Nic Bernstein

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

March 9, 2003

Larry J. Ellis ("Problem is with union, not taxpayers," Mar. 3, The Morning Mail) is upset with Diane Lockwood's math ("Teachers aren't paid what they're worth," Feb. 26, The Morning Mail.) His own research, however, leaves much to be desired.

Mr. Ellis combines assumption and anecdote to conclude that teachers work only 35 weeks per year. A quick check of the MPS web site reveals the teacher calendar calls for 191 days of work per school year – 38 weeks, one day. The same web site shows starting pay of $31,473 for a teacher with a masters degree, or $165 per day.

Let's pretend that Mr. Ellis is right, and the average teacher works only eight hours a day, that renders an hourly rate of $20.60. If Mr. Ellis really believes that the teachers he knows are not working even an hour or two more per day than the classroom time their contracts require, then I would wager he doesn't know them as well as he thinks.

It seems regular sport to assail teachers as over paid and under worked, which I guess explains the glut of applicants for these positions. But, a $31,473 annual salary for a master's holder puts teaching near the bottom of the heap of jobs requiring college degrees.

The QEO, like salary caps in major league sports, seems to send "conservatives" fleeing the free market - seeking a command economy which they spent the last few generations discrediting. Why do we trust the free market to arrive at a proper level of wages for all other professions, but not teachers?

Perhaps all of those who are envious of the high salaries, low workload and strong union that they think teachers enjoy should stop complaining and apply to be teachers themselves! Then we would see how good their math is.