Frankly, Mr. Thomas, that was a tacky assault. Who would know more about the implication of school funding than someone who works in a school? If you wanted to understand heart surgery, would you call an auditor? I'm not really sure if your point is that teachers should be well-educated, highly qualified and poor or if you're a boor who resents having to pay taxes for public education children.

Bob thanks for the comment. It was not my intention to complain about pay. I gladly supported a par freeze last year and I'm not sure if your numbers take that into consideration (maybe they do). My only point was to counter the argument that is now frequently made that the state did not cut education funding. I believe in public education. I was a product of it and I want it to be strong for my children and the other children that I have come to know through teaching. Also, if people want to make cuts in a budget, I just think they should be up front about it. I don't feel that has been the case in regards to education funding.

Mr Spengler, Instead of a pay freeze how about a pay cut? Do you really think you are worth $9838 more this year then in 2009? Are you that much better of a teacher?

The math is unsustainable Salaries can't keep going up 4 to 6% a year no matter what the economy is. And all that happens with a pay freeze is you skip your raise for one year and then get it the following year along with the raise from that year.

The issue here is not full disclosure by an editorial contributor, it is full disclosure by our politicians. I see no reason to attack this man for his salary (which is public information) when tax payers are being intentionally deceived about education funding through accounting tricks. Mr. Spengler did not try to deceive anyone, but he was merely pointing out the deception being perpetrated by our elected officials. If you disagree with him, disagree with his facts and figures, but not his salary. I agree with srodham69, it is a tacky assault.

Bob again thanks for the question. The pay freeze did not work that way for us. I'm making one year less on the scale than I would have. If you feel my pay should be cut I respect your opinion. The only thing I can do is do the best I can. I'm greatful for the opportunity to serve as a teacher.

Rob thanks for the resonse. I was striving to tell the truth as best I could. I fact checked the numbers numerous times. Let me know what you feel is untruthful and I will gladly reconsider.

Hi Mark,
The problem is the budget for Pa is stuck at $27 billion and the psers pension obligations due to public employees went up around $2 billion this year and is growing almost exponentially. Since the state can't print money, all of the overpaid public pensioners are taking food off the table for families and will continue to mercilessly gut any state program. So when you use th PSEA gripping points about Corbett, you should look squarely in the mirror at your PSEA organization. If I were a state rep, I would have fought for the bankruptcy of the state to get out of the outrageous pension promises, and I will tell you, I'm not the only one talking about it. When the state has no money, do you really think you will retire on 87% for life?

Rob I appreciate your points. I do not use PSEA talking points. I may read PSEA material along with a lot of other material, but I always verify it and I prefer to go to more neutral sources of information. I agree that the pension problem is very real. I think that Governor Ridge and the GOP led legislature in 2001 made some very bad calls when they increased the multipliers in both the SERS and PESERS systems and also cut the numbers of years to be vested in half. When the markets crashed (which was also caused by some very bad decisions/laws) it got worse. Amazingly the state continued to avoid paying into the system for years even as things continued to go south. So you had a system that was once self-sustaining off investments become this moster problem. I hope you and I can agree that I nor any other teachher caused this problem. I find it ironic that Republican lawmakers point the finger at anybody else other than themselves. I would hope the sate would not go bankrupt but I know that is a possibility. It was my understadning that the GOP was supposed to tackle this issue right here in the fall. I'm not hearing much. What are your hearing?

Mark, you are correct about sharing the blame with the Ridge administration and the state house in 2001 that was republican. The enemy that you don't recognize is more dangerous than the enemy that you do recognize. The problem is now we are on a path towards bankruptcy and there is not enough money to fulfill wish lists and status quo, so when you complain over the small pieces of budgets, you miss the big picture--- we are going broke and the system is at risk. Unless we want a commonwealth with the best paid public retirees in the country and a broken down populus, we need to attack the problem in ways not tried before. We need out of the public pension guarantee. That is the issue, not picaune little details of public sector complaints.

Really? Is any drug testing a condition of employment for teachers in EPSD or EASD or anywhere in between?

of course there's no drug testing

Bob Thomas, we live by this thing called a Constitution, which means you have to follow rules, like innocent until proven guilty...habeas corpus. You can accuse anyone of anything. It has to be true.

You are right Mr Deely is innocent of a crime. What he is guilty of is being someone in their 30's at an education conference who would allow people to engage in illegal activity in his room. If he couldn't stand up to his teacher buddies to tell them to stop smoking pot in HIS room, how is he going to stand up to them in Harrisburg? No back bone, lack of judgement, lack of will, wants to finally be part of the cool crowd. Take your pick but a leader he is not. And we can not afford another person who just wants to get along representing us in Harrisburg. If you can't say no to pot what else won't he say no to?

@Coopersburg Parent:I agree. Let's begin with our school boards and our superintendents..they are the folks screwing up our schools with their backwards decision making skills. We parents need to take over and demand the education system work for our children. Yes, we have budget cuts..now if we could just get the boards and the supers to prioritize properly.