SC

Palmetto State’s Government School Teachers Want A Salary Bump

DO THEY DESERVE IT?  We don’t get why so many teachers at government-run schools in South Carolina are slavishly beholden to the state’s failed status quo. Don’t they care about their students? Sure, we understand some of them are just terrible human beings who love the fact that there is…

DO THEY DESERVE IT? 

We don’t get why so many teachers at government-run schools in South Carolina are slavishly beholden to the state’s failed status quo.

Don’t they care about their students?

Sure, we understand some of them are just terrible human beings who love the fact that there is absolutely zero competition in this “marketplace” (and thus zero risk of them ever losing their jobs or being held remotely accountable for the academic outcomes they produce).

But aren’t a lot of them good people?  Who are trying their best?  Often against the system?

Yes …

In fact we know of one former government-run school teacher (who is now enjoying a very successful career in the private sector) who loved her kids so much she’d have taught them for free.

Unfortunately for her, though, she was one of those pesky common sense academics – one who believed in actually educating the children entrusted to her care as opposed to wringing every last dollar out of them in pursuit of mindless bureaucratic expansion.

She’s a dying breed in other words … and obviously she wasn’t long for the government system.

Anyway …

Palmetto State school teachers – under the auspices of the liberal National Education Association (NEA) – have started a petition alleging that they are paid “less than almost any state in the Southeast.”  As a result, “teachers are quitting and retiring faster than they can be replaced.”

“In the end, it’s our kids who lose out when talented people leave (or never start) teaching,” reads the plea, which is hosted on the left-leaning Change.org.

We have no doubt many school teachers are not compensated at a level they deserve.  But again … this is a system which doles out six-figure severance packages to incompetent bureaucrats.

And builds massive cathedrals of failure (whether they are needed or not).

Is it any wonder such a system doesn’t have sufficient cash laying around to pay teachers what they are worth?

(Or … does it).

Good teachers deserve to be paid what they are worth … and one of the ironies of this discussion is that in a market-based system (the sort of system S.C. governor Nikki Haley and “Republicans” in the S.C. General Assembly are fighting against) they would be paid what they are worth.

But again, this is South Carolina … where those in power would rather continue to double down each year (here and here) on the same corrupt, inefficient, unaccountable system that has been failing generations of students for decades.

And continue to receive nothing but pats on the back for their treachery …

***

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80 comments

Hike January 23, 2016 at 10:41 am

SC is too busy spending all their education money paying foorball coaches.
I wonder what a Gamecock’s coach would be worth in a free market?

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Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 10:54 am

They would get paid the same amount that the coaches of Notre Dame, Stanford and the University of Southern California get. All private universities.

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Hike January 23, 2016 at 10:57 am

I’m pretty sure, with their record over the decades, that a Gamecock coach would get much less. The Gamecocks are like jobbers in the pro wrestling world. There to make other teams look good.

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Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 11:05 am

Ok, then how about Boston Colege, Wake Forest and Vanderbilt?

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oldTVeng January 23, 2016 at 12:46 pm

The University of Southern California is public, not private.

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Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 12:57 pm

Why would I say it if it ain’t so?
http://about.usc.edu/
USC at a Glance:
The University of Southern California is one of the world’s leading private research universities. 

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Quietus January 23, 2016 at 10:58 am

CEOs of organizations that bring millions of dollars in profit to their corporation or parent organization are generally well compensated.

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Hike January 23, 2016 at 11:02 am

It’s just nice to see socialism is alive and well, and celebrated every weekend during the fall, in SC.

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Squishy123 January 23, 2016 at 12:02 pm

Not much, most retire or quit after coaching here.

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43lefty January 23, 2016 at 4:15 pm

Coaches are not paid out of education money. They are paid from donations received from booster clubs and income from athletic contracts/ticket sales

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Hike January 24, 2016 at 11:04 pm

Nope.

“It should be no surprise to plenty of you, but South Carolina Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier is atop the list of state employees with his annual salary of $1,050,000. That number does not include the money he makes from endorsements or other arrangements he may have lined up.”

http://m.wyff4.com/news/whos-the-highest-paid-south-carolina-state-employee/30864400

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43lefty January 25, 2016 at 8:05 pm

Although it lists them as state employees, the money they are paid does not come from state funds or tuition. It comes from money raised by the athletic dept.

