A study by Shawano County Taxpayers of public school salaries and benefits in Shawano County, Wisconsin, reveals that Shawano County has a 11.5% unemployment rate with an average full time wage of $28,142 per year, but that in Shawano School District, every public school teacher makes more than the average Shawano county worker, and the ‘Top 20’ teachers make more than twice as much.
Shawano County needs to have public school teacher and administrator salaries reflect wages local taxpayers earn. How can the average worker making $28,000 afford the property, income, sales and utility taxes needed to support high teacher salaries and outrageous pensions? Public salaries, pensions and benefits need to be brought back to earth. There is a huge disconnect between public employees’ compensation and the everyday private sector worker who pays the taxes to enrich these government employees.
The average salary of the Top 20 salaries is over $7,200/mo. in a county where the average worker makes $2,350/mo. — assuming he or she has a job at all. And on top of that, the Top 20’s Fringe Benefit cost at $2,600/mo is more than the total wages of the typical full time Shawano County worker, and brings the Top 20’s average compensation to over $107,000/yr. So to taxpayers in Shawano County, I say: this is why our property taxes keep going up.
Shawano County public schools exist of the teachers, by the teachers and for the teachers. While Shawano County taxpayers struggle to make ends meet, teachers work in a privileged environment of high-paying, guaranteed jobs, 3 months a year off, short work-days, and early retirement, all at a extremely high cost to the hardworking taxpayers of Shawano County. Public school teachers and all public employees need to live and work in the same employment environment as the taxpayer. No guarantees, no short work years, no short workdays and retirement at 65 just like the rest of us. The days of special deals for teachers must end.
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