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Monday, Aug. 18, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.
Most office workers take for granted that copier paper, pens, tape, staples and other supplies necessary to performing their jobs will be provided by their employers. We can just imagine their reactions if their paychecks were docked to cover the cost of those supplies.
Nevada’s schoolteachers, though, have long been used to personally buying a lot of the construction paper, pencils, crayons, glue sticks, watercolors, wall decorations and other supplies they need to make their classrooms functional and attractive to their students.
With the deep cuts to education made this summer by the governor and the Legislature, as part of massive state budget cuts in response to falling sales and gaming taxes, teachers are now having to shell out considerably more from their own pockets for necessary supplies.
Reporter Emily Richmond reported in Friday’s Las Vegas Sun that many Clark County School District teachers say they expect to personally spend as much as $100 a month to keep their classrooms stocked.
“I’m very committed to making sure my kids have what they need,” teacher Nikki McCormick told Richmond.
Kudos to teachers willing to take on such an expense, but how embarrassing. Teachers, whose salaries are low for the work they do, should not have to pay for supplies that should be provided as part of the regular school budget.
Richmond reported that Clark County school officials are going to compensate for some of the lost supplies money by making deeper cuts in some administrative accounts. But with more cuts to school budgets anticipated by the Legislature next year, there is only so much “robbing Peter to pay Paul” that can be done.
For now, parents with the means should step up and contribute toward the supplies needed in their children’s classrooms.
For the long term, though, Nevada really needs to revise its tax policy so schools can be properly funded. It’s ridiculous when schools are so broke they can’t even afford enough crayons.
With high energy prices destroying Nevada what do you think the cuts will look like next year. We killed the goose that fed us all when we broke our visitors with energy prices so high they can't leave their homes. We need American oil, nulclear, solar, wind, and we need it now. Contact harry and tell him to stop blocking and start saving our State. He was not elected in California and should quit taking direction from Nancy Pelosi.
email link
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm...
Las Vegas
Lloyd D. George Building
333 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 8016
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: 702-388-5020 / Fax: 702-388-5030
The Democrats' master are the unions.
They shoved the 4% COLA down the taxpayer's throat.
Most of the state workers would have gotten step raises.
Now most of them will get 6% to over 10% raises.
Instead of delaying the COLA, the Democrats chose the unions over the taxpayers.
Ummm, Nance....
CCSD employees aren't state workers.
Also, where did you get that bit of information, that most state workers will receive 6 - 10% raises this year? You've made that assertion many times, but without referencing it. I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I'd sure like to know your source. And please don't tell me it was an RJ editorial.
CCSD teachers salaries get funding from the state and the majority of them get step raise each year.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/19131624.html
If majority of the state workers and teachers did not get step raises each year then I am sure that unions would be marching up and down the Strip every day demanding that.
Nevada's public education hasn't been cut deep, it has had more money per pupil in the last decade that at any point with little to show in the way of improvement.
Stop spending and start reform!
http://npri.org/publications/how-much-fo...
Here's an idea, parents buy their own kids the supplies they need........not the State, not the Federal Government, not the School Teachers, the PARENTS. My parents did it in the 60's when their taxes were paying for public school and they were paying for Catholic school tuition out of their own pockets as well. People can spend 5.00 for a cup of Starbucks coffee/latte and then cry about the cost of school supplies...puhlease.....
I go for this.
End public education.....
Send a check to the parents each year and let them choose how to educate their children.
Freedom is always good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Every year I end up spending a couple hundred dollars on my classroom, except the past two years when they gave us a card for $200.
I cannot even make my mortgage and basic living expenses on this salary, so I will not be buying any crayons for my students. Then I will be looked down on by the parents as not being a good teacher. If I had bad administrators, as many teachers do, I'd catch @#$&# from them, too. This state is pitiful.