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Tea Party January 23, 2016 at 10:42 am

It’s imperative that the population remain under-educated so we can still get votes.

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Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 10:59 am

Republican voters have higher education levels. In this state Republican’s children perform better in schools. Rupublican voting districts have higher performing schools.

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Oops January 23, 2016 at 11:08 am

Nice fantasy there. Did you create it yourself? Now for some facts….

“Democrats hold advantages in party identification among blacks, Asians, Hispanics, well-educated adults and Millennials. Republicans have leads among whites – particularly white men, those with less education and evangelical Protestants – as well as members of the Silent Generation.”

http://www.people-press.org/2015/04/07/a-deep-dive-into-party-affiliation/

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Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 11:12 am

How is it that the “corridor of shame” votes Democrat? Maybe it’s the Democrats who need dumb voters.

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Oops January 23, 2016 at 11:14 am

The are dummies on both sides…..you guys just attract way, way more of them.
Don’t believe me and the overwhelming facts? Go look in a mirror ;-)

Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 11:42 am

Then you agree that saying that the “Tea Party” wants to keep people under-educated is a silly statement.

Oops January 23, 2016 at 2:06 pm

It’s a silly fact. Everything about the GOP and the Tea Party is silly.

Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 2:47 pm

Judging by the Democrats success, they want to keep inner city blacks uneducated and poor. There is certainly more evidence to document that fact than there is about the Tea Party and the GOP. The Democrats have an extended history of success. Detroit, Washington DC, Chicago, St Louis…..

Drink the Kool Aid January 24, 2016 at 5:45 am

Given the fact that the median age for a Tea Party member / voter is probably north of 70 I don’t think they necessarily want to keep people under-educated, they simply don’t want to pay any taxes and want to cut all government services. Except of course the services that directly benefit them, they want those to remain unchanged.

Bible Thumper January 24, 2016 at 6:00 am

The decision about government services to be provided should be made by those who are paying for it, not those receiving it.

Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 11:28 am

The Democrats out number Republicans in each education group, but there are fewer post-graduate degrees. This is from your same link above. Notice the edge Democrats have among those without a degree is greater than those with a degree or some post-graduate work.

Education. Democrats lead by 22 points (57%-35%) in leaned party identification among adults with post-graduate degrees. The Democrats’ edge is narrower among those with college degrees or some post-graduate experience (49%-42%), and those with less education (47%-39%).

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Oops January 23, 2016 at 11:31 am

And? They still have more supporters with higher education and Republicans have leads with less-educated white men. Thanks for pointing it out further, I guess?

Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 12:09 pm

Simpson’s paradox, or the Yule–Simpson effect, is aparadox in probability and statistics, in which a trend that appears in different groups of data but disappears or reverses when these groups are combined.

When you’re young you tend toward the Democrats. As you age you tend toward the Republicans. Younger people had more opportunities for a college degree. So the trend that you apply to white men (which there is no reason to separate from all men) is more of an age trend than an education trend. If you insist on separating white men, then why not separate them futher by age group? I prefer to not separate them at all and stick with the fact that proportionately Republicans are more likely to be college graduates.

fl ? p January 24, 2016 at 12:00 am

All that brain damage caused by watching Fox I guess…

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Vincent Lehotsky January 23, 2016 at 11:09 am

Biblically Speaking; in the gifts given unto believers of Christ Jesus – Teaching is the greatest.
What I perceive is many a backslider to their faith are in charge of treating such a gift as if it were the least. Placing their own servitude to the chose above all others.
Are these believers in state government denying their own chance to spend eternity in heaven by treating those who teach their fare wages ? …

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LoL January 23, 2016 at 11:15 am

Now that’s funny!^^^

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Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 1:23 pm

Deuteronomy 25:4 ? New International Version
Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.

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Bill January 23, 2016 at 2:05 pm

Out of the hundreds of different versions of the bible, which one should I follow as the word of god?

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Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 2:17 pm

You will find that the Bible contains the “words of God” , the words of Paul, the words of many others including the devil. I don’t call the Bible the “word of God”.
I use a variety. King James is poetic and easier to remember. NIV is best for beginners. My favorite is New American Standard Version. It is more word for word and uses a archaic figures of speech.

