Shadrack McGill, Alabama State Senator, Says Keeping Teacher Pay Low 'A Biblical Principle'

Someone alert the unions: raising teacher pay will actually make for worse teachers--according to one GOP lawmaker.

Alabama state Sen. Shadrack McGill said that increasing teacher pay is against "a biblical principle" because it might attract people who otherwise wouldn't do the job.

"Teachers need to make the money that they need to make," McGill said, according to the Times-Journal. "If you double a teacher's pay scale, you'll attract people who aren't called to teach ... and these teachers that are called to teach, regardless of the pay scale, they would teach. It's just in them to do. It's the ability that God give 'em."

McGill's comments came at a prayer breakfast this week in Fort Payne, Ala. State legislators are currently weighing raising teacher pay. One GOP leader proposed raising salaries of newer teachers by 2.5 percent, but critics argue that it isn't fair to longer-serving educators, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.

A recent report might justify critics' worries, showing that Alabama is actually leading the nation in starting teacher salaries, while lagging behind in average teacher pay, the Dothan Eagle reports.

The national average starting salary for a teacher is $39,000. New York Times columnist Nick Kristof has argued that paying teachers more would help attract better people to the profession, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has repeatedly vocalized his assertion that teachers should have salaries starting at $60,000 and the opportunity to make up to $150,000 based on performance.

Comments

[Libby Smith 11]

01:41 PM on 02/06/2013

Here's his Facebook page. Let him know how you feel about this. https://www.facebook.com/search/results.php?q=Shadrack+McGill&init=quick&tas=0.7946115978485604&search_first_focus=1360175899508#!/shadrack.mcgill

[Atwill]

04:18 PM on 04/23/2012

I say any senetor/ congresman/ woman or anyone else that high up in he government , IF they already have at least 1 million $ in their personal bank acount, should not get paid at all for thier government duties. do it for free. Prove you care.

[pflickner]

06:48 PM on 06/04/2012

I agree - or the salary should go directly into a program to enrich education for all.

[Bobisyouruncle]

11:23 AM on 03/24/2012

I don't know about teachers but I know that keeping lawmakers pay very low is definitely a biblical principle.

[pflickner]

06:50 PM on 06/04/2012

No, that's part of the problem here in Arizona. The pay is so low that no one will consider leaving their jobs to run for office unless their job is their own business and others can run it while they're campaigning/lawmaking. If the pay were around $50,000 a year, we'd likely get more people running for our state legislature. Many Dems aren't nearly as well-paid as Reps and it shows in the type of people we're getting to run.

[Bobisyouruncle]

07:42 PM on 06/04/2012

I think that is why it is called Public Service. How about $1,000,000 a year or $5,000,000 a year? Then you would get really, really good people to run. I don't think it works that way.

[iknowscottyknows]

06:44 PM on 02/20/2012

Why is there never a mention of the incredible sexual abuse scandal that students endure at the hands of teachers?

According to U.S. Dept. of Education figures, a student in public school is 100 times more likely to be sexually abused by a teacher than a minor in Catholic school or church.

Guess it has to be "religious" abuse to matter. Sorry, kids. Gotta support that union.

[Defender of Truth]

10:13 AM on 03/17/2012

I've been saying this vocally and in print for some time now but it never takes hold. Yes, it is mostly anti-Catholicism and they who are think the Church has a lot of money. The fact that they don;t have a lot of money is shown by the fact that many dioceses and in bankruptcy.

[bringthenoise1]

03:21 PM on 06/04/2012

Want to post a link to those figures?

[Tom Rowland]

04:06 PM on 02/19/2012

ridiculous.

#1:our country's laws are not based on "Biblical Principal"--that would be the Christian equivalent of imposing Sharia Law.

#2. How about doctors? Are they not called by the money they can make, instead of the desire to help people?

#3. How many people hold jobs that aren't based on any biblical principal at all? Are the ludicrous sums the wall street bankers make based on biblical principal? NO, somewhere in the Bible it talks about forgiving any debt that is outstanding for more that 7 years.

Why impose biblical principal on one profession, but not others?

[jezzgeo]

10:08 AM on 02/16/2012

same thing for raising the pay of elected officials, like state senator McGill. Paying public servants high wages might attract the sort of people that aren't called to serve.

Good point, McGill. So what's your total income again? (please include lobbying gifts and perks, kickbacks, meals, trips, healthcare, etc, etc)

[Lansdowne11]

05:08 PM on 02/12/2012

It's true that people who want to teach will take the job, no matter the pay. The justice lies with the people and the politicians: to make sure those who are called to teach are adequately compensated. Instead of looking to the Bible for excuses to underpay people who choose to be responsible for raising the nation's children, these alleged Bible believers should look deep within themselves and question what God sees as their responsibility to others. Using the Bible as a tool to allow us to do less than we should is a very tricky manoeuver and generally backfires. See how well it worked out for those who used the Bible to keep slavery in place or for those who used scripture as a tool to keep people of different ethnicities from marrying or for those who used Christian principles to keep people from African decent from gaining rightful employment or housing. The Bible should be something that calls us to do more for all.

[FormerReaganite]

11:01 PM on 02/10/2012

Setting peoples' pay level like this is a basic tenet of Communism.

