I am happy!! There is a lightness to my step .... a bit of joy in my soul .... I have 39 more school days left in the Public School system. I can do this! No matter what silliness the Texas Legislature comes up with next. No matter what TEA decides to do to TAKS scores. I will finally be in control of my future.
I am a burned out teacher.
Don't get me wrong ... I LOVE TEACHING!! I love teaching Math. I love teaching teenagers .... even the troubled ones. And I plan to continue teaching .... just in an environment which I control.
I have been teaching for 22 years in the Texas School System. I was here for the beginning of "No Pass/No Play" and for the beginning of state controlled standardized testing in Texas schools. TEAMS became TAAS become TAKS .... and now the legislature is in session and working on passing new and wonderful ways to torture students and teachers alike.
The straw that broke this camel's back came in the form of "years until I can retire". I have operated for the past 22 years under what is called the "Rule of 80" which says that when my years experience plus my age add up to 80 I will be allowed to retire and draw my full retirement pay from the Teacher's Retirement System .... an entity into which I have paid money for 22 years now. It is the Social Security of Texas teachers. (Edit 3-31-05 ... Several teachers have told me that even if I were to reach the Rule of 80, I would still have to wait until I am 55 to begin to collect my retirement. I didn't know this little fact .... glad to know it now ... it still doesn't change the way I feel.)
Well .... at the end of this schoool year, I was to have only 6.5 more years to teach until I would have qualified for retirement. I would have gone the full 7 years giving me 29 years teaching and my age would be 52 .... for a total of 81 ... and therefore Full Retirement.
BUT NOOOOOOooooooooo ..... somebody in Austin .... I can't remember if it is the Texas Education Agency, or the State Board of Education, or the Legislature, or TRS itself .... somebody has decided to cancel the Rule of 80 for anyone with more than 5 years left to teach. These teachers must now instead teach until they are 60 to qualify for full retirement.
Suddenly, instead of 7 years left, I have 15 years left .... AND .... what promise do I have that as I approach age 60 they won't raise the age to 65 .... then 69 ....??? I feel like my retirement is being held like a carrott out in front of the donkey .... hmmmmm .... what does that make me??
That was the kicker ... the straw .... the other shoe .... whatever metaphor you want to use .... I decided to QUIT.
And I feel much better now, thank you very much.
I still have 8 more weeks of this school year left ... and one of those weeks we will be TAKS testing the whole week .... I'll document those days when we get there ...
I have told my students I am leaving. They really don't care too much because I will finish their classes with them and they wouldn't have a chance to have me again as a teacher anyway. Many are very happy for me, although sad to see me go. I'd like to think I will leave a great empty void here at TCHS that won't ever be filled .... however, it will probably be more like the hole a pebble makes when it hits a lake ..... along with the symbolic ripples ...
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I want to know more about the problems with Texas schools. Why is standardized testing bad? What were all the other straws that led up to tthat final one? Inquiring minds want to know.
Tough to here about the change in retirement policy. It must be a shock. For us outside education, retirement usually happens in the mid 60's. The only "rule of X" retirements are the "early" ones when the company is reducing the workforce. That comes with reduced retirement benefits. There is always the "Oops, you turned 50" retirement, "agree not to sue us for age discrimination and we have this buyout package" type.
Interestng to note your comments on education. It's been my opinion for a long time that math education (at least in 3 states) is being significantly dumbed down. What I had in the 8th grade is now a Junior or Senior level course. All is taught to make sure the student passes the standardized test. No proofs in geometry because proofs are not on the standardized tests.
My kids went through "Chicago Math" in Michigan. As I understand it, the "process" is more important than the results for six years and the 7th year is a makeup because the kiddies can't add and subtract. This bill of goods was sold to educators by educators. I thought the "process" in arithmetic was to learn (commit to memory) basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division so you got the right answer. Not so with Chicago Math.
Five decades ago in backwards North Carolina, we didn't have standardized testing and the "process" was get the right answers or you fail. Algebra and geometry were junior high courses. Guess we weren't smart enough to use sophisticated new testing and teaching techniques. We could also do arithmetic in our heads. None of my kids can do that, because it ain't on the standardized test and we don't teach anything that ain't on the test.
Artillery - Queen of the battlefield. Aviation here - and infantry.
Redleg - you have it completely right. When I was in school, lo these many years ago, I too took Algebra and geometry in junior high. (This is was in VA) Nowadays - if it hurts their self esteem, then it is a nono.
Hi Anonymous .... why so shy?
No where in my post did I say Standardized Testing is bad.
I think STANDARDIZED is the key word. The state of Texas keeps writing the test ... then re-writing the test .... grading the test, then changing the standards by which it is recorded (after the test has been given) ... I am sure I will have a post about that one soon.