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Bill January 23, 2016 at 7:14 pm

What about the TV show? I mean that’s all you really need, right?

Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 9:39 pm

The Bible is like Mark Twain. It has never been successfully made into a good movie or television show. The Book is always better.

shifty henry January 24, 2016 at 11:02 pm

An atheist was rowing at the lake,
when suddenly the Loch Ness monster attacked and grabbed him from his boat.

He panicked and shouted “God help me!”, and suddenly, the monster and
everything around him just stopped.

A voice from the heavens boomed “You say you dont believe in me, but now
you are asking for my help?”

The atheist looked up and said: Well, ten seconds ago I didn’t believe in the
Loch Ness Monster either!

Scooter January 23, 2016 at 7:32 pm

The Old Testament is a history of the Jewish people. The New Testament is about love. What else could it be about? He took care of everything else.

9" January 23, 2016 at 8:41 pm

Also recommended-Isaac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible

shifty henry January 24, 2016 at 11:03 pm

One day the zoo-keeper noticed that the orangutan was reading two books – the Bible and Darwin’s Origin of Species.

Surprised, he asked the ape, “Why are you reading both those books?”

“Well,” said the orangutan, “I just wanted to know if I was my brother’s keeper or my keeper’s brother.”

fl ? p January 23, 2016 at 11:59 pm

I like my version the best, thou shalt do whatever I like and not whatever I don’t like.

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Soft Sigh from Hell January 23, 2016 at 11:46 am

I’m just guessing but I’d bet that it is as hard to be good effective teacher in today’s schools as it apparently is to be a good effective state employee in many agencies, and for the same reason: self-serving meddling middle-management bureaucrats and a loud-mouth pushy small fraction of the public, whether parents or big shots.

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Bobby January 23, 2016 at 1:13 pm

I think a problem lies with Molly Spearman. Here’s her Legislative Director’s FB picture (Hillary Clinton)

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));

Posted by Emily Heatwole Keeney on Saturday, January 23, 2016

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Lone Ranger January 23, 2016 at 1:29 pm

Meanwhile…home-schooled students all across the state continued to excel and thrive

They weren’t mugged or bullied or in a ghetto school where they might not return alive

You know…ghetto as defined as an SCEA union-thug school where teachers are PC

Like Lillian McBride—they can’t walk and chew gum but are paid by YOU and me !!!

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Vern January 23, 2016 at 2:03 pm

Were you home-schooled?

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Lone Ranger January 23, 2016 at 5:10 pm

Vern wanted to know about home schooling because he thought PC was cool
And in Remedial Math he lay down three times to measure the length of a… !!!

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Vern January 23, 2016 at 7:09 pm

You sound really ignorant and uneducated, so I’ll take that as a yes.

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Lone Ranger January 24, 2016 at 3:15 pm

When Vern gave his eighth grade graduation speech he stated
All my home-schooled peers are cons who have…graduated !!!

Vern January 24, 2016 at 10:59 pm

When Lone Ranger gave his graduation speech, his Mama said “Boy, stop talking to yourself in the mirror and go help your Dad pick up cans! This trailer ain’t gonna pay for itself!”

Lone Ranger January 25, 2016 at 5:57 pm

Vern thought he was better than “trailer” people even tho he got Section 8 and SNAP like his mama
Yep–he WAS the ACORN member who gave your money to whores and voted six times for Obama !!!

Tonto January 23, 2016 at 2:30 pm

The Marine Corps doesn’t want your kind. They want real Americans.

http://www.arkansasmatters.com/news/local-news/confederate-flag-tattoo-disqualifies-marine-enlistee

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Bible Thumper January 23, 2016 at 2:38 pm

I thought it was only tattoos on the face, neck and areas that could not be covered. That’s a tough policy.

