If the monies for the retirement investment come out of the district's pay check it can not be a 401K it is a 403B. A teacher like any one can write out of their own checkbook or buy IRAs but those are not 401Ks.
I am sure the main reason that the teachers rejected the offer is 403Bs are 100 % the teacher's responsibility or payment. The pension fund may have district contributions as part of the compensation package. Maybe the state or districts did not offer to raise salaries etc. or pay a portion and thus the compensation package would be lowered not raised. As to pulling monies from firemen and police that is your state's issue and you will need to resolve that or live with it. In WI in 2011 teachers lost the right to bargain or have employee protection but the firemen and the police staffs were able to retain all their bargaining rights. I used support over a half a dozen security based foundations or actions and when that happened I send my money in other places.

Bryce

The teachers union is NOT the typical union you northern guys think. THE LOCAL school systems set the salaries. NEVER been negotiated around here.

Then in KY why are the teachers being demeaned when they don't even have any voice in their compensation package? It sounds like the problem lies elsewhere and that means the solution lies elsewhere. So non teachers are complaining about teachers getting paid too much when the people who set their pay are not teachers? Sounds like there are far greater issues to resolve but then that takes work and effort instead of complaining and whining.

Bryce

Dang do some research. It wasn't the fact of the 401k . IT WAS IF THE STATE invested even the withdraws from the NEW teachers checks and it went under it wasn't guaranteed. They could work their 27 years, invest in a retirement. The dumb law makers blow it . Then be 65 and not draw a dime. NOW REMEMBER they don't have social security to fall back on !!! They would loose there own money with held. PLUS ANSWER this oh wise one . WHY did the Governor attach it to a sewage treatment bill on the last day of the general assembly if it was such a good thing. It was lucky someone caught it and notified the teachers.
The whole basis of the teacher protest was the way the state law makers (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) away the teacher retirement fund. THAT was withheld from the teachers checks. It is independent of ALL retirements just like the railroad. Teachers aren't elilgble for Social security as it isn't taken out. Only those hired after 1989 or 1990 are eligible for medicare. That is why most teachers work part time jobs are will get a job after they retire to get enough quarters in so medicare will subsidize their ins when they retire.

Read above why the teachers even went to the capitol to start with. AND the only ones complaining about them getting paid too much are IDIOTS.

I'm with the OP here. Seems the educators blame the poorly educated children coming out of public schools on bad parents. I'll agree with them. So paying teachers more or spending more money on education will not fix the problem of bad parents. So don't waste the money.

If money could cure the problem, our students here should rank in the top 10 in performance not the bottom 5.

I did do some dang research oh wise one . You have your side of the story and the rest of us have ours and we are never going to agree because your wife is a teacher. With a 401k like the rest of the working world has, nothing is promised . And teachers and teacher unions lobby Frankfort all the time and I am sure with the new Democrat in office and every thing he promised them to get their vote your world will be just fine.

I did do some dang research oh wise one . You have your side of the story and the rest of us have ours and we are never going to agree because your wife is a teacher. With a 401k like the rest of the working world has, nothing is promised . And teachers and teacher unions lobby Frankfort all the time and I am sure with the new Democrat in office and every thing he promised them to get their vote your world will be just fine.

You are really misinformed about what they wanted more money for. IT WASN'T wages but more money for the class rooms...
Do you live around here . Next time an issue like this comes up turn on your captions as it appears you couldn't hear it.
OH yea as you read your captions say a thank for the teacher that taught you to read !!!!!!!

Calm down take it easy breath in and out .Feel better?

Oh my world is fine. But you are missing the point IF the 401 k they were going to enrol the new teachers in worked like the "working world's" then you may have a point .BUT THE 401k they were going to use NONE OF THE MONEY was guaranteed. 99.9% of the 401 's that people have thru work they get to choose if it's in a guaranteed account or high risk. Or at least what part goes where. THE STATE was going to have 100% of the say where the money went. The protest was that the OWNERS of the 401 k had NO choice in the matter where the monies went or how it was invested. Would you let that happen on your 401K???? Nope and no one here would. PLUS why did they try to push it thru riding on a sewer monitoring bill. Something stunk !!!!

