$2150

My teacher bonus...er...incentive pay for this year is $2150. Don't worry, I'll only see $1466.44 after taxes. Gotta pay for Obama's condoms somehow, right? (I can make that joke because I voted for him).

The largest bonus given on my campus was $7865; went to an 8th grade science teacher who I know works pretty hard. I checked my previous campus which has now been rated "Unacceptable" two years in a row by TEA. The largest bonus there went to a social studies teacher, $5250. The principal there only got $2056.50. At my kids' elementary school, their teachers' bonuses were considerably less. $1275 to be exact. I mentor a teacher at Henry Middle School. Of all the teachers at Henry, only 3 will receive incentive pay. $2500 each.

I take a lot of pride in what I do. I teach a subject that has no curriculum or standards for the grades that I teach. I take over 100 students to tournaments throughout the year which eat up entire weekends. I coach them in over a dozen events. However, I feel pretty confident in saying that every teacher mentioned above works harder than I do. In some cases, they are rewarded. In others, they are done a dis-service. Most of them have students who bring issues into the class that I don't see where I'm at.

I don't really care about the posting of teacher bonuses. It's a small price to pay to let the public know that our superintendent is getting a bonus that is nearly twice as much as what I take home every year. This is why I think our salaries should also be posted. So the public can understand the bonus within the context of what we usually see. It'll add another level of despair. They won't ever post our salaries so I'll have to tell you mine:

$48, 506.

Now, before you start making me your Uncle Obama and asking me for loans, let me say a few things. I pay $445 before taxes for my medical insurance. You may not be familiar with my provider option. It's the one with the $1000 per/family member deductible before the insurance kicks in. Sarah has no problem racking up $1000. She can do that in her sleep, God bless her. It's just the rest of us relatively healthy folks who are scrambling to pay for doctor's visits till we rack up $1000 (and then we're only covered for in-network providers for 80%) Remember, that's $1,000 per person in our family.

In one year, our insurance costs $10,500. So, let's see...subtract that from my salary and it's about $38000. Subtract my federal taxes and I'm down to about $37,200 (I claim my wife and 3 kids, thank you very much). This breaks down to about $1400 per pay period.

Bonus $1466. Every two weeks $1400 (it's actually slightly less, but what's fifty dollars or so when you're buying used tires and store-brand groceries?)

A good friend of mine is teaching in Aldine. I don't know if Aldine gives bonuses, but last year he taught at Sam Houston. He was fired in June as they "reconstituted" the school, even though his English students had made gains (as evident by his bonus of $2900). In fact, the highest bonus for any math teacher at Sam is $500. All the teacher bonuses above that went to english and social studies teachers, which means their students made substantial gains. And they closed the school why?...Oh, that's right...to save their own administrative behinds.

In a broke system like public education, there are many broken pieces. Incentive pay is one of them. Where I'm at, it's about as good as it will ever get. When I got hired at Lanier, I almost felt like I had won the lottery. But I do have some guilt. The record amount in bonuses paid out this year could've gone towards computer labs, math tutors, afterschool programs, field trips, etc. Teachers are underpaid, that's a given. But you don't fill in a hole with dirt dug from another hole.