Reader comments
Roads, education let down

Here they go again balancing the budget on the backs of teachers and their families.

They need a $10,000 raise not a $1700.

Get real and wake up. I'm sick of my kids having first year teachers every year due to the veterans packing up and leaving....

Maybe the teachers should start taking bribes.....err... gifts from the parents...err...lobbyists, like their leaders do!

Lawmakers need to give Utah teachers the expected $2,500 dollar pay raise this year. They should do this in way that the teachers actually get the money. Many teachers last year got only a portion of the pay raise. We need to attract the best and brightest among us to become teachers in sufficient numbers and this is impossible now with the pay that Utah teachers make.

People complain that the educational community keeps falling for silly and destructive educational fads, resulting in our children not being able to read or do math very well. To avoid this we need to attract people into the profession who are able to if they wish become engineers, real mathematicians, successful business people etc, We need to raise the standards for teachers at the same time. We have only ourselves to blame, we have been penny wise and pound foolish. A wise farmer doesn�t eat or sell their best seed, they use it to plant next years crop, and we need to do the same. Our future as a state depends on the legislature making wise decisions in this matter, there is no investment better than education, and this includes tax cuts.

When are we going to realize that we are "last", last in the country in public education funding. The average in the US for the WPU is $7000 while we sit at about $2400. We have the largest families in the US yet we do nothing to provide the best education we can for these kids. C'mon Legislature, we gotta wake up here before its to late. Small districts will get killed with a 2.5% increase. That doesnt even cover inflation! Get a grip.......

Get a life and quit complaining. Teachers make per hour more than most working professionals. If they need a $10,000 raise, get a job in the summer or if they don't have summers off, find a job anyways.

We can only meet the needs of our teachers, the poor, and transportation with a significant tax increase.

I sorta feel bad for you all. You built yourselves that nice palace on the hill with state of the art parking, got your raises handled, get all of that nice per diem money, and all of those perks from the lobbyists...

And to think, most of you will be voted out first chance the voters get.

I'm voting staight ticket anti-incumbent over the next few years.

Don't even bother paying for signs.

I want to see a Dan Jones poll about the approval rating on legislators and our governaire.

Time for Jonny Jr. to go too. (Born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. Does he believe that he would occupy that office without all of daddy's money?)

Your priorities are all messed up.

" Teachers make per hour more than most working professionals."--

Sure, I have 15 year in, and my masters degree, and I really don't make more than most working professionals.

"get a job in the summer"--

Let's see, summer jobs. I can work at Lagoon, Mcdonalds, 7-11. Hey, thanks for the respect there.

At least your children know that I'm dedicated to be there for them. Many students need at least one adult in their life that put them as a priority. I'll see "you" as you grudgingly slink in for parent teacher conferences (maybe) for your obligitory meeting to show that you care about your student's education.

Thanks again for the support there Anonymous | 7:24 a.m...

Allyou ever hear about is the teachers. Get real, there are a lot of othere State employees who have worked just as hard for their education and are expected to do their jobs with less everyday. I am sick of hearing about poor teachers and parents complaining about their kids education. Parents need to work with their kids at home at night instead of expecting everyone to do their job and teachers make good money and have summers off. I agree, if you want more money get a job like the rest of us have to because we can't make it on our state salary either! But, instead of being equitable in how the money is disbursed we get the shaft so you can whine some more.

Utah could afford a significant tax increase if we could boast that our education was first rate. Companies would still be willing to move here because overall they would still make a good profit. Additionally if we had a first rate education, we would be better at growing our own companies

Maybe we should cut off all the freebies that tax payeers pay for families that have too many kids and can't support them like they should in education. When my kids were in school we had to limit the number of activities they could participate in due to our budget but families that have 5,6, or 8 kids seem to be able to participate in every sport and activity free of charge except that we as taxpayers pay the bill. Maybe if they were limited and that money saved the money could be re-allocated to the WPU. Hmmm. Imagine that????

Obviously the person telling teachers to get an extra job has no clue about teaching or education. I have seen most teachers put in 20+ hours extra per week with no additional pay. More and more districts are asking teachers to attend trainings and get further education in the summer so that they will be considered highly qualified by the government. No to mention, a job sitting at a computer or filling out some paper work is a lot easier than teaching and managing kids for 8 hours along with communicating student needs with parents. Believe me, I've done both jobs.

