Application: in stable marriage; has two children and two more on the way; employed as high school teacher and track coach at $27,000; works part-time in supermarket to make additional $3,000; has relatively low student loans of $20,000 after graduating from a state university; finds suitable house near relative (presumably potential babysitter) for $143,000 in Hunley Park, Alice Birney, & Stall High School districts. MORTGAGE DENIED.
This phenomenon comes at the same time that the media report local brides' trashing wedding dresses probably costing more to wear for one day than what Maurice Grant makes all year in his part-time job. If you check out the comments section in the P & C's story of today, you will find mean-spirited remarks on how he should have postponed children, found a cheaper house out in the country, spent more time commuting, etc. For those of you who haven't searched for housing lately, $143,000 IS a cheap house. Not one comment appears on how low this college graduate's salary is! Why do I believe that none of these derogatory comments come from TEACHERS?
I suspect these comments arose because Grant's story is part of a campaign by State Senator Robert Ford publicizing the poor mortgage market for the Lowcountry's black community. After all, Grant was ENCOURAGED by the Bank of America to apply. He could have gone the route that is producing so many foreclosures, but he sensibly chose not to.
Good teachers are not a dime a dozen. Here we have a professional making a "working-class" salary. At the very least South Carolina should forgive student loans on a percentage basis for each year worked as a teacher in its public schools.
Those wishing to teach should not be required to take vows of poverty or have independent means.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
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12 comments:
Babbie (Babble to the uninformed), your critics don't get it. This analysis of a P&C article (and the insensitive comments posted on its web site) is exactly what this blog is all about.
I think it is horrible that a teacher is paid so poorly. I haven't read the negative comments yet, but the home's price is well below the median for this area which translates into higher "social costs" like longer commutes, higher crime, lower quality construction and higher energy & maintenance costs. Like with complaints and issues expressed by downtown parents, P&C readers (and editors) are seriously lacking an ability to empathize with others in what is becoming an increasingly self-centered society.
I haven't read the P&C comments, either, but I have two comments:
a) It's not mean-spirited to point out that a person with a $30,000 income cannot afford a $143,000 mortgage. A $100,000 mortgate, maybe.
b) The article says he's a teacher and a coach. Why is he making only $27,000? The lowest salary listed on the CCSD teacher salary schedule is more than $32,000 per year. Is he a part-time teacher? A non-certified teacher? Just curious.
So am I. Maybe someone else can clear that up.
This is a SAD story that we should ALL be concerned about.
And we wonder why we can't get and keep decent teachers?
So all those stories about creating housing for the working poor (firemen, police and teachers) was a lie. There's no such thing as affordable housing in this community. The hoops are so complicated that any family making less than $50,000 per year would find it difficult to qualify for a $150,000 home (if you could find a home at that price) within driving distance of work and basic services.
I also don't understand how his pay is so low...unless CCSD is "messing" with him. I have heard that CCSD is giving some people positions as "interim" employees instead of "permanent" (which under law is only for one year anyway). The difference is that as an interium employee he would have only a "temporary" nine or ten month contract and not a standard one for 12 months. (This is not to be confused with the 10 or 12 month pay period option that teachers have to receive their pay spread out, if they want, over the calendar year instead of the school year.) CCSD has unilaterally lowered the pay of some teacher slots and effectively recalculated their saleries by 3/4 or 4/5 of what their full salery for exactly the same work might have been. These people are effectively "let go" in June and "rehired" every August. CCSD does this to people who believe they are over a barrel and have no other choice. New hires, less experienced teachers and aspiring administrators are all being abused this way. CCSD is doing a lot of this to get around paying teachers and administrators full saleries. Yes, Maria, you were a very good plantation overseer.
Now, do you think we need a real teacher's union in Charleston County?
A friend told me about your blog. It's very interesting. I left Charleston and moved back to Greenville so I could buy a home AND follow my dream of teaching.
I used to be a substitute teacher in Charleston County. That's also a sad story. I was a waitress at Gilligan's any chance I could get to supplement my income so I could pay rent.
In Greenville County, we pay our substitutes over $100.00 a day.
I was a C of C grad and would have loved to stay in Charleston, but I couldn't afford it.
I agree with Clisby. Two and half times the gross income is a good ballpark for house hunting. Of course, people through that theory to the wind when we had those great low interest rates. But where do you find a home for parents with children for under $140,000 anywhere in the Tri-County area???
Don't you hate it when you proofread your comment AFTER you've already posted it?
I should have typed "threw" not through. Luckily noone on this blog seems to be taking shots at grammatical errors.
Thanks for that.
I'm not disputing that teachers are underpaid, by the way. To me, though, the biggest problem highlighted by the story is that no responsible mortgage lender should even have been talking about loaning $143,000 to someone with a $30,000 income (unless the applicant owns other property that could be used to back the loan). There's no way this makes any financial sense - it's not even borderline.
I still want to know how CCSD is getting away with paying this teacher so little. A bigger question might be how it is getting away with paying a significant number of people on its payroll below CCSD's officially approved minimum pay levels. I think the whole system of interim appointments is part of a very unprofessional practice that throws out titles like confetti but withholds pay and benefits which would attract and keep better teachers and administrators.
Once again, I agree with Clisby...
yet isn't that the problem with the escalated foreclosures everywhere?
People have been buying homes they can't afford...plain and simple.
Luckily I bought by home before the "boom" - yet, how could I afford one now?
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