What does a 10% Pay Cut Look Like? Pretty Rough

Oh, I know a lot of you have already gone through pay cuts and job losses, but on the other hand, the deal that you make as a teacher is that you will never make lots of money and in return will have a steady pay, job security, benefits, and pension. Okay, it's a good deal, perhaps too good, but if the deal is too good it should be changed over time to fit with the revenue coming in to the state, with the changes cushioned by rainy day funds- that's the responsible and expected thing to do. But after years of mismanagement of our state by the Democratic Party, combined with a Governor who doesn't like to play games and fraudulently hid things, means that instead of responsible slow changes being made to bring teacher's compensation more in line with revenues, teachers are being ambushed with massive cuts unheard of in education.

Here in Michigan, the affluent West Bloomfield community just cut their teacher pay 10%. Let's assume that my district adopts the same sort of cuts (perhaps because I work in West Bloomfield?), what does that mean to my real budget? $500/month.

$500 a month is a pretty rough yearly pay cut. My family was saving for a new car and a new bed- those purchases will have to be postponed now. I have massive student loans, the cost of getting the BA and MA degrees and extra classes that the state demands; those are going to be a little harder to repay now. I run several after school clubs, all unpaid; those are probably going to have to be cancelled so I can pick up a side job or two to pay the loan on my severely underwater house. Oh, and no more spending money on my classroom (roughly $100/month); that'll have to be cut out for sure. Although my extra work on side job will surely benefit the economy, a drop in my purchases of goods and products and services likely won't, and the educational value students receive from my clubs will be gone, so the net result will probably be a negative for the economy and society.

Again, I know what you are thinking- boo hoo, it's about time that teachers got their just due and joined in the pain. That's fair enough, except I've already joined in the pain, sacrificing my step pay raises, paying more for my retirement and benefits, and even had a couple unpaid 'personal' days this year when I took students to DC or out east. Those are 'sharing in the pain', and I'm okay with another 3% pay decrease combined with a drawing down of our district's 'rainy day' fund- except that isn't what is happening. Instead they're talking 'add to rainy day fund' combined with another 10% pay decrease at the local level, combined with the state discussing more contributions for retirement and benefits that could be another 5% of my pay. Those are real, rough, and harsh cuts.

Perhaps this is the pay the piper demands after years of catastrophic management of our state economy by Democrats and their liberal policies. If this is what the piper demands at the state level, I am very scared for what the piper is going to demand at the federal level. America is going down, going down hard, and going down fast, and now that it is hitting me, it's tougher to keep hope of change alive.