We need to fund EDUCATION, ROADS, HEALTH CARE, and PUBLIC SAFETY with our tax dollars. That is all the taxpayers have been saying for years. We do not want to fund special interest groups or bills. I appreciate Govenor Huntsman fighting to get what he wants for teachers. But please, legislators, stop passing bills that the people in Utah do not want or need!

To the person asking us to quit complaining. I am a math teacher in a high school and I don't know any teacher who doesn't have another job. A starting teacher makes about $30,000 a year. As a math teacher I teach about 180 students. That is about $.93 per student per hr. Imagine for a moment we were paid like a babysitter. On average lets say they make about $1.50 per hr per kid. Our salary is based on the days we are in class teaching not all the time preparing or grading or anything else that might come up. So we get paid for 180 days of work. A babysitter would make over $48,000 a year. Come to think of it your right I can make a lot more money doing something else, thanks no more complaints from me.

to re anon 7:24

I am an engineer, not a teacher, and teachers do not make more than me. I wish they made as much, then maybe they could focus on doing a good job of teaching the students rather than try to balance their budgets. When I went to university, it was well known, don't go into teaching unless you don't have other options or really love to teach. If teachers really make so much, why is there a shortage of teachers?

As a result of all this, our students are suffering, we have been stingy, thinking we could get a decent education for our children by paying bottom dollar. We have failed. We complain about the quality of the education, but we deserve what we are getting. I hate to say this because teachers are dedicated, but we need to attract more people into the profession who had enough intelligence to see the silly educational fads for what they are and resist them. We complain that students don't read or do math well, but we are getting what we deserve, we shouldn't be so stingy with those who teach our children.

Yeah that's right. Cut the taxes on my million dollar home so we can skip out on the teachers' raise.

That extra $50 I'm going to save on my taxes sure will make a difference for me. At least I will have some teachers to work for me in the summer...

Just remember Utah...with regard to public employees and educators...you get what you pay for. If you can read this thank a teacher.

Read Hey Legislators post again. That is the only way it will ever change. Don't vote for someone because they are a republican or a democrate. Or because you think they are handsome or good looking. Don't vote for them because they are going to be for or against gay right. Vote for someone that is really going to make correct decision. I don't know if someone like that is going to run or ever has, but we need them to run. Find somebody.

If we don't give the kids a good education, they will not be as knowledgeable, or as innovative or resourceful, neither will they be as productive when they hit the workforce. Business could withstand increased taxes, if their workforce better educated and thereby more productive. We are eating our bestseed corn in stead of planting it. You by your post indicate you are looking at the short term and not the long term.

Please open your eyes and see, our children are being shortchanged.

After reading your post about working at McDonalds - what is wrong with honest labor? There are other jobs out there for summer help. Ever heard of construction? I had a Prof.at college that worked every summer on a construction crew and he had a PhD. I one time talked with a HIgh school teacher that moon lighted year as needed teaching scuba diving at a dive shop. Knew another teach that had his river running lic. and spent the summers taking people on rafting river trips. You to good to work year around at honest labor. Its not disrespectful to expect teachers to moon light. Heaven knows alot of other professions due. I myself have. Its not disrespectful to work more than one job. Maybe you just consider yourself better than the rest of us that have had to be creative in working for our needs.

I would rather teachers focus on education. You don't seem to realize the seriousness of what has happened to education. In math education at the elementary level and secondary level has been severly been dumbed down since I went to school.

We need to pay teachers more in order to attract the best. They don't need to become rich but we need to make them comfortable. We could attract the very best with only confortable pay, because there are those who genuinely enjoy teaching.

As it is, there are people of lower IQ who go into teaching because they aren't qualified to do engineering, or a real math degree, (so they get a math education degree). Not all teachers, but enough that when educational fads come out, they don't have the intelligence to see what frauds these fats are, such as whole language for reading or investigations math for math, and also the dumbing down of secondary math education.

We REALLY DO need to attract a better class of people into the teaching field. American education has been severely dumbed down.