Oklahoma Teacher Pay Ranked 14th Highest
By Tyson Wynn | November 20, 2008 | Print This Post
J. Scott Moody and Brandon Dutcher write at NewsOK that there is a very important part of the discussion being ignored in regards to the Oklahoma teacher pay discussion.
What must be considered in this and any conversation about income is that same area’s cost of living. Sure, Oklahoma’s teacher pay ranks low (40th in the U.S in 2007), but so does our cost of living.
According to the ACCRA cost-of-living index, Oklahoma’s cost of living ranges from 8.5 percent (Lawton) to 17.6 percent (Pryor Creek) below the national average.
Overall, of the 12 areas surveyed in Oklahoma, the average cost of living was more than 13 percent below the national average. That means Oklahoma teachers can buy more goods and services with their income.
And, on top of that, not only is teacher pay at the bottom of the list (in actual dollars), so are most other professions:
So it’s not just our state’s teachers who rank near the bottom (48th, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics). So do our accountants (46th) and our pharmacists (41st) and our CEOs (46th).
Indeed, nearly all of the most common occupations (based on total employment) in the state rank near the bottom: general and operations managers (48th); secretaries (47th); general office clerks (41st); janitors and cleaners (45th); cashiers (47th); bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks (46th); truck drivers (45th); registered nurses (49th); waiters and waitresses (43rd); nursing aides and orderlies (47th); maintenance repairers (41st); and licensed practical nurses (46th).
The hard truth is, most Oklahomans are paid less than their counterparts in other states. Few of our occupations are near the top in 50-state rankings.
If teacher pay is too low (and I don’t believe it is), it is not due to a lack of trying on our parts:
Oklahoma ranks 26th among the 50 states in state and local education spending as a percentage of personal income.
The kicker to the whole conversation is this:
…former public school teacher Terry Stoops, now a public policy researcher in North Carolina, discovered in 2007 that when adjusted for cost of living, pension contribution and experience, teacher compensation in Oklahoma ranks an impressive 14th in the nation. (emphasis mine)
Long story short (I know, too late): most of us in Oklahoma are paid less than our counterparts elsewhere in America, but it costs us less to live here, and we’re all doing more than our fair share at rewarding teachers for their service. Don’t buy into the hype about low teacher pay, especially here. If I want to make more money for doing the same job, I have the option of moving to where my profession is better rewarded (and not trying to pass a law that requires the state legislature give me a raise). Of course, I run the very real risk that it will cost me more to live there. It’s a choice everyone has to make.
Topics: My 2¢, News, Oklahoma, Politics | 4 Comments »
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It is Possible to Laugh and Cry at the Same Time
By Tyson Wynn | November 19, 2008 | Print This Post
Click here. Watch the video.
Topics: Barack Obama, John McCain, Politics, Sarah Palin | No Comments »
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Sometimes Getting What You Want is a Curse
By Tyson Wynn | November 15, 2008 | Print This Post
Larrey Anderson posts at the American Thinker blog:
America’s young people helped elect Barack Obama. Way to go kids! This article is for you. Let’s take a look at your future.
We won’t need a time machine. We will just need to visit Europe and talk to the youth of France, Italy, and Greece. Don’t worry. They won’t mind. They have plenty of time to talk. They don’t have jobs.
Young people in Western Europe tend to sit around, smoke Marlboro cigarettes, drink espresso (and Coca Cola), and (at least until this election) [gritch] about America.
He then describes overhearing a discussion among young people at a cafe in Rome in which they, feeling the pain of socialism, have determined not that socialism is evil but that they just haven’t empowered the right socialists. It’s worth a read, especially the conclusion:
Listen up young Americans: What is coming to the United States is what has been happening in Europe for decades. The ships of state have smashed into an iceberg called socialism and they are sinking.
This is not a Republican versus Democrat thing. Republicans had ten years to clean up the mess. They made it worse. I don’t blame you for wanting to throw the bums out. I did too.
But putting in a new and improved and ever more aggressive socialist like Obama is not the answer. (Don’t argue about his socialism. Go to his website and show me some free market proposals.) They have been trying this in Europe for three generations. It has not worked.
That trillion-dollar “bi-partisan” bailout passed by our Congress did not go to the people who cannot make their house payments. It is being handed out to the big bankers and to big business.
That is how socialism works. Politicians, bankers, and big businessmen do an age-old dance in triple time. There is no trickle down economics in socialism. Almost all of the money stays at the top.
America will soon be, like Europe has been, waltzing on the Titanic. Thanks for the dance.
Topics: Socialism | No Comments »
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Intellectual Socialism
By Tyson Wynn | November 15, 2008 | Print This Post
Under socialism, the producers pay for the non-producers. Apparently, at Langston University, the responsible thinking persons pay for the brain-dead losers.
In a story on NewOK.com, it is reported that because some skull-full-of-jello fired a gun on the Langston University campus, rules are being changed to improve safety on campus. The changes?
- a safety hot line,
- hiring more police officers, and
- a random apartment search policy.
Absolutely none of the above measures will do anything to make campus safer. A safety hotline (isn’t that 911) and more police may help clean up after someone’s been shot. And the random apartment search is ludicrous in a free society. But I’m sure everyone feels better now that there’s a new policy.