Just keep reading the posts as they come ... and the follow-up comments ... and your questions will be answered.
Redleg ... a true response to your comment would be worthy of its very own post ... and I will try to do that sometime.
I do teach 10th Grade Geometry ... and we no longer do proofs because they are not on the TAKS test. That is the truth. We do briefly touch on SSS, SAS, ASA, AAS and HL and little 3 or 4 step proofs associated with those ... only a couple of days worth. None of those torturous 13 step proofs ... ahhhh, the days.
Keep an eye on my posts ... I'm sure I'll address your comments sometime ....
My comment is in response to redleg. I worked in the corporate world before becoming a high school math teacher. Yes, in the "civilian" world, most people retire at 65 or 70 with pensions, 401Ks, or some just with social security. Those with degrees usually retire making $60-70K or better. By the time I retire at 60 I will probably be only making $50K. And, the social security that I contributed to while I was working in the corporate world, well, it's gone. In the state of Texas, if I receive my teacher retirement, I cannot get my social security without reducing my teacher retirement. That doesn't bother me as much, as the fact, that if my husband dies before me, I will not be able to get my spousal social security either for the same reason. Come on, a housewife gets her spousal social security and she hasn't contributed a dime to the plan. What is up with that?
Also, redleg, does your job revolve around teenagers and do you work 60-70 hours per week? Do you get paid two months after you have completed a contract? When you get off for holidays - you get paid, we don't. Yes, we get time off during the year and the summer but if we didn't, more teachers would burn out sooner than they already are.
The problem with public education today is that too many people that know nothing about what goes on in the classroom are making the decisions and the educators are being left out of the loop. Most teachers deplore standardized testing and not for the reasons that you may think. I welcome anyone coming into my classroom and testing my students on what I have taught them. But I am being judged on what previous teachers have taught them and they have been "taught the test" for so long that things such as critical thinking, experimentation, exploration, and thinking outside of the box have been lost. School isn't fun anymore and the students are unhappy, bored and just don't care. But my hope is that this is cyclical and eventually we will get back to the excitement of learning something new and doing applications that spark the interest of those we teach.
Hey Cindy, it’s your neighbor here from a few doors down the hallway.
I just wanted to help clarify a bit of the information that you posted regarding the retirement age requirements...the "rule of 80" changes.
You mention that somebody in Austin, maybe TEA, SBEC, TRS, or the Legislation has changed the equation to include a minimum age of 60. The first thing I want to point out is that the only people that have the power to enact that change would be the TX Legislature itself.
Just a quick side note as to these government agencies:
1) TEA simply administers many of the laws that are signed into action. TEA does such things as the following: textbook adoption, state curriculum, statewide assessment, database collection of students, staffs, and monies spent, school rating and accountability, and serves as the fiscal agent to distribute funds.
2) SBEC is an entirely different government agency that oversees four broad areas of public school teachers including: educator preparation, teacher assessment, teacher accountability, and teacher certification. Someone can correct me on this, but I believe that even though TEA and SBEC work very closely together, they are two entirely separate agencies.
3) TRS is simply the administrative body for the retired teachers of the state. They carry out the rules and financial beast that is the TRS pension fund. They don’t make the rules for what they administer though.
The main point of all of this is the following though – I’ve gotten somewhat sidetracked…oops. Any change in policy to the rule of 80 would have to be done by the Legislature. The 79th regular session is not over yet and no bill pertaining to school reform has been passed and signed into legislation. There have been discussions a plenty…oh yes. But the change to rule of 80 is not even written in a bill so far. It has simply been tossed around in committee meetings. If I’ve been reading the press releases and the state website correctly 80 is still the magic number. I think that rumors are unfortunately taking this one to the extreme.
I have been tracking the legislature pretty closely this Spring – indeed, it’s possible I may have missed something, but I really do think that any change to the rule of 80 has yet to happen, and does not have nearly as much steam behind it as some people are claiming.
Anyway, I just wanted to help clarify, and in the long run, I hope that 80 stays the magic number! See ya’ Monday…
Hey Chris!!
My source for this piece of legislation has been our Assistant Superintendent Dr. Killian and his daily "Good News" emails.
He seems very certain that serious overhauls will be made to TRS and the rules guiding it. They may not happen in this session ... but he seems to think they will.
As I mentioned in my post, I know the bill has not passed yet ... but just the fact that it is being discussed ... on top of all the other changes they are making or might make ... pushed me over the edge.
And I am actually liking the fact that I have only 37 school days left.
Thaks for reading and commenting ... and filling me in on who all those other entities are!!
Believe me, I certainly understand many of your frustrations. I've enjoyed reading your posts...
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