And just like that they vote themselves a pay raise.

[GloryDawg]

Does teaching amped up 2nd graders or unmotivated 10th graders include free orange chicken and noodles?

The pension is pretty good.

 

[jethreauxdawg]

You need to go marry a teacher and get grounded in reality.

What part of what I said isn’t real?

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

Nope, but a whole lot of upward and lateral mobility. If we assume it's reasonable for a college grad to start and finish their career with Panda Express they can make it to a store manager at 30, a multi unit manager at 40, and regional manager at 50. That regional manager does okay...

View attachment 24222

FYI, a 401k blows away a teachers pension if you contribute 9% and get a 4% match like Panda pays. Even if they never get promoted to a higher paying job again. Considering normal raises, inflation, life expectancy, and returns. A 30 year old Panda Manager who retired at the same position is going to be capable of drawing $18k a month from their 401k, which in today's dollars is close to $10k. Don't think pers is getting you there...

View attachment 24223

View attachment 24224
But you can't touch the summers off in the private sector.

 

[Hot Rock]

That teacher salary does not reflect what a teacher really makes.

You get additional $$ for each degree you have and years served and summer school and national board certification adds another 6,000. Then each school district can add to it as well. Some add $1,500 others add 5-6 thousand on top. So, teachers salaries are not great but they are better than 38,000 by a long shot.

I don't have a problem with them getting paid well, provided they do their jobs.

 

[jethreauxdawg]

Can’t have your noodles and eat them too

But you can't touch the summers off in the private sector.

There’s trade offs with both jobs, and upward mobility with both. Do you make more in private sector, yeah. Do you have more job security and better benefits as a teacher, yeah (depending on your view of benefits).

 

[vhdawg]

Technically the Lieutenant Governor is also the President of the Senate and casts a vote in case of a tie vote. He also totally controls the legislative agenda on the Senate side. Absolutely nothing comes forward for vote without Delbert's authorization.

I promise you, the voters of Mississippi, when I am elected Lieutenant Governor, I will bring absolutely nothing forward for vote.

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

Touche'. I can't argue with that.

For the past 10 years or so, it has seemed really hard to provide a good quality of life in a lot of places if you have two teachers salaries to pay the bills. With the new bump, I think Mississippi is going to be ahead of the curve on teacher pay compared to many other places.

Just looking at places I am familiar with, in Madison MS a teacher with 10 years experience is going to be pushing $60k after the bump next year. In Frisco TX, that same teacher is going to be making $65ish. But look at the cost of living difference...

You can buy a nice 3-4 bdr home in Madison for $350-$450k. In Frisco that same house costs $550-$700k. The math works in Madison, I think. It isn't working in other places. One of the wife's friends just quit teaching after 15 years and took a job making an extra $30k as an insurance claims adjuster or something for Liberty Mutual.

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

I'll be damned. Good for you guys, the teachers across the state, and the pols.

That said, still not enough considering her credentials, but it's a nice start. I have been reading about teachers quitting across the country to head to the private sector. I doubt those are all low performers either. I mean, Panda Express will put $75k in your pocket to run a fast food joint...

View attachment 24221

Supply and demand… ChickFila Managers make good money too.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

PERS is most assuredly not touching that.

 

[paindonthurt]

Compare these salaries to the ones I linked a while back for superintendents.

 

[paindonthurt]

I can assure you the GM at Panda Express works just as many or more hours a week as a teacher and doesn’t get the same pension or 12 weeks off.

May or May not have health insurance either.

And running a restaurant isn’t a coosh job by any means.

8 to 10 hrs on your ft dealing with the general public and food. Woof.

But here’s the kicker. If the GM at panda doesn’t perform, they likely get fired or let go. If they perform, they likely get paid more or promoted.

 

[johnson86-1]

There’s trade offs with both jobs, and upward mobility with both. Do you make more in private sector, yeah. Do you have more job security and better benefits as a teacher, yeah (depending on your view of benefits).

Yup. I feel like we made a really stupid tradeoff by providing teachers with a high floor and a low ceiling with a lot of job security. Certainly gets lots of teachers that are content with that tradeoff as a second earner in the family and they still work hard and do a good job, but pretty much anybody driven has to just feel like teaching is their calling, because smart driven people will generally make a good bit more in the private sector, even if it might come with more time working and more stress.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

Who cares about the salary. The graft is where the real money is.

 

[Cooterpoot]

People are hurting because pay raises lag well behind inflation. So, officials almost double their pay in many positions. They refuse to allow the voters' votes to count with medical marijuana. They couldn't find a way to eliminate state income tax. They give teachers a $50 raise. These sumbeaches are trash. I won't vote for a single incumbent next time. I don't even care who is running against them.

 

[johnson86-1]

PERS is most assuredly not touching that.

It's actually pretty comparable?

Doing everything in real dollars to make it easier to account for inflation:

Taking the MS teacher pay schedule, and assuming no local supplement and no extra certification, a teacher, after working 35 years will $43,500 per year, and that payment will grow by 3%. Note that it would not be abnormal for this person to be 58 when they hit 35 years of service, assuming they start teaching at 23.

For a private sector employee making 70k, if you assume they don't do anything other than keep up with inflation, putting 13% (9% of their money, just like teachers) per year and getting a real 5% return is going to net you around $604,593.51 dollars, which with a 4% withdrawal rate, will allow you to mostly safely withdraw $24,183 in the first year and increase each year with inflation. (A 6% real return would net you >$700k and >$28k withdrawal at 4%). Now this person will likely leave money behind, with a small (<5% historically) risk of running out of money.

That doesn't seem like PERS can't touch that at all. It just depends on how you measure the different tradeoffs.

The person that becomes manager at Panda Express will probably start off making less than teachers while working more and they won't have a schedule where they are guaranteed to make more money if they aren't fired. But they do have a higher ceiling if they're good. They'll never get as much time off. They won't get a pension that's inflation protected and guaranteed by the state. But they do have the potential of saving more if they are very diligent and use their higher pay (assuming they get it) to save more. They will be more likely to be let go because of economic conditions that they can't prevent with performance. The higher they make, the more likely a target for layoffs they will be, so they will always have that stress, whereas longer tenured teachers tend to be more proteted, even in non-unionized workforces. The PERS participant loses the chance to pass their pension nest egg to their children, but also has a guaranteed payment that is "bankrupt proof"*.

None of that seems to make teaching or panda express a particularly clear cut winner. The 25% teacher is going to come out head and shoulders ahead of the 25% panda express worker. I'm guessing you probably need to get to the >95% panda express worker before it's clearly just a better economic deal than the 95% teacher???



*Of course, just because the state can't declare bankruptcy, doesn't necessarily mean they will be forced to honor the PERS "as promises". Going to be a lot of political headwinds against essentially confiscating property in the state to give to former state and local government employees.