I remember how it was -- JR
San Francisco teachers: Don’t go into teaching in California, it doesn’t pay
Low salaries and steep housing costs have priced some teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area out of their school districts, forcing them to face long commutes, two local educators told Fox News.
"I don't encourage any young people to go into teaching right now," Mindy Arndt, a South Bay kindergarten teacher, told Fox News. "I do not feel that California places a premium on their teachers."
Heidi Herschbach, a second-grade teacher said: "California does not value teachers enough."
"I don't know, honestly, if I would get into teaching now," she continued. "Financially it's so much more difficult."
The San Jose metro area in the South Bay Area has a median existing-home sales price of $1.9 million, making it the most expensive metro area in the country, according to the National Association of Realtors. San Francisco has the second most expensive market at $1.55 million.
The median sold price for a single-family home in Santa Clara County, where Arndt and Herschbach teach, is $1.65 million, according to the California Association of Realtors.
"California is getting more expensive," Herschbach said. "The median home price is so high."
"We already know that gas prices and food prices are going up, rent still is very, very high for people," she continued. "It's hard to live."
Arndt agreed. "A teacher's salary is not going to be able to afford you housing in the Bay Area," she told Fox News.
The average salary for a teacher in the San Jose school district where Arndt and Herschbach work is $88,000, while the average salary for a teacher in the nearby San Jose Unified School District is $81,000, according to the California Department of Education. "I could not afford to live in my school district," Arndt, who lives on a single income, said.
Herschbach inherited her family home, allowing her to live in San Jose. But Arndt told Fox News she lives in neighboring Santa Cruz County and commutes for nearly an hour to her school in San Jose because of the cheaper home prices.
"People tend to have to find communities farther and farther away from where they work, where they can afford to either pay rent or hopefully, you know, purchase a home," she Arndt.
To combat teacher housing issues, the Milpitas Unified School District sent a message to South Bay Area parents asking them to open their homes and spare rooms for teachers to rent.
Milpitas teacher salaries start at $67,000 and top off at $110,000, according to the school district. Rising living costs are a main issue in hiring and retaining teachers the school district's superintendent, Cheryl Jordan, told the Daily Mail.
'We've lost out on some employees that we tried to recruit because once they see how much it costs to live here, they determine that it's just not possible," Jordan said.
Nationally, about 300,000 public school teachers and staff have left the field between February 2020 and May 2022, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"I don't think that there is really an understanding for what teachers are doing in 2022 and the scope of our job and the amount of energy and time," Arndt told Fox News.
Teaching is getting more complex every year, and the profession took on new responsibilities after the pandemic, both teachers said. Every year, more students need speech and occupational therapy as well as academic counseling and individual education plans, adding more to teachers' plates, according to Arndt.
"I think there's parents that appreciate us," she told Fox News. "I think there's some administrators that appreciate us."
"I do not feel appreciated" by the state of California, Arndt said.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/san-francisco-teachers-dont-go-teaching-california-doesnt-pay
*****************************************************Report card on big labor unions show significant loss of teacher union membership since 2018
A 50-state report card on Big Labor shows how labor unions have lost a significant amount of members over the past couple of years.
Per a report on Worker Freedom in the State sent exclusively to Fox News Digital from the Commonwealth Foundation, the big four national government unions saw legislative victories in state legislatures and courts, yet saw a net drop of nearly 219,000 union members between 2017 and 2021.
The Worker Freedom in the State report card shows each state's progress in breaking away from labor union control.
The National Education Association (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) were among the four big unions that lost over lost 200,000 members since 2018.
The membership loss was felt since Janus v. American Federation of States, a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled mandatory public union agency fees for nonmembers were unconstitutional.
Rebecca Friedrichs, the lead plaintiff of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which challenged the constitutionality of mandatory dues, told Fox News Digital that "the union stranglehold on government workers and teachers is fueled by the same politicians that labor leaders spend millions of dollars to elect."
The three-decade California teacher went on to say that, "Even after the Supreme Court recognized our rights, unions continue to receive privileges like automatic paycheck deductions and easy access to employees because of the influence they gain through campaign donations. Collective bargaining for government unions pits labor leaders and teachers against taxpayers, parents, and students. Reigning in the power and control government unions exert on education will improve teacher quality, student outcomes, and restore the rights of parents to take charge of their child's future."
After the Janus ruling, the NEA lost 87,774 fee-paying members and the AFT lost 82,713. The general drop in membership of the NEA was 84, 980 and the AFT was 39, 773.
