Wyandotte Teachers Average $72,994 a Year: How Does That Rate?

State school Superintendent Mike Flanagan on Monday said in order to entice quality people to enter the profession. 

"When you ratchet-up teacher salaries to $100,000-plus, market forces will direct more mid-career changers and you’ll attract more math and science college students into our educator prep programs," he said. "We need to be moving all teachers to that salary level to continue getting the best and brightest people educating our students. It’s all about talent."

According to statistics released annually by the Michigan Department of Education, the average salary for a teacher within Wyandotte Public Schools in 2010-11 was $72,994. (The 2010-11 school year is the latest year that such information is available.)

Wyandotte Patch readers sounded off on both sides of the issue on Facebook on Wednesday.

"$70,000 seems pretty good for 10 months of work, and don't forget the extended Christmas time off," Jerry Tuttle wrote. " I am not knocking the time off or the pay. I am just saying $70,000 sounds like a fair amount of money to make."

Jacob Stoneburner said professionals with experience, seniority and education should be fairly compensated and upwards of $90,000 a year is right on.

"These are the people that you trust your kids to 8 hours a day for 180 days from the year, and sometimes longer for extra curriculars," he wrote. "They nurture and shape their minds and have major influence into their world view. Why don't you want them paid well? Shouldn't we want to attract the best talent to these positions of great importance?"

Read all the comments and then let us know what you think in the comments section below.