Seattle Teachers and Contract Negotiations

So with a lot of talk about teacher salaries, let us get a grip on the cost of raising a family of four persons.

From the Wall Street Journal comes this =>

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/08/26/where-is-the-most-affordable-place-in-the-u-s-to-raise-a-family/

Back in the day when I was raised there were a lot of "stay at home moms" and they contributed a lot to the success of public schools and society.  In the early 1960s an average house payment was around 32 hours of adult labor a month at the average wage rate.  It must be well in excess of 100+ hours a month in the Seattle metro area today.   In parts of Silicon Valley they are providing housing for police, nurses, firemen, and teachers due to incredibly high housing costs.

These days if a Seattle teacher is expecting to have a family of four with a stay at home spouse, that teacher better have some inherited wealth or inherited a house.

The EPI budget calculator
http://www.epi.org/resources/budget/

gives $72,274 for the annual cost for a family of 4 in the Seattle/Bellevue metro area
but that gives housing cost as $1,123 a month (huhh?? - must be living in an RV parked in the Arboretum).

The EPI measure isn’t a poverty gauge, but rather estimates what it costs for households to satisfy basic needs, including shelter, food, child care, transportation, health care and taxes. The measure takes into account items such as a cell phones and home furnishings, but not vacations or saving for retirement or college.

Wonder what the Washington Policy Center and the Seattle Times will tell us about salaries and strikes.