The Commonwealth Foundation Executive Vice President Jennifer Stefano told Fox News Digital that "even with the Supreme Court’s Janus ruling, government union labor executives and their allies in government are not going to make it easy for public servants to break free of union control."
"Union executives have transferred vast sums of money from workers’ wages to politicians who create roadblocks to worker freedom," she continued. "To ensure that the promise of Janus is realized, lawmakers across the country must stand up to ensure that every civil servant has the right to choose whether or not to be associated with a union – they should not be forced to join a union or fund their political agendas."
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten praised the deal as a "game-changer for teachers and families drowning in an ocean of online dishonesty."
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten praised the deal as a "game-changer for teachers and families drowning in an ocean of online dishonesty." (REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/File Photo)
AFT and the National Education Association were blasted last year after it was discovered the powerful teachers unions had corresponded with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ahead of school reopening guidance, which appeared to result in a slow walking of a return to in-person instruction. The CDC appeared to use the unions' suggestions word-for-word in more than one instance in the final text of the CDC document.
The AFT defended the correspondence, saying it was routine and that it also worked closely with the Trump administration. The AFT represents 1.7 million educators, healthcare professionals and public employees who spent the last 14 months serving on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. So naturally, we have been in regular touch with the agencies setting policy that affect their work and lives, including the CDC," AFT spokeswoman Oriana Korin said.
McKinsey & Company research examined the effects of the pandemic on the 2020-21 school year and found that students were on average five months behind on math and four months behind in reading. For schools with largely minority populations, students fell six months behind in math and five to six months behind in reading.
The closures have also exacerbated a mental health crisis among young people often forced to isolate from their peers, experts have agreed
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Columbia students react to their college being ranked worst for free speech on campus
Columbia University students shared mixed reactions to their college ranking last for free speech on campus, with some expressing confusion while also shunning hate speech. "I think everyone here is very open-minded, and so I'm not really sure where that's coming from," one student told Fox News.
However, Arianna, a senior at the Ivy League school, said, "Of course people think they can't say things. I think people think they might be judged by the majority."
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) ranked Columbia last in its third annual College Free Speech Rankings, which surveyed nearly 45,000 students from more than 200 colleges. The Ivy League university scored a 9.91 out of 100.
"I am surprised by that result," Astrid, a senior, told Fox News. "I don't think that I've personally experienced or witnessed the suppression of free speech at Columbia."
"I think that there is definitely a homogenous point of view at school, but I don't think that opposing points of view are necessarily suppressed either," she continued.
But Astrid added that "hate speech should definitely at least be monitored" on campus.
Numerous other students Fox News spoke with similarly considered Columbia open-minded and tolerant but said hate speech should not be allowed.
"Hate speech, that's not good to be hearing," one girl said. "But I think everything else, as long as it's like furthering ideas, that's good to talk about."
A freshman, Aarush, told Fox News, "I've heard some people with certain political views might not be able to express their opinions because it might be perceived as offensive."
He also said hate speech is unacceptable, that "obviously you can say whatever you want, like, physically, but there's going to be social repercussions."
"People should just be more careful about what they say," he added.
FIRE — a nonpartisan free speech advocacy group — used seven components in its scoring system, including openness to discussing challenging topics on campus, tolerance for controversial liberal and conservative speakers, and comfort expressing ideas and protest acceptability.
A senior, Sam, told Fox News that political issues are often taboo to discuss on campus, "Especially if you're not leaning left — can't say a word about that."
FIRE researchers found that only 27% of Columbia’s students don't believe it's ever acceptable to shout down a speaker to silence them. They also reported that there are roughly 6.8 liberal students for every conservative student on campus.
"You do have to walk on eggshells a bit because you don't want to offend anybody," Freshman Rosnell told Fox News. "If you do kind of misstep, people aren't really as forgiving as you would like them to be."
Similarly, Sam said the campus is "very averse to ideas that go against the grain."
"I’ve certainly seen people get trashed online; or in class, they’ll say something, and it will come up after class," he added. "Makes people afraid to speak."
The FIRE study found that 63% of students surveyed reported feeling worry over damaging their reputation based on someone else misunderstanding them, and 22% said they often self-censor.
Researchers also found that about three out of every five students reported that they would be uncomfortable "publicly disagreeing with a professor about a controversial topic or expressing an unpopular opinion to their peers on a social media accounts tied to their name."
https://www.foxnews.com/us/columbia-students-react-college-ranked-worst-free-speech-campus
***********************************My other blogs: Main ones below
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http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
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