Alabama
Alabama budget throws crumbs to teachers
Final week, the Alabama legislature authorized a report $8.26 billion schooling price range with the biggest trainer pay raises because the mid-Nineteen Eighties. The raises are an try to staunch the collapse of public schooling within the state and sluggish the mass exodus of chronically underpaid lecturers.
The New York Instances, masking this and related meager will increase nationally, voiced the hope that the small pay bumps might “assuage lecturers over labor issues, with lecturers having gone on strike in cities resembling Sacramento and Minneapolis .” The Democratic Social gathering mouthpiece expressed the ruling elite’s deep anxiousness over the rising motion of employees in opposition to poverty pay ranges and social inequality being exacerbated by the pandemic and the US proxy battle within the Ukraine.
Alabama’s Schooling Belief Fund (ETF) price range contains an preliminary enhance for fiscal yr 2023 starting from 4 % for these with fewer than 9 years of expertise, as much as 21 % for these with 35 years’ expertise. Thereafter, there shall be yearly step will increase of 1 % for all lecturers, stopping after 35 years of instructing. Republican Governor Kay Ivey, who faces a number of opponents within the main election this Could, is predicted to signal the invoice into regulation shortly.
The response on social media was appropriately offended. “To really impression [retention] lecturers want 25-30% pay raises. We have now been underpaid for many years,” stated one. One other added, “too little, too late.”
Apparently, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Lecturers, commenting on the just lately introduced pay will increase across the nation advised the New York Instances, “Let me simply say this: It’s by no means too late.” She continued, “Folks don’t go into instructing to grow to be wealthy, however they need to be capable to increase their children on a good wage.” Regardless of the disclaimer, Weingarten, netting greater than $500,000 yearly, apparently selected the primary motive.
For its half, the Alabama Schooling Affiliation likewise gushed its approval of measures. “The No. 1 sentiment has been: It’s about time, and it’s very a lot appreciated,” stated Amy Marlowe, the affiliation’s government director. Inadvertently pointing to the union’s failure to struggle for respectable wages over a long time, she famous it’s the first time lecturers in Alabama have seen a pay increase of this scale since 1983. Over the past 20 years, the legislature has authorized cost-of-living raises, starting from 2 to 7 %, solely eight occasions.
The end result has been that Alabama lecturers subsist on poverty wages. The state is rated thirty fifth out of fifty states in salaries, with lecturers receiving $10,000 a yr lower than their colleagues in different states on common. The present laws totally fails to make up for these a long time of stagnating wages.
For many lecturers the preliminary, bigger increase is not going to even sustain with rising costs in 2022. Lecturers rightly famous on social media, we’re “principally breaking even … inflation and price of residing.” One other added, “What a joke!! 1% pay increase … you continue to go within the gap yearly when insurance coverage goes up,” added one other.
Lecturers additionally questioned whether or not the cash would even make its approach into lecturers’ paychecks, or whether or not it could be whittled down after it passes by the palms of native college boards and superintendents.
Based on the March 2022 Shopper Value Index for All City Customers Report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation has hit the South more durable than different areas of the nation. The rise in inflation over the past yr averages a staggering 9 % throughout the area, putting it larger than the nationwide common of 8.5 %. In different phrases, lecturers—like employees throughout the US—will wrestle to eat and put fuel of their automobiles.
The most recent ETF follows final yr’s initiative, TEAMS (Trainer Excellence and Accountability for Arithmetic and Science), which sought to make the most of the troublesome straits of educators by bribing them to surrender their rights. Lecturers in this system signed one- or three-year contracts to earn as much as $20,000 extra per yr however lose their persevering with service, or tenure, standing.
To offer a way of the horrible inadequacy of those raises (known as by the New York Instances “excellent news” and “important”), the common Alabama trainer, with a Grasp’s diploma and 11 years of expertise, will obtain solely a 7 % increase, lower than the speed of inflation. That’s the princely sum of $4,015, pre-tax. An Alabama trainer with a Bachelor’s diploma must be within the twentieth yr of instructing to see a increase of over $5,000 to simply meet the estimated prices in rising meals, gas and primary wants which monetary analysts anticipate to hit in 2022.
This isn’t to say the truth that many of those educators, after years of coaching, are combating scholar mortgage debt incurred for added levels.
The AEA’s endorsement of the Alabama price range is simply its most up-to-date betrayal of the pursuits of lecturers. The union has grow to be infamous amongst lecturers within the state for its refusal to struggle in opposition to the lethal reopening of faculties all through the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the peak of the Omicron surge, when faculties throughout Alabama have been reopening with out even probably the most minimal mitigation measures in place, AEA Consultant Anna Bern stated that the group was decided to “preserve faculties open” and would concentrate on “advocating” for masks mandates.