I submit that Senator Shadrack McGill is a Communist.

[dakotawoman]

06:27 AM on 02/11/2012

Second that.

Where is McGills's stand on the sacredness of free enterprise, with individuals finagling the best deal they can for themselves? Isn't that the main tenet of good business/free enterprise? And doesn't he believe that all things are best run on business models with money (or lack of it) determining all things and so doesn't claiming to withhold pay from workers as the best way to get good performance go against every belief of capitalism -- that "You get what you pay for?" So if you pay low, won't you get low performance? I call that wanting one's cake and eating it too. Trying to con society by claiming that two mutually exclusive goals can both be had. Where I come from that's called a lie. And a cheat. And a con. And worse yet, blaming it on the Bible. Shame. Shame on you and the horse you rode in on.

Insanity. Perversity. Hypocrisy. Self serving bull-feathers.

[jezzgeo]

10:08 AM on 02/16/2012

here here.

[GraceNotes]

05:01 PM on 02/10/2012

Perhaps if state senators were not paid so much, the job would attract persons truly "called" to serve their fellow man.

[cwf1154]

04:59 PM on 02/29/2012

You couldn't be more correct. And no one in any elected office in the Nation should be paid more than the lowest-paid teacher in the Nation! Better yet, no one in ANY elected office in the Nation should be paid more than the lowest-paid WORKER in the Nation! That'll make it fair!

[Fragment51]

04:04 PM on 02/10/2012

I agree with the good senator. The same, I'm sure he will agree, would be true for elected officials. We only want those who are truly called to be public servants, so we should by all means avoid paying them any more than absolutely necessary. Even with low pay, those who are called and gifted for public service will serve.

[MasterKat]

09:59 PM on 02/09/2012

Yeah, but what if there are only 5 people "called" to teach. What are you going to do then, McGill. This is why Alabama has a reputation for being not-so-smart, to put it kindly.

[luapmi2]

05:25 AM on 02/10/2012

Sure, that's what 's why NASA has an enormous presence in the Huntsville area.

[MasterKat]

12:32 PM on 02/11/2012

They're not exactly pulling from the local talent pool to staff the NASA office there (which I wouldn't call 'enormous' since the big three NASA branches are in Texas, Florida, and Virginia, but I suppose they have field offices elsewhere).

[thepatsy]

08:25 PM on 02/22/2012

Great. Then it should be easy to send McGill to the moon. Maybe we could send the other Republican, Morris of Indiana with him. He hates Girl Scouts. Do all Republicans hate intelligent women?

[dakotawoman]

06:47 AM on 02/11/2012

Yeah. I teach and I'm really looking forward to a life of financial insecurity and genteel poverty as my reward for coping everyday with the smart-mouthed, insubordinate, trash-talking, disobedient, hormone-driven teenagers with bad attitudes, no home discipline, a spoiled sense of entitlement, and faces full of tats and metal that people with less education but a lot more opinions are unwilling to tackle -- just because I LOVE doing it so much.

Keep up that kind of job demands and see how soon the schools empty out. Which just might be the agenda of certain factions who 1) believe public ed is the Great Satan and/or 2) actually WANT Americans poorly educated so they are much easier to manipulate and cheat.

I didn't go into teaching to get rich (obviously) but a bit of respect, some autonomy in my classroom, fair evaluations of my performance based upon more than standardized tests in which all students are expected to achieve perfect scores or i lose my job. Talk about being set up to fail. "Do the impossible, for piddling pay, and be happy about it, or hit the road." Guess what the smart ones, the competent, bright ones are going to do? Pack the car, hon, we're outta here!

Good luck with that. Let me know who that works out for ya.

[Atwill]

04:22 PM on 04/23/2012

The same goes for me in nursing . I figured out my retirement, it looks like it'll be around , if i am lucky, $2100 a month. And I still have to pay for my health insurance, out of it.

[roonie4]

09:37 PM on 02/09/2012

LOL what a joke. There are probably many who would desire to be educators if they could get paid more. Especially the men who may want to support a family.

[Blakjak572]

10:16 AM on 02/09/2012

How and why do average Americans STILL vote Republican!!?? No wonder the rest of the world laughs at our political system.

[luapmi2]

05:28 AM on 02/10/2012

Yeppers...laugh at us and WANT TO BE JUST LIKE US.

Have you ever visited a U.S. Consulate overseas? There are huge lines of people applying to get here (except Mexico where the law is not honored). And there is also a door of people who are weeping because their entry was denied (again, don't consider Mexico).

[Blakjak572]

10:04 AM on 02/10/2012

I see you still believe in the myth of American exceptionalism.

[Mary Beth Hammerstrom]

02:36 AM on 02/09/2012

Great idea! Now apply that reasoning to Wall Street and corporate CEOs. Obviously we need to institute low pay for them to weed out those who aren't called by God to those professions.

Good Lord, please save us from politicians who would use You to further their own selfish agendas.

[sun in her belly]

09:05 PM on 02/08/2012

"It's just in them to do. It's the ability that God give 'em."

Sweet Jesus on a popsicle stick. If the South insists on spewing forth its tremendous ignorance into the atmosphere, can we at least hire people to do it who know how to appropriately conjugate verb tenses in their native tongue?