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About Pensioning Teachers

About Pensioning Teachers image About Pensioning Teachers image
Parent Issue
Day
27
Month
January
Year
1897
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Ono subject tlnat ia being dtecussed among teachers in our city schools, ainid lux tacfc all over the county, is hat of pensioning teachers after so many years' service. It is an important subject, and one that will continue to attract attention until ounethlng Is flone. A teacher and a soldier are the )wo guardians of a nation. The ■eacher by fruarding the minds of out Chlldren arfcrht have much to do wlith orming the character and mental strength of a nation and to protect t from foes wlthiin. The soldier puts lis liie in jeopardy o protect the nation from ïoes without. Both are public bemefactors and both should be and are held very high in public es teem. The soldier receives a pension now or even a short service. The ordiniary teachers must plnch and economize, enjoying little oí Ufe in order to save enough to oare for them in sickness or oíd age, or to secure decent yurial vhen 'dead. It is belieed by a.nd reasonable people that some effort ehould be made to secure % certaim aimount to be pald teachers after they !have become iincapacitated in service, or have taught a oertain mimber of years. One gentleman interested in this matter has proposed this plan : Let an association be formed here wtth a board of control composed of members of the school board and teachers selected for their fitness to manage the funds. Then let a rule be adop1 ed like tlüs : Let all teachers -vho are hereafter hired, pay 10 per cent of their salary for the first year, 9 per cent. the second. and so on down the scale to 1 per cent, a year, until 'ten years have been reached, after which they will be exempt. Then after a teacher has served 20 years let them be retired on a pension 'drawn from this fund. This would cause fewer persons to enter upoa teaching as a makeshift for a. few years, iititil they eould make a cliange to something else, and it would have a tendeney to build up the profession by calling into it those only who expect to make a lïfe work of tt. It would not be compulsory, for no one need teach bere if they do not wamt to. This idea, it is thought, could be worked out to good advantage. Tliat our readers may know somethiing mare of what is beimg done in tihds line, we qupte from the Journal oí Education tlils article, written "by John M. Pierce : "The beginnings of this institution lie farther back than any organización, foeyoHd the reach of statistical iinquiry. Members of the same vo catikm, while so otten competltors tor place and power, are at the same ti)me most ready to sympathize wlth and Bid each other. What begims as brotherly charity, where the material benefit la all om one side, and the spiritual benefit all on the other, deTelops inito a business organization wheTe tne benefits are mutual. One oï the least systeanatic aad orgamlzed ways of giving aid is throngh associatioms formed for other purposes. Teachers' clubs and societies for general professional purposes sometimes apply a pairt oí their funds to thie ald of sick and needy teachers, fiind, ta oase of death, ta buiy them. Ijoulsvilie, Ky., has no aid issociatlon. Two-tliirds of the teachers belong to the Ixmisvllle Educatiomal Assoclatlon ; t he annual fee la $1 ; thia furnished' a ïund of $300 annually, ■with whlch assistance Is giren to such teachers as may be confined to (Continued on 8th Page1) ABOUT PEHSIONiNG TEACHERS. (Contiuued from l9t Page.ï their homes by serious illness, when they bave no other means and cali for aid. Tliis Tvork is managed by a )oard of control, who report in a general way without glvimg names. The teachers of Ixniisville have dlscussed mamy plans far a botter system, but have reached nothing definirte. While such a method is commemdable from a charitable point of view, iít puta the givtag of aid on, such a "basis, that ït must often defeat lts ptirpose. Many teachers wouW euf'er the most extreme need rather than oall for assdstance under such clrcumstances. The Teachers' Club, of Jersey City, ü. J., maintains a fund out of which members wlio are incapacitated thirough Ulness receive a Tveekly beneffit. The Teachers' Aid Association of Chicago, -which was orgamized after ttue great fire, aids those who ■fchrough sieknoss or orher causes become needy and without the means of support; wlienever necessary, the teachers bave voluutarily contributed a certain fractional percentage of tbelr salaries ïor ooe month to this