The pandemic has exacerbated the grave scarcity of educators nationally, for good motive, as college employees have been on the entrance strains of calls for by massive enterprise politicians that employees return to unsafe job websites, regardless of how many individuals get sick or die.
Although no official tally has been printed, an unofficial Twitter tracker has documented at the very least 22 educator deaths in Alabama because the begin of the 2021-2022 college yr. In September 2021, earlier than the peak of the Delta and Omicron waves, the Birmingham Metropolis Faculties District reported eighty workers members and one scholar had died of COVID-19. In the course of the winter of 2020-2021, eight educators died in Montgomery.
As for the impression of the pandemic on youngsters, the state stopped publicly reporting pediatric COVID-19 deaths in July of 2021, earlier than the Delta and Omicron waves ripped by the US and prompted report infections, hospitalizations and deaths amongst youngsters nationwide.
A survey carried out by the Nationwide Schooling Affiliation (NEA) in January discovered that 55 % of its members supposed to go away instructing before deliberate “due to the pandemic,” up from 37 % in August 2021. A staggering 90 % stated burnout was a significant issue. Already there are 567,000 fewer educators in public faculties than earlier than the beginning of the pandemic, in accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As the identical time the ratio of latest hires to job openings reached the report low of .57 in January.
Earlier than the pandemic, the Alabama Trainer Scarcity Activity Drive reported in 2019 on the intense scarcity throughout the state. Thirty % of all Alabama school rooms have been being taught by lecturers outdoors their subject of experience, and 1,700 secondary lecturers have been instructing with emergency certification or out of subject. From 2010 to 2019, college students coming into instructing education schemes dropped by 40 %. Solely 4 % of highschool juniors taking the school admissions ACT indicated they might take into account a instructing profession, down from 12 % in 2015.
Final yr, over 3,500 lecturers and faculty workers retired after the 2020-2021 college yr, probably the most in a decade. A survey carried out by the Alabama Fee on Larger Schooling in Could-June 2021 amongst Okay-12 public college educators, together with each lecturers and different college workers, discovered that 38 % of respondents indicated they deliberate to go away inside 5 years. An extra 17 % thought-about leaving inside 5 years.
Of these with plans to go away inside 5 years, 47 % cited burnout as a contributing issue, 41 % cited each lack of respect at their job and low wage. Even amongst respondents with no plans to go away, 44 % stated burnout was a difficulty, and 42 % stated their wage was too low.
The consensus was that along with needing important pay will increase above what was authorized, lecturers are additionally quitting resulting from being overburdened by workers shortages, onerous administrative pressures, standardized testing necessities, and hostile work environments. As one trainer remarked, “The schooling system is damaged and it’s going to take greater than cash to repair it.”
Determined temporizing measures by state officers within the face of rising class struggles, propelled by the rising price of residing because of the ongoing pandemic and compounded by the outbreak of battle in Ukraine, are usually not distinctive to Alabama. In Louisiana, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Schooling handed a price range which included a $1,500 increase for licensed lecturers. Tennessee Governor Invoice Lee has additionally proposed an analogous enhance of $1,550 for lecturers within the subsequent price range. This interprets to a rise of solely $125 and $129 a month.
In Mississippi, which ranks final within the NEA’s estimates of common trainer wage nationally, the legislature just lately handed the biggest trainer pay increase within the state’s historical past. Even this solely quantities to a median increase of $5,140 within the first yr, adopted by annual step will increase of solely $400, with $1,200 to $1,350 will increase each 5 years.
In the meantime, the ruling elites, represented by each capitalist events, have spared no expense of their reckless drive to battle, with the swift passage of the Biden administration’s report $800 billion army price range.
There may be loads of cash to totally fund free, high-quality schooling for all college students, however this requires an unlimited redistribution of sources away from the battle machine and the tremendous rich. To mobilize a struggle for his or her calls for requires that lecturers and faculty employees set up themselves independently of the official commerce unions and associations, that are tied hand and foot to the politicians and faculty officers which have carried out steady assaults in opposition to public schooling.
The Southern Educators Rank-and-File Security Committee is preventing to unite the working class throughout the area, in solidarity with committees throughout the US and internationally, to wage a wrestle in opposition to the pandemic, austerity and the specter of battle. Contact us to be taught how one can be part of the struggle!
Alabama
How to Watch: Alabama Basketball at the Players Era Festival
On June 12, it was announced that the Alabama men’s basketball team would be competing in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving week this coming basketball season. The Players Era Festival is the first-ever NIL-based multi-team event for college basketball.