Don't know & don't really care about most teachers & I just couldn't really care less about anyone's opinion about teachers. I only know one really well, I spent $130,000 educating her to take a $35,000 a year job cause she just flat cares. She never bowed to 'standards' and suffered because of it. She finally after 12 years of teaching inter city kids got tenure because she went to work for an inter city principal that had the same high standards. Ya, she's making probably about $60,000 a year now but so what? If she'd have taken my advice & become a truck driver she would have made that from the second year. She beats crappy teachers to death, she is out to get them cause she just flat cares about the job and the job is the children. That's the one & only teacher I know very very well & that's why I take exception to these posts. Do you all know any teacher that well?

For seven pages teachers, retired teachers, and spouses of teachers have been giving you first hand knowledge of how the system actually works or why some parts aren't working. Not what they hear on the news or what their cousins-friends-little sister says. No matter what you or the OP read, it isn't going to change your opinion on why teachers should be paid. But you or the OP have yet to offer a reasonable solution. You don't think teachers should be paid decent, they who or what do you expect to teach our kids? You don't want to give teachers anything them you may as well go down to the local McDonald's and start recruiting teachers there. So if the problem is bad parents then why rant on about how teachers shouldn't be paid well? Maybe this is more than an education problem. If you want to know why our students don't preform in the top 10 anymore, PLEASE go into a classroom and see what the current clientele is and the baggage they're carrying. Then come back with solutions to how we can help them. Honestly, academics are the least of the problems that most of these kids have.

Do you all know any teacher that well?

I do-and some of them are just plain lazy-overpaid liberal whiners. Constantly trying to guilt us into paying them more-BUT -it's always "for the kids"=BULL!! How many people out there work 9 months a year with a several weeks off during the year besides?? Figure that out and try to tell me they are underpaid. BULL! Comes out to roughly a years wages in 8 months. Are there any good ones out there? Of course there is-but there are to many of the lazy-overpaid liberal whiners that are all but impossible to get rid of....

I know a lot of guys that work 8, 9, 10 months a year and make double what a normal teacher makes.

I know plenty of folks that work year round and make less.

For sure.

I'm not necessarily sticking up for teachers but I don't believe the majority is overpaid. For sure not not the majority in the small school district my children attend.

I think the pensions got pretty generous with promises made on the backs of tax payers but that has been somewhat addressed here in MN.

Bryce
I don't know what happened with every other FD or PD around the state when act 10 took place??? The public was told and most believe FD and PD kept all their union bargain rights.. Not true, PD, FD lost the right to bargain health insurance with their contracts. The one thing we fought and argued most over we lost the right to bargain.. All they can do now is bargain wages and work conditions. Insurance they just get handed a package. At least as far as I know that is how it was when I left 5 years ago..

Mac

I just looked it up and the median income for a high school teacher nationwide is $60,000 a year. The median household income nationwide almost mirrors that.

The average starting salary for a new teacher nationwide is close to $39,000.

The problem with schools these days is very complex and there are many factors ranging from a society level to a local level. Most of the problems start with parents/lack of parenting. Show me the kid and I’ll guess what dad is like. But I’ll say that a common problem is that people with your attitude get on the school board to fix things. Look down on teachers in general. The good teachers don’t have anyone that has their back. The school is viewed as a business and money is king. Most of the good teachers leave the job. The best stay for the kids

Meanwhile the teachers pay for all the extra stuff out of pocket and basically work for health insurance after taxes I’m not sure what KY is like but here a teacher has to work an entire career to work their way up to where pay level should be. Pay for a lot of professions is based on the job, not necessarily by the hour

I feel bad for the teachers on here that have read through all of this and have been put down by the trapping community here

In general I pay attention to peoples attitudes on this site and how they treat others. I thank God every day I live where I do. Thank you to some of you for reminding me to thank him.