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Interesting Dallas Morning News Article

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 4475f.html

I know this is not what you want to read... but so what? I do not make what my football coach makes , even though he has not won a game in three years and my band is pretty darn good. Why is that the way it is (Notice I did not say FAIR or RIGHT)? He sells tickets. The football team generates revenue. The band does not. Our concerts are wonderfully artistic, intelectually stimulating, emotionally uplifting yet poorly attended events. His games are infuriating, dissapointing, frustrating yet well attended athletic fiascos. We make enough money from football ticket sales (and booster fundraisers) to run our football program (and softball, baseball, golf, and bowling). Our girls basketball pays for all basketball and volleyball. Thier budget is greater because their revenue is greater. Their revenue is greater because their draw is greater. The coach, and his assistants, make more than I do because their skills(?) are more marketable and thus more valuable to our community. I think that it is sad and wrong, but I think that it is the way it is. What good does it do for me to cry "foul" and to kick and scream? If I make enough noise, perhaps they could just eliminate my program and use those funds for cross-country and track.

Even though EVERY senior I have graduated in the past ten years who wanted a music scholarship got one, this little community cannot appreciate the value of what I do. There are many instances of this in our society. Is Morton's (Chicago) a superior dining experience to McDonald's (anywhere)? Count the cars in the two respective parking lots. Which establishment is more profitable? McDonald's makes more money because they get folks in. Michael Jordan - Itzhac Perlman. Brittany Spears - Denyce Graves. We pay who attracts crowds.

So we keep doing what we do. We keep trying to educate and illuminate. We accept that our rewards are not always temporal.

I thought education was about..............well, education. Since when does the revenue your group generates equate to the value or quality of the teaching being done, or the salary you "earn"? Since when did public education become a "for profit" enterprise? A lot of those band parents are at those games only because their kid is in the marching band. Does the band get a cut of the gate for attracting those people to the game? Yeah, right!

How about the drill team parents? I think not. Since our schools have become such egalitarian institutions of late, ex. "deferred succes", why don't we spread the wealth accordingly?

Please forgive my misspelling of the word "success". Kind of ironic, don't you think?

So are these coaches regular ed teachers during the day? Or are they full time coaches for $80K?

Around here the coaches (and marching band or jazz band directors) get an "extracurricular" salary. The coaching job is not a full time gig.

ken k

"I think schools recognize the impact that a good athletic program could have on a school, in terms of morale and a reduction in discipline problems and giving chances to participate in a wholesome program," Mr. Rutledge said.

I thought students achieving well on State exams in in their everyday, year-long classes, probably boost morale quite a bit as well!!

P.J. wrote:"I think schools recognize the impact that a good athletic program could have on a school, in terms of morale and a reduction in discipline problems and giving chances to participate in a wholesome program," Mr. Rutledge said.

I thought students achieving well on State exams in in their everyday, year-long classes, probably boost morale quite a bit as well!!

Well, maybe. How did your football team do your senior year. What was the average standardized test score during the same year?

Frustrating but true, I'm afraid. Here's an even better statistic. In the three years that I was a Texas high school band director, graduating seniors from our program earned over a million dollars in scholarship monies to attend college. In the same three years, graduating seniors from all athletic programs combined did not even come close to that amount. Now why don't we read about that in our newspapers or see it on the news?

On the flip side, who among us chose the tuba/euphonium/music educator/etc. path because there's mad cash waiting at the end of the rainbow? I do what I do because I love it and there's nothing else on earth I'd rather do. And I get paid for it!!!! We can gripe all we want, but in the end, we either need to shut up or get coaching jobs..............

my 2 cents,

The government should regulate everyone's salaries. Nobody should make more than $50,000 a year in the USA. It just isn't fair! Everyone should make the same stash no matter what one does.

I see and agree with your point Smoke Man. I was merely taking the point of the- WARNING-subtle political content- leftist socialist position. If many of the directors, and fine classroom teachers, I know were paid according to their and their kids performance, they would easily eclipse the pay of these coaches.

If any of y'all who are teachers went into teaching to become wealthy, then y'all didn't do your homework.

Christian (agreeing with Carroll and Henry)

Pepsi put up the money seven years ago in the school district where I work to build a stadium. Now it even pays coaches' salaries. At least, it's not coming from the tax base.

And now they can't serve soda pop during school hours to the kids.

Just so it is said...People do not go to HS football games just to see the football game. They go to see the marching band as well. In a lot of places, the band is the attraction, especially when the band is great and the football team can not buy a touchdown. Revenue for the football games by ticket sales are not for football alone.

Sure no one goes into teaching to get rich, but lets be fair, music teaching jobs require a lot of hours on the job, and the pay simply is not enough. All teachers should be paid more...especially if they are good.

I'm not an expert on this; perhaps someone with more inside knowledge can confirm or deny my suspicions.

It is interesting to me that where football is concerned, schools demand results. If the coach doesn't produce, they'll get rid of him and get someone who can. Teachers (in general, not specifically BDs) seem to be virtually impossible to get rid of. Why is it that schools can/will replace a poor coach but cannot/will not replace a poor biology teacher? Does the demand for QUALITY allow a good coach to differentiate himself from a poor one enough that the laws of supply and demand make a significant salary difference? It is my suspicion that this is the case.

It seems to me that good teachers would be smart to burn their NEA cards and LOUDLY denounce collective bargaining. They should demand high teacher standards (including testing) in order to rid the schools of poor teachers, thereby decreasing the supply and increasing the pay of those who make the cut.
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Joe Baker, who would not begrudge $80,000 -- or more -- to a great teacher, but would fight tooth and nail to keep from paying that much for ALL teachers.