relief fund. It is four years since any contributirai hes been made to this , fund, and du; in? that time $1 ,000 hns been piaid out to teachers In. need. There are floubtless some clties where work like this is done ; these are not always considered worthy of being reported. But in most of our la.Tge cities there is some more%laborate a rai syetematic method of teachers' aid. Some associations pay sick anJ death benefits to members, without waiting for them to plead Inability. The benel'iciaTy receives aid as Insurance for which he bas paid. The tnJency in thte kind of an association is to furnish a number of bemefitis, and to multiply the dues acaccordingly. The oldest of these, that of Baltlmore, is a good illnstration of thls. Besides the sick benefit, a stipend is paid to the famlly or heirs ; if there is no one to claim this, it is to be applled in paying funeral expenses. Tb raise thte amount, a special assessment of $1.10, besides the iniliation and annual dues, is made upon eah member, the teln cents to cover expense of notifi■oaition. When the amount in tne treasury falls belo-vr $500, an extra assessment of $1 is levied on eacb member. These associatiottiB tor sick and death beneflta do nat usually accumulate large ïnnds, since they pay out frequently In small sums. Xhey genenally aim to pay about $1 per day to teachers -who are sick long enough to lose thieir salary. Managed as they are, these associations could not afford to have a large, eontinuous list of beneficiarles, and as the time durlng whlch sick beneíits will be pald, or the amouut of benefit, is Limited. The Idea oí retirlng teachers on an ammiity is a later thought. It arises only -where the profession Is more flxed. In Bome cities, both kinds of associatlons exist side by side. But where the associatioo. for temporary ald only already exlsts, it ia more oommon ior tüe teachers in such city to apply to the state leglslature to have a reürement fund ostablished by law. Experlence wlth a vo'luntary associatton Is likely to lead to the deniand for sornething more uniform and universal. The Boston Association was mcited by the example of New York, and was ia general modeled after v-nis. Tlie Teachers' Annuity Guild of Massachusetts was in turn copled in essentials from the Boston plan. The guild is in some leatures an improvement over the other associations, having their experience to begin with. The guild Is composed of teachers in cities and towns near Boston. Cambridge, Haverhlll, Lowell and Somerville are the cities having the largest numbers of members. "When an association ia organized, lt is foumd advisable for a few wellfcnown and reliable persons to associate themselves, make their plan, and then invite members on that basis. In this way, the Boston association and the annuity guild were formed. In Providence the matter was discussed in town-meeting style, and so many were tihe wants to be satisfied that several years were lost in coming to any agreement. The chief diversity of object is between temporary aid or sick benefits, and permanent aid or annuity. The diffeïence is a relative one, for a spelj of sickness may be prolonged into permanent incapaci'ty. The annuity system could be worked to cover sick benefits, but in most oases this is not the intentiou of lts promoters. In CSncinnati and Philadelphia the annuity may be enjoyed temporarily durilng a pertod of prolonged eickness. Tlie Brooklyn association pays in oases oï sickness at the discretton of the board oí trustees. The association of the District of öolumbia, including Washington, has a unique way of givkig both temporaiy and permanent aid. There are two classes for members, Class A and Class B. The funds are kept in thiee separate accounts ; the permanent and the annuity fund are administred for the benefit of Class A exclusively ; the temporary ilisabililty fund ïor Clase B exclusively. Teachers may thus enjoy either th temporai-y or the permanent benefits, or both, in the one organization. In St. Louis, California and New Jersey membership is not compulsory ; in Itetroit, Chicago, and Cinci(nJiati it is compuleoiT; in Brooklyn and New York City, compnlsory only on teachers appointed in the future. One of the chief advantages of an associiatioü. established by law is lost 'when membershilp Is not binding Tipon al! teachers. "Whether the Illinois or the New York plan is better, must depend on the stand taken by the teachers ; the latter is practicable, when opposition would tlefeat the tonner.

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Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Courier