Teacher earning $58,000 a year, including benefits, claims he'd starve without a second job
This Las Vegas Sun story, of course, never mentions how much he makes, but check out the sympathy it gives to the teacher.
By day, Daniel Avellino teaches math and reading to 20 students in his second-grade class at Roberts Elementary School in Henderson.The article notes that Avellino has $50,000 in student-loan debt and over $10,000 in credit-card debt.
By night, the 31-year-old is an actor at the Las Vegas Mob Experience, playing the role of a casino security guard who "beats up" alleged card cheaters in front of hundreds of tourists.
Avellino is one of a number of Clark County School District teachers who have taken up second jobs to make ends meet as the district tries to figure out how to plug a projected $150 million budget deficit next year.
"Last year, pay freeze. This year, a cut in pay. I don't want to stick around to see what happens next year," he said as the nine-month school year winds to an end today.
"Any disposable income I may have had has completely evaporated, and now they want to cut my pay," he said.Read the full article to get a full sense of just how sympathetic reporter Paul Takahashi makes Avellino's situation out to be with a not-so-subtle undertone of "it's outrageous anyone would cut this hardworking teacher's pay." The logical takeaway from that is "we need higher taxes."
The gig brings in about $1,000 to $1,500 each month - enough to give Avellino "some breathing room," he said.
"Without this job, I'd be starving," he said. ...
"It's heartbreaking. I feel like I'm being forced out of this position, but you can only take so much. You have to say enough is enough." [Emphasis added]
So how much does Avellino make as a "starving" teacher? $20,000, $25,000 a year?
Nope. Over $58,000 a year (plus summers off) - $42,695 in salary, $9,179 in PERS contributions and a health-insurance plan currently worth $6,620.
Readers of the Sun story, though, don't find out that Avellino makes the equivalent of $48.62 an hour. And that's a shame, too, because that one simple fact - readily available on TransparentNevada and easily deduced from CCSD's own teacher salary schedule website - would change the entire tone of the story.
If you're earning $58,000 a year and can't afford to eat, you've got a debt and spending problem. You need Dave Ramsey, not a pay increase.
Although, if that's how Avellino wants to spend his money - fine. And if he wants to get a second (and third) job to pay for it, good for him.
But don't complain to the public - with the not-so-subtle implication being that taxpayers need to pony up more money - that you'd starve without a second job when you're making over $58,000 a year.
At a time when Nevada's unemployment rate is 11.9 percent and its actual jobless rate is near 24 percent, complaining about making $58,000 a year (with summers off) shows how out of touch some government employees are.
