It’s about time teachers’ salaries are on the rise

To the editor:

In response to the article “Study of Teachers’ Salaries Raises Eyebrows,” dated Tuesday, April 16, I have a few comments to make. First, it’s about time teachers salaries are on the rise, and second, why are the median job salaries in Greene County for non-teaching jobs so low? $40,801 for a job with a bachelor’s degree is barely a living wage. In Columbia County the salaries are much higher for these positions. I know there is a lot of outrage when we talk about a living wage, but really employers seem to be taking advantage of their staff. I believe if a business can’t afford to pay it’s people a good wage, they shouldn’t be in business.

The article seems to have a negative tone regarding teachers. There is much resentment about their salaries. The disrespect for the teaching profession is widespread in America, and I can’t understand it. The value of a good education is immeasurable. It is the pathway to a better life.

We seem to have few objections for the enormous amounts of money spent on prisons, wars and walls. Right in Greene County they are building a new prison at a very high cost to the taxpayer, and that passed with very little objection. There is little outrage for the salaries of CEOs of big corporations, Wall Street, drug companies, banks. The fact that these companies have been given huge tax cuts and the Middle Class has seen few benefits, is quite unbelievable. But it’s the teachers who get people riled up. I, for one, would rather pay for our schools and our teachers than continue to give money away for corporations and the wealthy. Any problems with our education system, and we have them, should be addressed and corrected. Public education should be revered not looked down on.

Our priorities are really upside down. When educated people are mocked as “elitists” it’s a sad day.

Dorothy Castaldo

Catskill