about the students with special needs who are not receiving the education and resources they need. Nevada is currently at a 44 percent graduation rate, which means 56 percent of the population are not graduating from high school. Nevada is currently ranked 48th or 49th in the United States for Education.

Now money shouldn't be a factor in a good education or good teacher but it is. Gov. Gibbons is proposing a 6% cut on salary for all state workers, including teachers and a freeze on all the salary increase for teachers. People may look at the 6% and think that's not a huge deal, but with the freeze on increase included it turns out to be more than that. For Adam it will be an 18% decrease. For many it is over 20%. This will not help ANYTHING. Perhaps the state will have more money to build those great hotel/casinos but the education of the children will continue to decline. Teachers will leave. Teachers will not be recruited. Grades K-5 classroom will see an increase to 35-45 kids per class.

Gov. Gibbons has now asked all teachers to "do their part" to help the economy. What he doesn't realize is he is asking all of Nevada to sacrifice the education of the state.

Teachers are underpaid and under appreciated. For those of you who may say, "Teachers shouldn't complain about their pay...they have summers off, they have weekends off," you don't realize that even if teachers worked year round the average salary would increase to $35-40k a year which is far less than what most people who graduate with a bachelors degree make in their first year. They also don't see the teachers work from 7:30 AM until late into the evening correcting papers, preparing lessons, buying their own supplies, calling parents, sacrificing their lunch and preparation time for kids, spending their summers writing lesson plans, buying supplies, and working extra jobs just to survive.

It is unfortunate as a teacher with a pure heart and desire to make a difference in the lives of children receive such undeserved disdain. According to Barbara Buckley, democratic speaker of the House, she has spoken to many people throughout the state of Nevada that are outraged by what Gov. Gibbons has proposed. Gibbons wanted to seem like he was being noble by explaining he would also be taking a pay cut of 6%, but he has a home provided by the state (we are paying for it), his transportation is provided by the state, his food and medical insurance is provided by the state. So for him to say he is also taking a cut is a joke because he not only makes 4x the salary of most teachers but he also doesn't have the expense worries that teachers do.

Teachers can only hope that enough people will finally stand up and have their voices heard. Certainly balancing a state budget is important, but taking money from state employees, which make up about 10% of the state employment force, is not the most rational way of handling the situation. We will continue to pray that things will work out in our favor because this year we must continue paying for school, we will have a baby joining our family in August, and we would like to have the material needs to provide for a happy living situation. We do understand that economic times are challenging and we are willing to make sacrifices. However, it is unfair to just attack teachers, spit in their face, and tell them they are not worth the already low wages they work for.