Today the teachers at my school found a “Pledge Card” in our mail boxes. The principal would like us to donate money to our own school. There are some checkboxes: $50, $100, $500, $2500, $5000, or “Other”. I’m just not sure which one to check.
My raises the last four years have been 2%, 2%, 0%, and 1% (yes, that includes steps and lanes…I can’t move up until the year 2011, when I will get a $1500 raise). And according to the BLS, the inflation rate from January 2001 to March 2005 is 10.39%. So I’ve lost lots of real income over the last four years. I’ve worked through the “Yeah, were flush with money, but it is the taxpayers’ money so you can’t have it” and through the “We have no money, so you can’t have any” periods. I’ve been teaching in a district that passed a referendum to keep average class sizes at 26 students but next year is being budgeted for 34 kids per class (40 more kids per day, so I’ll teach 170 each day).
I shouldn’t be bitter about it, but I find it offensive that I’m in a profession where we have to buy our own supplies and then gets asked for more of our own salaries to keep it running.
Maybe I spoke too soon and can afford it. It also says on the Pledge Card that I can support the school not only with a check, but a “gift of appreciated stock”. Or the real kicker, by using a credit card….as if I should go into debt so that the citizens of the state won’t have to buy me overhead pens and white board markers.
Our principal, who emailed us about the Pledge Cards earlier wrote that we should see if our partner’s employer will match our donations. Maybe I’ll ask my wife’s principal if he would be willing to match my donation to my own school.
