I just went to the TFA website and am aghast at the horrible wages!

[AllyCat]

They have a compensation table with average cost for living expenses. It reads like that fast food chain's online budget tool. $33,700 salary in Chicago with rent at $1050? Daycare $800, utilities $150, insurance $50. By the time one adds in taxes, vehicle insurance or mass transit costs, there is no money left to buy food. They have to pay their own fees for licensure and training it appears. They don't mention clothing or expense of parking a car if the person has one.

How can anyone live like that? It's like big box wages for a tough job. These people , our children, and the qualified professionals they replace deserve more!

[daleanime]

1. Kick....

[unrepentant progress]

2. How can anyone live like that?

Easy. Have rich parents who can support you. That's why TFA's not only bad for education, but also undemocratic.

[madfloridian]

3. TFA itself gets thousands from the districts that hire their recruits.

I doubt the teachers themselves see that part of it....but they do get their schools loans either forgiven or repayment delayed. Can't remember now.

TFA teachers cost taxpayers more money than traditionally educated teachers. The afore-mentioned review shows that the average cost of a TFA teacher is $70,000 per recruit. Public school districts are paying twice for recruiting: from $2,000 to $5,000 to TFA per recruit plus funding recruitment by their internal human resources departments. Recruitment costs should be one-time expenditures, but at the current rate of attrition, districts must pay anew every time a TFA teacher leaves. According to Barbara Miner’s investigations, on top of their school district-paid salaries, Teach for America candidates also receive taxpayer-funded Americorps stipends, plus because of their TFA member status, they qualify for funding that people who take traditional teacher training routes don’t. Finally, TFA receives millions in local, state, and federal dollars. TFA annual reports show that about a third of costs are borne by the public—add in a $50,000,000 grant they received from the Department of Education this past spring, and that share has probably risen. How can the federal government subsidize a jobs program for the privileged as it struggles to extend unemployment benefits for those who have lost their jobs?

Big advantage for TFA...college loan repayment can be postponed or reduced.

[AllyCat]

5. Thank you for this!

I'm running for school board in my district and a rumor is flying around that the supt traveled to TFA recently. Walker has decimated our schools and staff contracts.

[madfloridian]

6. Good luck on your campaign.

[elfin]

4. It's basically a paid internship

For resume building to get into the corporate side of the Ed. Biz. Bigger bucks ahead.

Many grads are stuck in unpaid internships after graduation, so in these times, it looks good to them for a very short time.

[lutefisk]

10. Stepping stone to "CEO" of a school district...

...by the age of 30. Or maybe a big payday taking tax dollars for private charters. It's a very effective way into the world of profiting from public education dollars.

There is a whole generation of people with little or no academic background in education taking over the school systems of our nation. Traditional programs and academic departments are being marginalized by the big money interests and replaced by MBA type programs run by "institutes" or on the periphery of higher ed. And it's Republicans and Democrats promoting this- just look at Arne Duncan's (lack of) qualifications and his attacks on public education.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. "the qualified professionals they replace" ... my, you slipped that shiv in smoothly.

Nice work !

[Igel]

8. It's considered public service.

You graduate and typically aren't worried about daycare. It's a way to avoid hitting the job market for a while. Some go to grad school afterwards. Some go to business, having done a stint of socially-minded public service and "giving back".

The TFA candidates tend to be very good students, highly ranked in their classes. Some have, nonetheless, few marketable skills or, rather, few proven skills. TFA helps with that.

What a lot of people miss is the aspirational function of teaching. Teachers don't just teach content. They also teach attitudes and try to excite the imagination. When an Ivy League grad talks about school, kids can have one of two reactions (besides indifference, the lack of reaction): They can reject that as anything they might aspire to or they can look at it, picture themselves there, and aspire to such an education.

[AllyCat]

9. Teaching kids with very little TEACHING training is a public service?

Aspirations are great, but I don't see how this is going to get kids to pass those tests that are so all important right now. They can talk about all the great stuff all they want, but if they can't teach a multitude of kids with varied learning styles and abilities, it's not going to be effective for the tests or anything else.

And the big picture is local districts are eating this up...because they can fire those "high-paid" union thugs and put these folks in charge for a cut-rate. What a bargain! And they even have to pay their own insurance. And I wonder just what kind of apartment can one can find in Chicago for $1050/mo. A cardboard box at the park-n-ride?

They are great students, many of them. They are unlikely to be great teachers.

[knitter4democracy]

11. Um, that's more than I got paid as a new teacher last year.

It's not much less than I make now (better district: $36K a year). That's what new teachers make.

[AllyCat]

12. Gads, even with the economics posted about rent, utils?

Their site lists living expenses in Chicago that are completely unaffordable, and unrealistic. I'm aghast at what we pay our teachers!

[knitter4democracy]

13. Let's just say I was lucky to get child support.

My house payment was $1150/month, more than one of my two paychecks a month. This year, I'm still having to pay that on a house I can't sell as well as $750/month rent and $600/month propane bills. It's more than a little tight. Oh, and I'm in the middle of my master's. *sighs*

[AnneD]

14. This is why school districts love TFA....

They can replace one experienced teacher for 3 or 4 TFA indentured teacher. They only stay until the contract expires. They may get some of their loans forgiven but they are gone gone gone. We have a hard time keeping and experienced teacher are disrespected, put on growth plans and anything to humiliate them and get them to leave. I am a school nurse and this is my last year. I am retiring and going to a hospital to work 5 more years and earn some real money. I took less for 25 years only to be pissed on. We have a major brain drain going on in public school.