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shifty henry January 23, 2016 at 3:09 pm

It will keep out those ghetto thugs —

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Lone Ranger January 23, 2016 at 5:02 pm

Shifty henry’s classmates were ghetto thugs–he thought he was being…thrifty
But along came 2016 and he was uneducated and–that’s right–only shifty !!!

shifty henry January 23, 2016 at 5:51 pm

Hey! It’s not fair for you to upvote your own post! Anyway, compose another verse but make it rhyme with ‘thugs” —

Lone Ranger January 23, 2016 at 4:59 pm

Tonto–NO relation to Tonto–always frantically struggled with staying in context
When rewards were given for not understanding schools–he shouted …I’m next !!!

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Deborahoking2 January 25, 2016 at 2:16 am

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fl ? p January 23, 2016 at 11:57 pm

Tango, I thought I had you tied up in my basement with a ball gag in your mouth and a butt plug up your pooper!

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Son of Flip (D) January 24, 2016 at 9:10 pm

No Dad, that was me.

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fl ? p January 25, 2016 at 8:25 am

Oh my!!! The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! LMAO!!!

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flip's youngest son (D) January 25, 2016 at 12:18 pm

Dad, can you take the butt plug out now? I really have to talk a massive shit!

flip's youngest son (D) January 25, 2016 at 12:19 pm

**take**

Toyota Kawaski January 25, 2016 at 9:28 am

Lone Ranger had a hanger then he went to bangher and found it was a he so he hit that shit and didn’t spit just got his shit split… wide open like his mellon head cause now I wish the SOB was full of Lead. Is that Ghetto-school enough for you. AHS 1991 Yeah BOY Rock Bottom Posse

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enlightenment is good! January 25, 2016 at 12:09 pm

What, no mindless drivel about the so called patriots flag being ripped down without a vote? Could it be that you have actually see the light and realize that piece of shit rag will never fly anywhere again and belongs in a fucking dumpster.

Congratulations and welcome to the 21st century.

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SB January 23, 2016 at 7:05 pm

School districts can’t afford more money, at least not ours. I am on the Board and we believe I our pension cost are going to double in 5 years. We are projecting no hirings for at least 3 years.

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ChasTom January 24, 2016 at 11:46 am

The pension plan will not exist in 5 years, at least not as we know it. Ditching that plan is just another way to spend more money of projects that make politicians real money. Less coverage, or no coverage (meaning everyone or new employees go private) is a great boost to the cronies of Leatherman, Lucas and Haley.

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See The Light January 23, 2016 at 8:05 pm

errr … kids transplanted from other states … errrr … teachers from other states who have moved to SC … Hence, SC has become a dumping ground of the rest of the nations dysfunctional misfits of society. Raising peoples taxes again causes people to buy more guns and ammo for the coming of you know what.

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Positivedifference54 January 23, 2016 at 9:09 pm

What’s the matter, do you not think that teachers in public schools deserve to be paid a living wage? Take out the retirement deduction, state health plan costs, social security, medicare, state tax, fed tax and there is barely enough to pay the bills and let alone put food on the table. Maybe our schools are failing because the parents or parent doesn’t want to be involved in their child’s education. It’s the state’s responsibility.

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Jonathan Lubecky January 24, 2016 at 5:49 pm

South Carolina teachers earn 86 percent of the national average of $56,103.The average salary for South Carolina teachers is $48,375, which places us at 39th in the country, according to the SCEA.Oct 13, 2014

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fl ? p January 23, 2016 at 11:55 pm

But if they give those teachers raises they may take it out of my welfare money!

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9" January 24, 2016 at 11:56 am Reply
Rocky Verdad January 24, 2016 at 1:35 pm

Quick question, what is the starting salary for a public school teacher in SC?

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eagerlywaiting January 24, 2016 at 11:46 pm

You can’t teach a bowl of cereal to solve a math problem, no matter how much you pay the teacher, or how much you want to believe it will happen. I assume you are confident of great success in the second fifty years of the experiment.

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Rocky Verdad January 25, 2016 at 9:08 am

So your stance is students in SC are just plain retarded and stupid, therefore we shouldn’t bother to teach them. Right?

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eagerlywaiting January 25, 2016 at 3:37 pm

You all are always twisting the argument to suggest if we don’t spend more and more tax money we don’t ‘love” our kids, etc., etc. I never said stop trying to teach them, I just said that all the money in the world thrown at the public school system in SC will not materially change the results. There are ways to meaningfully improve the schools for all students, but you would squawk to the four walls in protest if the all important “diversity” quotient was not predetermined in the outcome. So there you have it. You get what you get.

