Since when did “teacher” become a dirty word? I, personally, wear that title proudly. I teach. I educate young minds and inspire young hearts. I am also under attack.
So why am I (and teachers in general) under attack? In my opinion, Americans are rightfully frustrated. Their paychecks have been cut, they’ve lost jobs, they’ve lost houses, and it’s becoming harder and harder to put both gas in the tank and food on the table. Guess what? Teachers are feeling that crunch, too. In the past few years, teachers have made concessions in many areas. Teachers in many districts have already agreed to pay freezes over the past few years. Teachers in most districts are paying into their healthcare and have seen their benefits cut. All teachers in Pennsylvania have been paying into their retirements throughout their careers. No, their retirements are not a gift from the Harrisburg gods. This is money that teachers have contributed out of their paychecks and that was supposed to have also been contributed to over the years by their employer, the school district. Many, many teachers are still paying on that six-digit education loan they had to get before they could even become a teacher.
Teachers don’t become teachers for the money or even for summers “off” (which is laughable, because most teachers I know have to work through the summer doing other jobs, myself included). If you look at the parking lot in my school, as a whole, the kids’ cars in the student lot are nicer than those the teachers are driving, and that’s ok with most of the teachers I know. They don’t even mind the fact that they are paid 14% less than workers with similar education and experience in the private sector, because even though they know they’ll never get rich doing this, at least they know they have the promise of a secure retirement someday. Most importantly, teachers teach because they love it, and because they believe they are working for the greater good by educating young minds and making this country a better place to live.
This “us vs. them” attitude is tearing our country apart, and the only ones who are benefiting from it are the very ones who have actually caused this budget crisis. Wake up, people. We need to band together. Big business is bleeding us dry, and most of us don’t even realize it.
Let’s look at the facts:
Fact #1: Two-thirds of corporations in Pennsylvania pay no state taxes at all. Zero. Nada. Bupkis. They use tax loopholes to avoid paying these taxes. Many of them get a post office box in Delaware and call that their base of operations. Look it up: it’s called the Delaware tax loophole. So instead of paying taxes on what they collect from hardworking Pennsylvanians, it’s up to the hardworking Pennsylvanians to pay the corporation’s fair share of taxes, as well as our own.
Fact #2: A family earning $36,000 a year pays more in state taxes than 84 percent of corporations in PA. Ok, so even after you account for the first 67 percent of corporations paying no taxes at all to Pennsylvania, you still have another 17 percent that pays next to nothing. Again, taxes are placed squarely on the shoulders of hardworking Pennsylvanians.
Fact #3: Of the top 15 natural gas-producing states, Pennsylvania is the only one not to have an excise tax. Taxing Marcellus Shale makes sense. If we have a natural resource and we have a budget crisis, why wouldn’t we tax that resource? Perhaps it was the $360,000 donated to Corbett’s campaign by Kim Pegula, listed as a housewife from Boca Raton, FL. Oh, and besides being a housewife, she also happens to be married to the CEO of one of the largest Marcellus Shale drilling corporations in Pennsylvania. That is only part of the $835,720 that the gas industry gave to Corbett’s campaign.
Fact #4: This myth that Pennsylvania schools are failing is absurd. Pennsylvania’s reading and math scores are among the best in the nation. Only six states have statistically significant higher fourth grade reading scores than PA, and NO STATES have statistically significant higher 8th grade reading scores than PA. Only four states have statistically significant higher fourth grade math scores than PA. Only seven states have statistically significant higher 8th grade math scores than PA. For those naysayers out there who still insist that we remain far behind the results from other countries, let me remind you that many other countries do not test all their students or report testing of all their students. For example, in the US, we do report the scores of special education students in with all the other students’ scores. This is not always the case abroad.
So why are the teachers and schools under attack? It could have something to do with Vahan Guregian, who operates the largest Charter School in Pennsylvania and who donated $334,286 to Corbett’s election campaign. A pattern seems to be emerging here. It seems that if you want the state government to create laws to protect and bolster your interests, all you have to do is pay for those policies.
One more thing I want to get straight: union dues CANNOT be contributed to political campaigns. Union members can certainly give money to political action committees, just like any other American can give to any political organization, but there is a huge misconception out there that union dues are funding the Democratic Party. And big business is only too happy to let you keep on believing that.
I’m angry, and you should be too. There is only one way we can fix this, and it isn’t by calling for the heads of the people who are educating your children. We need to make it clear to Harrisburg that we don’t care how much money big business has contributed to their campaigns. We need to demand that the budget be balanced in an equitable manner, not by destroying the institution of public education that made this state and this country great. We need to make these businesses pay their fair share of taxes to the state that they have been reaping profits from for years. We need to tell our representatives that either they fund public education and collect fair taxes from corporations, or we will boot those representatives out of office. We, hardworking, taxpaying Pennsylvanians, need to work together to get this state back in balance, out of the claws of big business and back into the hands of the people, and we need to do it NOW.
Karen Woods, Teacher
Glendale School District