NTUI calls striking teachers greedy

TAXPAYERS SAY STRIKING TEACHERS GREEDY AND OVERPAID


CHICAGO - The head of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI) today charged that striking teachers in Huntley's Consolidated School District
158 not only do not deserve the pay hikes they are demanding, but that they are already "grossly overpaid." The average base salary in 2007 at District 158 was $50,915 for nine months employment.

"Taxpayer dollars for public school education are claimed to be spent 'for the children.' That's nonsense," said NTUI Chairman Jim Tobin. "The tax dollars are not spent on the children. The money goes into the pockets of overpaid and under worked teachers such as these striking teachers. They show up for work nine out of 12 months a year, and live like royalty on their lofty incomes while enjoying three-month-a-year paid vacations."

The Huntley Education Association has turned down a 17.8 percent pay raise over 3 years. In a time when people are losing their jobs and worried about having enough money to put food on their table, an annual
6 percent raise is grossly over-generous. The teachers are not concerned with teaching children, but rather extracting as many tax dollars as possible.

"Studies have shown little or no correlation between salaries and student achievement, and little or no correlation between academic degrees and student achievement," continued Tobin. "These are worthless arguments for paying higher salaries to teachers who have more than a BA degree. Higher salaries do not make teachers better; higher salaries just make teachers more affluent."

"Parents should pull their kids out of these government schools and send them to private schools for a better, safer, much more cost-effective education," Tobin concluded. "Private schools in Illinois consistently do a better job than government schools at about half the cost. We need to expand and increase Illinois' $500 education tax credit to allow more parents to send their children to the superior private schools and allow them to keep more of their own hard-earned money."