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Tennessee January 25, 2016 at 1:19 am

My mom was the first guidance counselor at a high school and remained there for 3 decades. My old man was a come from nothing guy who took a few risks and it worked out for him. My family enjoyed the security of a state health plan and always put the max aside via mom’s low salary. She actually enjoyed her job for at least 20 years. Then she became a glorified scheduler. 2.5 months vacation became 1 month but I saw her lose interest when they put a “wall” between her and the students. By wall I mean that they tripled the workload so much that the only counseling dispersed was ” Hey you’re in this class.”This was a woman who on two occasions I remember let some economically disadvantaged students live with us with no strings attached as long as the powers that be didn’t get hip to it. Several of her students became significant participants in the local political and business community and to this day this particular age group asks how she is doing. Most people would inquire about the old man as his labors were benificial to many on a state and regional level per the Ambassador that delivered his eulogy and every other broken record I’ve met. But a significant amount asked how my mom was doing. She was in charge of an alphabetical range and it was constant. Later on , networking with people I considered role models would give her kudos for mom getting them early acceptance to UV or convincing them that maybe they were Ivy League after all. These people would say she was their counselor but it was out of her particular alphabetical range. She cared. It wasn’t about the loot. It was about possibly helping someone. Then, school boards changed curriculums and the students were put on the back burner. The reason to educate became irrelevant. School became a glorified daycare. Retirement suddenly became a thing to look forward to. What was always realized was that teaching was not a lucrative profession on a public level. It was about giving someone a hand up and being proud to watch them achieve success on a level higher than your own . The most visible lesson learned was that if you want to make money in the public school system your best bet is to sell crack. Y’all better ask somebody. I wanna give a shout out to my man John Singleton.

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nitrat January 25, 2016 at 8:06 am

Republicans and Libertarians might not be so hypocritical when they are attacking ‘government’ teachers if they had the balls to attack ‘government’ cops and ‘government’ firefighters with the same vehemence.
Don’t the Koch brothers want their jobs privatized, too? Not yet, you say?

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Bob January 25, 2016 at 10:26 am

We have no doubt many school teachers are not compensated at a level they deserve. But again … this is a system which doles out six-figure severance packages to incompetent bureaucrats.

I’ll have to admit the public sector is behind the private sector in that regard. The private sector doles out eight figure severance packages to incompetent managers. (See Carly Fiorina and other CEOs who left with huge severance packages after screwing up the companies they were hired to run.)

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NC Resident January 25, 2016 at 10:41 am

One only needs to look to your neighbor to the North to see what attacking public education will do for a state. McCrory and his cronies have been attacking public education in NC since he took office. As a result teachers are fleeing the state, and other states, like Texas, are recruiting teachers to leave NC and come there.

What is the result? NC has gone from being a shining star of the south to just another teapublican hell hole with crappy education. We are having difficulty recruiting companies to come here as a result. In the past NC has been able to recruit without offering massive bribes to private companies. Execs were willing to move to NC because it had a reputation as being up and coming and having excellent public education and excellent Universities. Companies felt they could get skilled workers here. No longer. We have lost that reputation in just a few short years under McCrory and crew, NC will now have to turn to bribes like SC and most of the rest of the south if they want to get companies to come here.

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idiotwind January 25, 2016 at 10:53 am

holy fuck! i can usually take your shitheaded opinions with a giggle, but this is too much. is tango writing your posts now??

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LouieBuoy January 25, 2016 at 11:44 am

The state should tell teachers they will be given a raise for the summer months they are not teaching, then tax them at a much higher rate that returns it all back to the state. Then they would think they are getting paid a lot more than they are. It works like this in most large corporations. You know: You live in SC, so you are only worth 60% of the pay of someone in New York, or we can’t pay you too much now, or you won’t have room for a raise in the future, Or congratulations your pay grade has been changed so now you are one of the highest paid in your pay grade – and too bad there is no room for any future raises. Ha! This is too easy…

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Fleet January 27, 2016 at 4:50 pm

I suggest that Fits work as a substitute for one week in a “failing government school” and then write a story about it. Maybe then he would know what he was talking about.

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