And to illustrate how maligned guns are in this society (instead of the morons who accidentally fire them (by the way, guns do not go off accidentally unless they are seriously damaged)), just pretend that, because they found some crack or meth or weed on campus, university officials decide there will now be random apartment searches. See the disparity?
Students, time to move off campus where you can legally have a gun for protection (kept out of reach of idiots who “accidentally” fire them) and where you are safe from your “protectors” searching through your personal effects to make sure you don’t have a gun (or maybe eventually a Bible, or maybe pen and paper, Winston). This is just an example of how the government will erode your rights for your own good if you will let them. Sure, we’ll help you afford college. Sure, you can live on campus. Oh, but wait, you cannot defend yourself with a gun if someone attacks you. But, it’ll be OK because we have an emergency hotline you can call and get one of our many police officers to mop up the blood. Oh, and we’ll be pilfering through your things on a regular basis. We’ll only need this phone hotline until we get the telescreens installed. Now don’t you feel safe?
I’ll be interested to see if the many who have been writhing in anguish over eavesdropping on terrorists will make a peep about this.
P.S. Anyone who’s ever tried to get an open record from a university is probably laughing (if it didn’t hurt so much) at this whole situation. One must move heaven and earth to have access to documents that are public by law, yet the university regularly tramples students’ 2nd and 5th Amendment rights with no outcry. I think I’m gonna be sick.
Topics: 1st Amendment, 2nd Amendment, Legal, My 2¢, News, Oklahoma, Open Records, Rants, Socialism | 2 Comments »
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Tragedy in My Hometown
By Tyson Wynn | November 11, 2008 | Print This Post
Jeane and I are both from Welch, OK, a place that is very special to us. Both of our parents still live there, as do many of our friends. We were very sad to learn of the recent double homicide there. If anyone has any information, please contact the Craig County Sheriff’s Office.
Copy & Paste: http://www.newson6.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=3121272&at1=News&h1=Couple Found Shot To Death
Topics: General Post | No Comments »
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RAM It!
By Tyson Wynn | November 11, 2008 | Print This Post
You’ll notice a bit of cyber silence from me for a couple days, as some bad RAM has caused some issues with my PC. I should be up and running again soon. Enjoy the break….
Topics: General Post | 1 Comment »
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Genuine Hope
By Tyson Wynn | November 9, 2008 | Print This Post
This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?
The lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad.
Have a great Lord’s Day!
Topics: General Post | 1 Comment »
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Reports of the Republican Party’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
By Tyson Wynn | November 6, 2008 | Print This Post
There is a deluge of commentary, from all over the political spectrum, announcing that the Republican party is dead. Some have even put dates on just exactly when it happened.
The Republican party is not dead, yet. It has strayed dangerously away from its bases is in conservatism. The Republican party does not have to die, but it will if we Republicans do not get serious about enforcing conservatism within its ranks.
This is the time where we will decide the future of our party. If we misinterpret America’s rejection of John McCain as a rejection of conservatism (which it decidedly was not) and allow party leaders to pull us further left, the party is doomed. If, however, the base demands that the party return to the right, we can salvage the party.
We’ve been through this before. Many thought the party died with Gerald Ford in 1976. Then Regan resurrected the party—with hardcore conservatism—in 1980. We enjoyed a successful run … until we began drifting from our core beliefs.
So the prognosis is this: reform or die.
And it is worth it for us right-wingers to recapture the party. We have built it. We own it. We need its infrastructure and groundwork. It is shortsighted to cede it to the centrists. If anyone should leave, they should.
And finally, we have got to get better at converting people to conservatism. We must become effective at educating people about conservatism and why it is inherently better for everyone. It would be good practice to begin converting the already half-converted before we begin to spread the call wider. We will certainly be helped in the endeavor when the Obama administration’s liberal policies go into effect and we begin to feel the natural result of them.
Topics: Politics | 2 Comments »
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Here’s Your Change
By Tyson Wynn | November 6, 2008 | Print This Post
President-Elect Obama is beginning to choose his team. So far, his choices include Rahm Emanuel (former Clinton staffer) as Chief of Staff and John Podesta (former Clinton staffer) as head of transition team. There’s a rumor that John Kerry is jockeying for Secretary of State, though his spokesman is denying it (so it’s probably true), and Jon Corzine, governor of New Jersey, is denying he’s under consideration for Secretary of the Treasury.
I guess this is “the change we must change to the change we hold dear.”
Topics: Barack Obama | 1 Comment »
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Enough Already
By Tyson Wynn | November 5, 2008 | Print This Post
Drudge is showing a headline that “Impeach Obama” Facebook groups are already popping up. Good grief people, exhibit a bit more composure than the wackos who have been plagued by Bush Derangement Syndrome for eight years.
Barack Obama won the election, and elections have consequences. He has the right to govern. Better to come up with productive ways to be part of an effective opposition than to yell “Impeach him!” before he’s even sworn in. (By the way, good luck getting article of impeachment out of a Democrat-controlled House or a conviction out of a Democrat-controlled Senate.) People amaze me.
Topics: Barack Obama, Politics | No Comments »
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