Don't think Nevada is the only place where teachers buy stuff for their students. In the first place, you need supplies right at the first year and are lucky if what little you get comes in after a month. Then if you are special ed. the kind of stuff you need might be different. I was really glad when I bought my own digital camera. I could take pictures of my kids and make language boards without having to pay to develop them. Even at a well equipped school where I was the digital they had had only a couple megapixels.
New Orleans wsa the worst. I spent about $200 before school started in August 2005 and then lost it to Katrina.
But yall have it worse in one way in Nevada. I can't believe they top out your salary scheule at 9 years! That is ridiculous. Go to Georgia. They top you at 20 and pay fairly well. Nevada must not care much about keeping its veteran teachers if they top yall out at 9. It takes 3 years to learn your job (sometimes 5 for special ed.) so they have just barely gotten their money's worth topping off at 9 years.
Schools are getting that way, though. They don't realize that teaching is a skill that takes years to learn and just flock to these cheap TFAs and alternate certificate people that they don't have to pay as much. Well, you get what you pay for, and you can't get a Cadillac for the price of a Kia.
AFter Katrina New Orleans did not re-hire its teachers and had all these rookies. Then they had to hire a bunch of security guards. So they spent more than they would have if they had hired us all back and gave us a FEMA trailer. St. Bernard Parish, where all the housing was under water, did just that and had a 12 grade school up and running in less than three months!
Of course I have heard that Vallas, the guy that is over the Recovery District in New Orleans thinks it is ok to go through a crop of teachers every two years. He is not one of us, yall.
But back on topic, I think teachers always have and always will have to buy at least some supplies. Back in the days of the one room schoolhouses, the teacher was expected to bring a bucket of coal for the potbellied stove in the school room and take it out of her $10 a month pay check.
What type of pension plan did you have in Georgia?
To the person from Sweden: Salaries vary greatly from state to state and are based on degree and experience. They are lowest in Mississippi, Alabama, New Mexico and one of the Dakotas, North,I think, and Louisiana was down there with them until they got embarrassed last year with a couple parishes starting at $23,000. They are highest up North. Massachusetts has one of the best pay scales starting I believe around $50,000. Georgia pays the highest in the Southeast with the average I believe around $60,000 (They encourage higher degrees and have a lot of older teachers, especially in metro Atlanta. The increases have always been tilted toward the veterans and they are given in percentages, not dollar amounts like in Louisiana, so they mean more.) A few states supplement teachers who work in hard-to-fill areas like math, foreign languages and special ed. Some don't give you credit for all your years when you transfer from another system so the pay is inflated on paper.
If you are curious about America's teacher salaries, go on the State Board Of Education website for whatever state you want to investigate. It is usually called TeachGeorgia or TeachHawaii--whatever and you can usually find a salary schedule. Some states have a base salary and then the local school boards add a supplement.
ONe thing that states use against paying better, especially in the South (although they might pull it in other places), is they say the cost of living is cheaper than in the better paid places. May be true, but you have to have the same amount of education and pass the same tests and jump through the same hoops to get certified! You also often have to pay more for gas because, outside of the large cities, there is no or inadequate public transportation and some teachers drive an hour each way to get to work every day. There are fewer large cities in the South.
Pension in Georgia: You were vested in 10 years and they took out about 7%. They did not take out Social Security.
Note to PARENTS - it's YOUR duty to supply your kids with the supplies they need in school - it's not up to the Teacher, The Government or your neighbor - Man Up and take responsibility for giving your kids the best when it comes to their education.
Just wanted to clear up a little misinformation here about Massachusetts starting teacher salaries- $50,000 I wish. For most cities and towns, it's in the $36,000-$39,000 range (Boston is a few thousand more). In my city, we get step raises until year 12 and longevity increments at 15, 20, 25, and 30 years. Our salaries go up about $3000 with a Masters.
To my teaching colleagues in Nevada... I'm there with you. I spend about $100 a month on my classroom also, plus more for Master's Degree classes and professional journals. We're now required to get a Master's within the first 5 years of teaching - I'll be paying that off forever!.
A Nevada to Mass. Transplant