Teachers Over Paid?

EdWeek has a story of a Heritage Foundation study that suggests that teachers are overpaid!

The study factors in job security... vacations... benefits... presumably educators have lots of each...

Job security... not in my school with its declining population. I have had my job removed from the budget twice before and I left a job when teachers were not offered contracts because the master contract had not been agreed upon. (When I was growing up, my father got laid off from two jobs over his career-- looks like my job is about as secure as his was.

Vacations... my friends who are my age get paid vacations... they get a day's pay but are not expected to show up. My salary is paid to me in 26 installments as a courtesy (that I appreciate). I have never had a paid vacation since 1988 when I was mowing lawns in the summer between when I graduated and when I started my teaching career. (I do usually take advantage of the personal days I am allowed-- so I do get three vacation days per year.)

Benefits... yup this one is true... I appreciate the benefits I get, but my benefits are not out of line with those provided by other professionals who work in my area (in some cases our benefits are worse than those provided to other professionals).