<< Back 8/14/02 The salary disparity should rile us all By Marshall Frank This is about purpose and equity. Alejandro Rodriguez plays baseball for the Texas Rangers. For hitting balls, (a most vital profession indeed), he is paid $22 million a year. Shaq O’Neal jumps and throws balls into an elevated basket. He’s very good at it. For that, he earns $21.4 million a year. Those aren’t just numbers. They are more dollars than 99.9 percent of us will ever touch in a lifetime. The starting salary for a North Carolina Haywood County teacher with a bachelor’s degree is $25,250. If he or she lasts for five years, that salary might jump over $30,000. Not so impressive for a 60-hour a week job requiring a college degree. We always hear about teacher shortages, teacher quality, teacher needs. It’s like hearing a broken record every budget year. But the facts still remain, though often ignored. In truth, teachers are the backbone of our youth. People enter the education jungle every day to impart their knowledge so that our kids will grow smarter, better, more confident in themselves and, eventually, into a productive member of society. After all, today’s kids are the future of this nation’s survival. Teachers do this with little or no assistance, in classrooms that are overcrowded, with books that are outdated, facilities that are in need of repair, equipment that is missing, all while maintaining class discipline and grading scores of papers on their own time in the evenings. They are infinitely more essential to our lives than anyone who throws a ball for a living. For one year’s salary paid to Mr. Rodriguez, Haywood County could hire 871 new teachers. A new Waynesville Police Officer will barely make $23,000 his first year on the job. A seven-year veteran might see $27,000. Most cops, even those with 10 and 20 years of tenure, work extra jobs on their days off to supplement their paltry income. A police officer’s job is so dangerous and so essential to the lives of our communities that they must wear a loaded firearm, on duty and off. They are the first line of defense, protecting citizens, arresting dangerous criminals, maintaining order and risking their own lives every day ... for you. At least 165 police officers will die every year in this nation, for you and me. Another 60,000 will be assaulted. We could hire 913 cops for one Shaq O’Neal. Then, there are firemen, emergency medical technicians, even doctors and nurses whose incomes are but a fraction of athletes whose contribution to our lives is throwing and hitting balls. Don’t get me wrong, folks. I don’t begrudge anyone who gleans what they can, especially when it’s offered on the table. But there is something intrinsically wrong with a society that whoops, cheers and supports overpaid athletes and then throws fits when local governments propose increased wages for teachers, cops and firemen. Yes, it requires taxes. Civic professionals can only perform their jobs as well as the taxpayers are willing to allow. But it is also the taxpayers who demand the service. I suppose it’s a matter of priority. Citizens must think ball players are worth 913 times more than police officers and 871 times more than teachers. Now, the Major League Baseball Players Association is threatening to strike, a la 1994, if they do not reach a bargaining agreement at the end of the year. These are the same cry babies who say that an average of $4 million a year, plus six months vacation, is not good enough. They will demand more benefits or else they will refuse to play. And when they go on strike, they will be pulling the rug out from periphery workers and families, the small folks who depend on the sporting game for their income, i.e. vendors, taxi drivers, restaurants, etc. Meanwhile, folks like you and me will read about it in the morning paper, utter a disparaging remark, and head off to work without giving it another thought. But when it comes time for a new county or city budget, many of us will be in the front row of the council chambers holding the politician’s feet to the fire, making sure we won’t have to reach down and pay one additional penny in taxes. And when it’s all said and done, and we’ve won our case, we’ll go home, kick up our feet, turn on the tube and roar with glee seeing A-Rod slam a homer over the right field fence. “What a guy!” Sorry. There is something wrong here. (Marshall Frank is a novelist and retired Miami-Dade law enforcement officer. He lives in Maggie Valley.)