NEA Today Extra - October 2004

Teachers' Salaries

Voter Drive Your vote counts: NEA and its partners developed a voter's guide with important questions and facts you'll want to consider when evaluating local, state, and national candidates. Their votes count, too: Learn about pending education-related legislation — and urge Congress to support children and schools — at NEA's Legislative Action Center.

Table of Contents

NEA Today reports on a new study from the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute (EPI) that shows how teachers' salaries lag behind those of comparable professions. And yet you're still going to hear critics complain that teachers are overpaid. Here are more resources to help you raise awareness of wage issues:

• The numbers behind the numbers: Read more highlights ( PDF, 2 pp.) from the EPI book How Does Teacher Pay Compare?, or dig deeper by reading the book's introduction.
• An NEA researcher did his own analysis of compensation for teachers vs. other professionals. Does the title, "Losing Ground, Losing Status" clue you in to the findings?
• NEA ranks average teacher salaries in each state every year. Check out the latest data, from the 2002-03 school year, to see how your state compares.
• Want a second opinion? The American Federation of Teachers also does a national teacher salary study with state-by-state averages for 2002-03.
• The Hours: As the NEA Today article and the EPI study point out, researchers often grossly misstate teacher pay as a high hourly wage — higher than a lawyer's! — because they don't understand that the workday doesn't end when the dismissal bell rings. English teacher Jack Costello, featured in the article, regularly puts in 70-hour-plus workweeks — and he's hardly an exception. NEA tracks national data on teachers' long hours.
• For another look at teachers' super-sized workweek, Maine NEA reports how its members are struggling with ever-increasing demands for extra duties, and reports on a study of Canadian teachers that finds "job creep" is alive and well up north, too.

Indoor Air Quality

• NEA's Health Information Network (HIN) offers many indoor air quality (IAQ) resources, including information on the IAQ Tools for Schools program that the Beaufort County Education Association successfully used to address problems in its local schools.
• "Take a Deep Breath and Thank Your Custodian." ( PDF, 15 pp.), is a downloadable guide to creating a local association IAQ plan and includes tips on recognizing and dealing with pollutants.
• IAQ 101 – How big a problem is IAQ in schools? — and what is it anyway? NEA-HIN puts facts at your fingertips on the scope of IAQ problems, and the Environmental Protection Agency offers a handy set of frequently asked questions.
• The Healthy Schools Network is dedicated to assuring every child and school employee has an environmentally safe and healthy school. HSN offers research, advocacy and coalition-building opportunities.

Let Your Students Speak Up About Technology

Sign up your class for Student Speak Up Day 2004, October 11-29. They'll take part in NetDay's annual national survey, sharing their ideas about using technology and the Internet for learning and for fun. You can also view the complete results from last spring's Speak Up Day for Teachers.

Stand Up for Social Security Fairness

NEA Today details the fallout from the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision, two unfair laws that deny many NEA members their earned Social Security benefits. Learn more about the effects of these laws — and urge your members of Congress to change them. If you are affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision, a worksheet ( PDF, 2 pp.) can help you identify how much you may save in Social Security benefits under the NEA-supported Public Servant Retirement Protection Act.

September's NEA Today Extra