No. 8 Alabama joins No. 7 Houston, No. 24 Rutgers, Notre Dame, San Diego State, No. 14 Creighton, Oregon and No. 23 Texas A&M as the schools participating in the inaugural event. Each team will play two games and the head-to-head record, point differential, points scored and points allowed will all be factored in creating the seeding for a seventh place, fifth place, third place and of course championship game.
Total NIL Activities and Compensation:
The Crimson Tide’s two initial games will be against Houston on Nov. 26 and then Rutgers on Nov. 27.
Who: No. 8 Alabama (4-1, 0-0 SEC) vs. No. 7 Houston (2-1, 0-0 Big 12)
Who: No. 8 Alabama (3-1, 0-0 SEC) vs. No. 24 Rutgers (4-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
When vs. Houston: Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. CT.
When vs. Rutgers: Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 10 p.m. CT
Where (Both Games): MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nev.
Radio (Both Games): Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Color: Bryan Passink). The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.
TV (Both Games): TBS
Series vs. Houston: Tied 3-3 with the first matchup occurring on Dec. 28, 1956
Series vs. Rutgers: 0-0
Last meeting with Houston: The Crimson Tide outlasted Houston with a 71-65 victory. Future No. 2 overall NBA Draft pick Brandon Miller went 0-of-8 from the field, but future No. 21 overall pick Brandon Clowney saved the day with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting while also recording team-highs in rebounds (11) and blocks (2).
Last meeting with Rutgers: Never
Last time out, Alabama: Following its first loss of the season on the road against then-No. 13 Purdue, the Crimson Tide brushed it off against No. 25 Illinois on Wednesday night by defeating the Fighting Illini 100-87. Preseason All-American point guard Mark Sears didn’t score a single point but the renowned Alabama depth more than made up for it as forward Grant Nelson tallied 23 points and guards Labaron Philon, Aden Holloway and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. each put up 16-plus points.
Last time out, Houston: Like Alabama, the Cougars also stormed back from its first loss of the season with a dominant 91-45 win over Louisiana. Terrance Arceneaux (14 points), Milos Uzan (13), Mercy Miller (12), Emanuel Sharp (11) and J’Wan Roberts (11) each putting up double figures. Sharp and Miller each logged four steals boosting the team total to 17.
Last time out, Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights extended their undefeated start to the season with a 74-63 win over Merrimack. Rutgers’ top-tier freshmen duo of Ace Bailey (23 points) and Dylan Harper (14) combined for nearly half of the team’s points. They also led in the rebounding category as Bailey grabbed 10 while Harper had eight and Harper’s six assists were also a Rutgers-best.
Alabama
Kalen DeBoer says kicker Graham Nicholson has found his rhythm at Alabama
Kalen DeBoer calls them “gimmie kicks.” The head coach’s philosophy has always been to give his kickers as many opportunities from short-distance attempts early in the season in order to get them in a rhythm and build up their confidence.
That’s the plan anyway. Alabama’s big-play offense prevented that transition for Miami-Ohio transfer Graham Nicholson in his first season with the Crimson Tide this year.
Nicholson, who earned the Lou Groza Award last season, didn’t even attempt a field goal in Alabama’s first two games. He pushed his first attempt wide right from 46 yards out at Wisconsin in Week 3. After hitting a 28-yarder against Georgia two weeks later, he didn’t get another attempt until the Week 8 loss against Tennessee, where he went 1 of 2, coming up short on a 54-yard try before hitting the target from 35 yards out.
Since then Nicholson has been perfect, connecting on two field goals against Missouri as well as one last week against Mercer. Now it seems like the graduate kicker is finally finding his rhythm.
“Getting that first one is hard, and it took him a long time to get that first opportunity,” DeBoer said of Nicholson during his weekly radio show on Wednesday night. “It isn’t his fault. We were just scoring touchdowns and the opportunities didn’t present themselves the same way.
“He has been just steady since Day 1. We see him every day in practice. I think he’s getting more and more comfortable in our stadium in particular.”
DeBoer called the two kicks Nicholson made a Missouri “critical to Alabama’s 34-0 win over the Tigers. The first of which came from a season-long 47 yards out as the kicker helped the Tide put points on the board to cap off the game’s opening possession. From there, Nicholson helped a struggling Alabama offense get some momentum by hitting a 39-yarder to put the Tide up 6-0 late in the second quarter.
“Thought [the 47-yarder] was a big kick for us right there to get three points on the board,” DeBoer said. “And then he came back and did it again.”
