Academia’s tower might be ivory but it casts an obsidian shadow. Oliver was one of many professors trapped in the oxymoronic life of pedantic destitution. Some professors in his situation became homeless. Oliver was “fortunate” enough to only require food stamps, a fact of life for many adjuncts.
Republican lawmakers have been determined to make education as painful as possible for teachers, and as empty, insubstantial as possible for everyone in public schools. They have a deep hatred for people who believe in turning to intelligence for problem-solving, rather than violence, and crude use of power to achieve their shabby, racist, fascist goals.
Grand Rapids teachers say paycheck cuts qualify them for food stamps
By Rick Wilson | grnews@mlive.com
on March 04, 2013 at 10:02 PM, updated March 18, 2013 at 7:59 PM
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Tina Ratliff never expected her teaching career would qualify her for public assistance.
The second-grade teacher at Grand Rapids Public Schools’ Burton Elementary was among nearly 150 teachers summoned by their union’s crisis team to pressure school officials Monday, March 4 to settle a pending contract and do something about applying a state law limiting what school districts and other public employers pay for employee health insurance premiums.
Since Feb. 15 when the district began deducting back health insurance premiums over what it’s allowed to pay under the state’s Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act of 2011, Ratliff said morale among teachers has suffered dramatically and a sort of depression has set in. Some are losing $300 per pay check.
“I am a five-year teacher who brings home $555.39 for two weeks and who currently qualifies for a Bridge Card,” Ratliff told the school board Monday to loud applause from her colleagues. “How is this possible?"
Some two dozen teachers told similar stories during nearly an hour of often emotional testimonials. Some told of renting rooms in order to keep their homes while others said they simply can no longer pay their bills.
More:
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/03/grand_rapids_teachers_say_sala.html
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‘Pay cuts hurt': North Carolina teacher shares her story
Posted May 7, 2013
Rachel Kosher is a high school teacher at South Caldwell High School in North Carolina. Her state ranks 46th in the nation for average public school teacher salaries.
The professionals that play such an important role in the lives of students are feeling the brunt of budget cuts. Stories of educators living in poverty are becoming increasingly commonplace, and Kosher is no exception. This is her story:
Pay cuts and pay freezes hurt mentally – mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, they hurt.
Six years ago as a first-year teacher in Georgia, I made $31,000 a year. I took a pay cut when I moved to North Carolina and took a job teaching at South Caldwell High School. I not only made several thousand dollars less per year, I also had to deal with higher insurance costs. I thought the next year might yield a higher salary, but that same year the pay freeze was announced. I was stuck making nearly $3,000 less each year than I had when I first began.
The low pay continued to affect my family as we struggled to afford food and pay medical bills. Even though I was working 50 hours a week and had medical insurance, I could not afford the co-pays for my doctor’s office visits during my pregnancy. Medicaid pregnancy had to cover my prenatal medical costs. Our dependence on the system extended to my children’s medical insurance and our eligibility for WIC (Women, Infants and Children Food Service). My husband applied at every Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and fast food place within a 30-minute radius, but every place was on a hiring freeze. We longed for independence, but we could not support ourselves, even with my full-time job.
The PTA made the teachers a breakfast one day. There were bananas, grapes, apples, oranges, and muffins. I filled my plate with fruit and brought it home. I felt relief and shame because my then-toddler son hadn’t eaten fruit in days and plowed through the banana with both fists. I couldn’t even remember the last time we’d been able to afford grapes.
More:
http://educationvotes.nea.org/2013/05/07/pay-cuts-hurt-north-carolina-educator-shares-her-story/
Don't you love those who sit in their fat asses in the US and pretend everything in the good ol' US of A is peachy keen, and the poor people of other countries are just lazy, worthless losers? So sick of greedy, sociopathic right-wing clowns.
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