Web Based Public Schools?

I think the future will include more on-line classes for all students- also one-on-one online tutors are becoming popular. We would be able to outsource for online tutors to places like India the same way our computer support was outsourced. India has about 350,000 online tutors now and the job growth in this area is supposed to keep booming.

This means we need alot fewer teachers (at 100K/yr) for our public schools. We would also need fewer public schools, busses, janitors, and administration. I'd like to see our property and state taxes go down accordingly, but I bet they don't do that. I bet they continue to tax us (and raise more taxes) even though less "brick and morter" school system is needed.

Since a full 50% of our property taxes go directly to schools, this could be a way to cut taxes, get rid of the lousy teachers and reduce the burden on taxpayers for school buildings and staff. And hey- as an added bonus - many of those teachers would have to get real jobs!

India is training about half a million people to be personal tutors- they cost about 3 dollars a day. I read where they are very effective at teching.

The future means changes are coming for the public school system.

I am impressed to see that the schools are demanding. Might be necessary in order to continue receiving funding for the students. But I also see the other side, if you do have a free spirit who doesn't work well in a traditional schedule, this may not help them.

I do really like it as a way for high schoolers to graduate who need a little more time than other students. And not nearly as degrading to their esteem as holding them back.

It seems you almost need a college degree to get hired anywhere so I feel real sorry for the kids without a high school diploma. I have been at my place of employment for a long time and in the boom years, we weren't choosy and would hire and train people without qualifications but now load up the job offerings with many more prerequisites.

Gosh Bear what teacher you know making 100K?

A buddy of mine's wife has been 1 for 20+ years and only makes 39K in Jeffco can't make tha much here in PC.

Same here, lots of teachers in the family. No one is making more than half of that. I'd be surprised if any state had an average salary higher than $60,000. Many of these are people with Masters degrees mind you.

SS109 wrote: I am impressed to see that the schools are demanding.

I liked the demanding coursework of K12 but the demands to spend 45 minutes a day figuring out and minutely documenting how many hours and minutes the kids spent per class, not so much. And I was not at all happy with the 45 minute a day of required standardized testing practice. Total waste of time. I also found the "expected progress" charts to be too confining. The online public school teachers get equally upset with fast progress as slow, so I don't think it was a case of just ensuring good progress. It had to be "expected progress", which I found extremely irksome and limiting.

I suspect you're right, though, they have to do this to keep the funding but I'd never do an online school through public schools again. Even though it is costly to purchase the curriculum indepently, it was worth it to us.

chickaree wrote: Same here, lots of teachers in the family. No one is making more than half of that. I'd be surprised if any state had an average salary higher than $60,000. Many of these are people with Masters degrees mind you.

Yeah, well when the right-wing blogosphere was going nuts about the teacher's union in Wisconsin, they somehow dug up some teachers who made $100k when you included all their benefits, etc. So ever since then righties have been ranting about all these "$100k teachers". Doesn't matter to them that the vast majority of teachers actually make much, much less, it's just much more fun to throw around that $100k figure. They don't let little things like truth ruin a good smear campaign.

The K-12 program is one of the better programs out there.

K-12 provides the material for Colorado's Virtual Academy.
(we don't use it - but it's a decent alternative)

You can also purchase the K-12 material without the Virtual Academy's reporting requirements - but you'll also lose the state's subsidy on the system.

bailey bud wrote: You can also purchase the K-12 material without the Virtual Academy's reporting requirements - but you'll also lose the state's subsidy on the system.

Exactly. That's what we did when we found the limitations of COVA to be too annoying. It's costly to purchase it independently of the public school subsidy but worth it if you have kids who benefit from going deep into certain subjects without having to follow a pre-determined timeline and don't want to waste their time on studying for standardized testing. Or your time on all the nit-picky record keeping. I'd rather spend the time teaching and exploring with them.

Gosh Bear what teacher you know making 100K?

A buddy of mine's wife has been 1 for 20+ years and only makes 39K in Jeffco can't make tha much here in PC.

I'm going to try to put this question to rest- as many out there are cornfused about how much mula these teachers are slurping out of the system each year. In addition to a very generous pay schedule, teachers in Jefferson County enjoy many benefits that a private sector employee does not.

They get almost every holiday off- including those like MLK day which we private sector employee's will never see. They get a generous christmas holiday and spring break- even though many of the teachers are anti-christmas and call it the "holiday season". They enjoy days off such as teacher-parent conference days. Teachers do not pay Social Security and Medicare, so their paychecks are bigger each week than a private sector worker making the same money.

They only work 8 months- at most 9 months out of the year- with most of every summer off. How would you like to have 3-4 months off each year? I am a 2200 hour/year worker- when I talk about my earnings, it's based on working 12 months a year- a typical teacher works less than 1650 hours in a year.

A starting teacher with 1-3 years experience starts with a $40,000 salary in Jeffco with a bonus program up to $10,000/year. That makes a 1-3 year teacher paid up to $50,000.

Second tier 3-10 years experience in Jeffco get a pay level of $55,000 to $65,000 with a $10,000/yr bonus potential. that makes a 3-10 year level teacher paid up to $75,000/year.

In the 15-30 year experience in Jeffco- teachers make anywhere between $80,000 to $100,000+ per year and can also make up to a $10,000 bonus. This puts the pay range in the $90,000 to $110,000 per year range.

This does not include benefits, health care, disability, retirement, and all the other benies that the teachers union has squeezed out of us taxpayers over the years.

The numbers above are average pay numbers for Jefferson County Colorado. I know many teachers teaching in Jeffco, and dated several teachers so I know the deal. I am a product of Jefferson County Schools and when I graduated high school the mill levy rates were one third what they are today. You may know a teacher who makes a little less than the average, but I would say they either get a bad deal or they don't have the experience level yet.

We pay nearly $12,000 per student per year for education in Jefferson County. Why should it cost this much to teach a third grader? Or even a 12th grader?

The answer is - it shouldn't! 10 teachers cost us more than a million dollars a year- and that is a CONSERVATIVE estimate.

Read more for yourself!

How the Jefferson County pay system works
Jefferson County schools' new teachers-compensation program will try a three-tier pay system:

First tier: Probationary teachers with less than three years of experience. They would earn $40,000 in base pay, higher than the current $33,000, and could get up to $10,000 in bonuses from good evaluations, pushing student achievement and meeting goals.

Second tier: Non-probationary teachers, or those with more than three years of experience. Base pay would be $55,000 to $65,000, with up to $10,000 in bonuses.

Third tier: Highest-performing teachers who would become mentors or master teachers. Base pay would be $80,000 to $100,000, and they also could earn up to $10,000 in bonuses.

Read more: Jeffco schools to increase some teachers' pay to more than $100,000 -

The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16159862#ixzz1Sqv0qfNu

And P.S.- read some of the comments people are making at the bottom of that DP page. I think many people are truly shocked to find out how much teachers get - and they have almost 4 months a year off!

What- no comment on that last post?