While kicking isn’t DeBoer’s expertise, he said he still makes an effort to monitor his kicker’s reps during practice in order to get a good feel of what affects them and what went wrong during misses.
“A kicker might miss a kick in practice, and if you really weren’t paying attention, you might just think it was him,” DeBoer explained. “Well, it might have been the snap or the hold or something else. There’s other moving parts to that part. It might not solely fall on the kicker missing in practice, and you can quickly some thoughts about, ‘Well, he’s not in his groove right now,’ when really there were other factors that played a role in it.”
As for Nicholson, DeBoer believes he’s finally found his rhythm and should be able to return to his award-winning form to close out the season.
“He’s mentally strong,” DeBoer said. “He’s got a lot that he’s done in the past that he goes back to that gives him the confidence he has. You still got a new place and you gotta kind of reprove yourself. He’s done a good job of doing that.”
Last season, Nicholson made 27 of 28 field-goal attempts and 35 of 37 extra-point tries. That included an NCAA-record streak of 25 straight made field goals. Through 10 games at Alabama, he is 5 of 7 on field goals and has made all 48 of his extra-point tries.
Alabama
Everything Nate Oats said after Alabama's win over Illinois
Everything Nate Oats said after Alabama’s win over Illinois
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama coach Nate Oats spoke to reporters after the Crimson Tide’s 100-87 win over No. 25 Illinois on Wednesday. No. 8 Alabama bounced back from a loss to Purdue in strong fashion, taking down its first Power Five opponent of the season and gaining some momentum ahead of a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada for the Players Era Festival tournament.
Here’s everything Oats said after the game.
Opening statement
“That’s a big win. Illinois is good. They’re talented. Got multiple guys that are gonna end up playing in the NBA. They’ve got length everywhere. They beat us on the boards, so we’ve got to get significantly better on the glass. But I thought our guys did a much better job defensively. We had a few things we had to get cleaned up, and I thought we played pretty hard. I thought we had a group in there to close the game out that played pretty well on defense and got to the rim on offense.
“There’s lots of positives. We shot the ball well from some guys. I think Grant got his confidence going, obviously, early. Labaron has been playing really hard, almost had a triple-double with 16, nine and seven. I think the ball moved a lot better. Twenty-three assists to only seven turnovers was big. So there’s a lot of positives, but a lot of stuff to improve on still.”
On Mark Sears being held scoreless, sitting the final 11:27
“He was great on the bench. He was struggling. There’s a lot of pressure on him, obviously, being a home-state kid that came back. He’s the preseason player of the year, and he’s trying to do well. Teams are gearing their defense toward him. He had some good looks tonight; they just didn’t go. I took him out to kind of let him get his head together a little bit, and I tried to put him back in and he just said, ‘Look, they’re playing well.’ “I’ll be honest with you, it’s similar to what Herb Jones has done before. We’ve had some really good players here that have just kind of been unselfish enough and want to win bad enough to just say, ‘Hey, let the guys go. They’re playing really well. Leave them in.’ So that’s what I did. I tried to put him back in the middle of that 11 minutes, but he said leave these guys. They were playing pretty well. He was right, so we left them in, and they went on a run and won it. I’m sure he’ll bounce back against Houston.”
On Alabama’s bench
“Obviously, Holloway shooting it like he did helps a lot with the bench. Derrion, Aiden Sherrell kind of showed what they’re capable of. They’re starting to both get a little more comfortable. Dioubate threw in another three for us, and I think Jarin’s got a huge jump he can still make this year. We’re deep. Everybody knew we were deep. We needed the bench tonight with how Mark maybe struggled shooting it a little bit. Holloway came in and helped us out a little bit. So I thought it was big. I think our bench will probably give us pretty good production most of the year because there’s going to be quite a few guys that would be starting at most places coming off the bench, so we’ll get pretty good bench production most of the year.”
On Clifford Omoruyi avoiding foul trouble doing forward
“He picks up some silly ones where he gets out of position and kind of comes in late. So we gotta keep working with him on some of that. Him being in a drop like we’ve got him in, he didn’t really play it like that at Rutgers. So he’s just got to continue to get better. I thought we’ve seen him get better and better in the drop. I think when Grant went to the five and kind of got in the drop, he had a blocked shot. I think he’s done a little more, so you can see he’s a little more experienced with it. So we just got to keep working with him on that and then keep working. But like you said, I mean, he was plus-14 when he was in the game, played 15 minutes. We were plus-14 with them in there. So we gotta try to keep him out of foul trouble so we can keep him in the game a little bit longer.”
