Average teacher makes $44K while their top union bosses pull in nearly $500K

Reports that the presidents of the nation’s two biggest teachers unions saw their pay jump 20 percent last year, to nearly half a million dollars apiece, has riled former Michigan Schools Superintendent Tom Watkins.

(NEA President Dennis Van Roekel)

At a time when teachers across the country face pay freezes and possible layoffs, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten’s pay jumped to $407,323 between 2010 and 2011, according to Watkins, while her counterpart at the National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel, got a raise to $362,644. When stipends and other paid expenses are added in, Weingarten took in $493,859 and Van Roekel $460,060.

“The big salaries drew jeers from many educators and their advocates in the U.S., where the average nationwide salary for teachers is a scant $44,000 a year,” Watkins wrote in his newest online column. “By contrast, nearly 600 staffers at the NEA and AFT are raking in six-figure salaries, according to Association of American Educators Executive Director Gary Beckner.”

That’s right – 600 staffers making $100,000 or more.

Union executives rake in nearly 10 times the average household income and far more than any teacher.. At the same time, teachers’ pay is heading in the opposite direction.

Watkins quotes Tony Amorose, a history teacher with the Dearborn School District, who said no one begrudges union officials fair salaries. But Amorose said the steep increases are out of step with what the rank and file experience. After 21 years of teaching, he earns $74,000 a year. He said his personal finances are fine, but he worries about the pay younger and less experienced teachers get.

“It would be nice if the unions held the line a bit in a show of solidarity,” said Amorose, who is campaigning for state office. “I don’t mind paying dues, but I don’t see them going down with my compensation. They keep going up. I find it a bit frustrating that they would give themselves such significant salary and compensation increases.”

You can read the full column later this week at macombdaily.com.