National teacher union heads make more than $360,000 a year, 3 times more than highest paid WA school administrator

Apparently it pays to be a union leader, even if it doesn't necessarily pay to be a union member.


Check out this Fox News article about national teacher union heads raking in the money while average teachers scratch out a living.  The article says the national average teacher salary is $44,000 a year, while union leaders earn shockingly high average salaries:

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten's pay jumped to $407,323 between 2010 and 2011, while her counterpart at the National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel, got a raise to $362,644. Factor in stipends and other paid expenses and Weingarten took in $493,859 and Van Roekel $460,060 for 2011. 

To summarize: the lowest paid of two national teachers' union presidents makes about three times more than the highest paid WA public school administrator.  This, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In Washington State, the average teacher salary is $63,636 ($53,056 base salary, $10,580 additional salary), and $18,075 in benefits.

I'm still searching for information on what Washington Education Association union leadership gets paid.

You can check the figures for individual school districts at the Freedom Foundation website; or at the Bureau of Labor Statistics site.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/14/teacher-union-bigs-rake-in-dough-despite-budget-cuts-across-education-sector/?intcmp=trending#ixzz20cq3dosX