On responding from the Purdue loss
“It was big. We needed to play against a high-major team, a good one, a top-25 team and be able to get a win. And I didn’t even think we played great in a lot of areas. I mean, you look at the offensive rebounds we gave up. We didn’t shoot it particularly well from some of our better shooters, and we were still able to score 100 points. We did take care of the ball a lot better, and I thought our defense improved.
“So I think we need to continue to see little things improve and do well and just keep building on it because Houston’s obviously really tough, really good. Giving up 14 O boards – and Illinois’ very good. They’ve got length everywhere. They go to the O boards. They’re one of the better rebounding teams in the country. But they’re not at the same level as Houston’s going to be on the offensive glass. So we’re going to really pick up on our defensive rebounding. Purdue kind of got to us there, Illinois got to us. So we’re going to have to make a huge point of emphasis on that going forward.”
On if he’s surprised at Labaron Philos’s progress
“From what I thought when you go back to last spring when he opened his recruitment up and we took him, yes, I’m surprised from then. But if you ask me after the summer, after watching what he did in June, July, August, he came in and established himself as one of the best guards in the program right out of the gate in the month of June. So I think he came in competing. I mean, he had the right mindset coming in, though.
“Like when he opened his recruitment up, he kind of made the point, I think one of the statements might have been, if I’m not going to play much – because Kansas took a lot of transfer guards when he signed – if I’m not going to play much, I’d rather be home in Alabama at Alabama if I’m not going to play much. I said, ‘Look, just come in and work hard. We’ll see what you can earn.’ So he kind of just came in expecting nothing, had to earn everything, and when you feel like you gotta earn everything, that’s when I think you start playing your best.
“It’s why we don’t ever promise anybody minutes, starting spots, anything around here. I think you make everybody come in and earn it. And also, you get guys like Labaron that blossom. And he’s kind of earned from summer, fall practice. He’s one of our hardest competitors in practice every day. He’s winning the blue-collar in practice. He won the Hard Hat tonight. He just makes a bunch of tough plays and just loses himself in the game. I don’t think he’s worried about how many points he scores, about how many times he touches it, how many minutes he’s played. Just if he’s in, he’s playing hard, playing the right way, and it shows.”
On Aden Holloway’s contributions
“We didn’t play fast enough against Purdue. One of the clips that we did play fast enough was him. He got downhill, scored a layup. We just said we want to keep the pace going. I think it’s easier to play fast when you got three of those four guards in. I thought he pushed the pace tonight. He’s super skilled. I mean, he’s as good a shooter as I’ve ever coached. So the fact that he went 3-of-4 from three is not really that shocking. I’d venture to say he’s gonna have plenty other games where he goes 3-of-4, 4-of-5, 5-of-6. Who knows. He can shoot it, and his pace is good. His skill level is high. He’s got a good finishing package in the lane. He’s good. I don’t know that I would say I envisioned this because – we knew he was really good coming out of high school. I think maybe sometimes it takes a little bit to adjust in college or whatever. He definitely had some good games at Auburn, but we thought he could be more like what he was coming out of high school, and I think that’s what you saw tonight.”
On responding to Illinois’ runs
“I think they cut it to eight at one point, if I remember right. I think maybe we had a 14-point lead. I couldn’t remember. Did they cut it lower than that? I think maybe eight was where we got. We were up 18 at one point in the first half. I think we were up maybe 17 in the second half, if I remember right, at some point. They cut it to eight, and I think that’s when I called the timeout. I thought we came out of that timeout, played pretty well. I think we went on a 7-0 run after the timeout, and it started with some defense. We got some transition buckets off our defense, and then they made some tough shots. I thought we did a better job keeping them off – they ended up with 14 O boards. They had 13 with about 12 minutes to go in the game. We kept talking about making sure they didn’t get any O boards. They got the one there late, I think when Riley got it, if I remember right. But other than that, I thought we did a better job keeping them off the glass. And they’re gonna make some tough shots.
“Sometimes basketball is a little bit of a game of runs, but you gotta make them keep taking tough shots, don’t give up O boards, nothing easy. And then we just had to make sure we had some better shots on our end. We got to do a better job getting to the offensive boards and getting some easy looks, too.”
On Aiden Sherrell’s performance
“I thought he was good. I mean, we want him to shoot the ball with confidence. We finally got him to drop a three. We’ve seen him shoot well in practice, I thought he had a nice lob he caught. He played pretty physical and got some rebounds. A lot more like what we thought we’d have got, and I got him more minutes. So I thought he deserved more minutes. I thought I should have played him more at Purdue, to be honest with you. But he played a lot better for us tonight. For him to get plus-eight in his nine minutes was pretty good.”
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