Greedy Wisconsin Teacher's Salaries Exposed

Wisconsin's public school teachers and the unions that represent them are saying budget cuts proposed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker would be devastating — but many of those teachers make more money than they're letting on.

The Daily Caller has broken out the salaries and benefits of teachers who have publicly entered the debate by commenting to the press.

Wisconsin's 2010 Teacher of the Year, Leah Lechleiter-Luke of Mauston High School, told CNN the budget changes would force her to look for additional part-time work.

"When people say that public sector employees live high off the hog, I'd like to share that for 13 of my 19-year teaching career I have held a part-time job either in the summer or teaching night class at the local technical college," Lechleiter-Luke told CNN. "In addition to tightening the belt even more and crossing our fingers that nothing breaks, I will need to find part-time work again."

Lechleiter-Luke makes $54,928 in base salary and $32,213 in "fringe benefits," which include health insurance, life insurance and retirement pay.

Brad Lutes and his wife, Heather Lutes, told MSNBC's Ed Schultz that Walker's budget would hit them twice as hard.

"Having to explain to an 8- and 10-year old that the governor of your state basically wants to take money away from dad and mom? It's just really, really frustrating," Brad Lutes told Schultz.

He makes $49,412 in base salary with $27,987 in fringe benefits and his wife makes $50,240 with $9,413 in benefits. That's $137,052 annually between the two of them.
Jim Nelsen, a teacher at Hamilton High School in Milwaukee who attended the union protests in Madison, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he thought it was "time we had to move and we did." He earns $62,877 in base salary with an additional $26,492 in benefits.

Julene Flanagan, a fourth-grade teacher at Story Elementary School in Milwaukee, said the reason she attended the protests in Madison was because she cares "about the children deeply" and about the "future of public education in Wisconsin." Flanagan makes $48,406 in base salary and $37,600 in benefits.

Chris Fons, a social studies teacher at Milwaukee's Riverside High School, said the union protests in Madison are a "bottom-up" movement, and that the "people have been acting and the leaders are following." Fons earns $58,976 in annual salary with an additional $25,646 in benefits.

Teachers in the state are only contracted to work part of the year, too. Most teachers start their work year around Aug. 30 and end around June 3, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. They also get vacation time during the student breaks, like during Christmas, fall vacation and spring vacation. Year-round, teachers in the state are out of the classroom for about 13 or 14 weeks.

Per the Department of Commerce, in 2009, the average personal income for all Wisconsin workers was $37,398.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• wisconsin
• teachers
• union
• scott
• walker
• budget
• protest
• salary
• collective
• bargaining
• right
• to
• work

[Anglagard1]

I want my summers off, but not so much that I'm willing to be a teacher.

[SNIDEMAN111]

@jimitl5 No problem!, we will go after them too!

[SNIDEMAN111]

Chicago has a 56% graduation rate. Good job teachers!

[ottripper2002]

@Terra812 ya I get 2 months off a year...you get to work a 9-5 job and get to be done when you go home....sounds like a fair trade off....the teacher salaries listed on this video are extremes. For every one salary they listed of 50-60k there are 100's that are making 30K.

[ottripper2002]

@Terra812 You clearly know nothing about education....I dont know one single teacher that choose to become a teacher because they have summers off. Yes, I got 2 months off each summer. This week I worked from 7am to 5pm, 7 am to 9pm, 7am to 7pm, and will be working 7am to 9pm both Thursday and Friday. This does not include the 2-3 hours I will spend on Saturday grading papers and the 4-5 hours I will spend on Sunday preparing to teach the 185 kids I have in 5 class periods throughout the day.

[ottripper2002]

what are these 25-30K in benefits they are recieving....i'm a teacher and I make 32,500 I have shitty health insurance, no dental and I have to buy all of my own supplies for my class room

[sondra768]

This is stupid, who cares. Like your exposing something bad. what you should be asking your employers is why arent you worth good wages and benefits?

[ticks4ticks4]

@Andy180084 If I could afford college, I'd become a teacher. The problems: ease of entry into field, esp. tenure-track position. Also, grandfather-clause provisions-SENIORITY-BASED. Consider your sense of entitlement--you're ENTITLED to your salary b/c you're a teacher w/ a degree? ENTITLED to own a car, have kids, & own a house? I got a vasectomy & have NEVER had kids, NEVER owned a motor vehicle. I'm 30 & thankful what I do have. Remember: your pay & JOB SECURITY have NOTHING to do w/ MERIT.

[TheBalancedAmerican]

@Terra812 Everyone over looks this fact. We only work 185 days a year. During the summer, I can either get part-time work to augment my income, or I can go on vacation for two months. Teaching is a fantastic job with tons of benefits (in California). America has among the highest paid teachers in the world and our spending per pupil in the highest in the world.

Public sector Unions are destroying our schools, I use to be a member of one. =)

[Terra812]

Teachers work 25% less time a year than the private sector.

$50,000 is really $62,500... $60,000 is really $75,000

What is having your summers off worth?? Priceless!!!

(Which is the real reason most choose teaching)