Casciato: Teachers should supplement low income with second job
During the commissioners' comments section of the Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, County Commissioner Emmett Casciato railed against teachers complaining about low wages and working second jobs.
Transylvania County Commissioner Emmett Casciato launched a diatribe against local teachers during the commissioners’ comment portion of Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting.
A former teacher himself, Casciato said county teachers should be comfortable working a second job to subsidize their own income as he has done in the past and urged them to stop complaining about spending money on supplies for their classrooms.
“I taught for 28 years and I had a second job for 28 years,” he said. “I coached four or five sports and I still worked construction during the summer. So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with subsidizing your salary if you’re able to do it.”
His remarks came after a public comment made earlier in the meeting by Tara McDonald, a parent of a seventh grader in the county and a sociologist.
She said she met teachers at businesses all across town who work second jobs to be able to afford to live in the county.
“I went to hear some music at King Street recently and there I found one of our high school teachers working his after-school job because he cannot afford to live,” she said.
McDonald also spoke about the burden placed on teachers to purchase basic supplies such as staples and tape dispensers for their classrooms and children.
“I want you to understand the inefficiency of not having basic fundamental office supplies, school supplies, in our classrooms and how much that handicaps our teachers,” she said.
A 2022 report from nea.org said 90% of teachers spend on average $500 of their own money on school supplies and other items. The report also said that under-resourced schools are some of the main factors driving teachers away from the profession.
“Don’t tell me what teachers can do,” Casciato said in reply to McDonald. “Don’t tell me about staples. That is the most silliest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. You can go down to the store and buy them for 50 cents.”
The commissioner also said that affordable housing in the county is a “pipe dream” that will never get off the ground.
“At 300 bucks a square foot, it’s a pipe dream,” he said. “And what’s affordable for you, might not be affordable for me. I’d love to have affordable housing for everybody, but it isn’t affordable anymore.”
In a later interview, Casciato stood behind all of his comments from Tuesday and said local teachers should look at getting roommates if they cannot afford to live on their own.
When asked what Casciato would say to teachers with families, he replied “Well does her husband work?”
The county commissioner also said in the interview the county has “nothing to do with” raising teacher pay and they would not be able to affect a solution to the low wages.
The county does subsidize teacher pay through a local salary supplement which it controls.
The current supplement for Transylvania County schools is 8.5% for teachers who have worked less than 25 years and 9% for those who have worked longer. Supplements in Buncombe County start at 10.5% and cap out at 18%. In Henderson County, supplements start at 9%.
He also railed against the idea that he was a fascist during the public comment section of the meeting.
“Calling me a fascist that is the most biggest insult I ever had in my life,” Casciato said as he slammed his hand on the board table. “I’m sick of people constantly degrading us.”
Casciato’s pointed words were a response to McDonald’s claim the “failures” currently plaguing the school system are by the design of the county commission as they refuse to fund many education initiatives.
“One of the first steps of fascism is to defund education, to take away the budgets of educational facilities,” she said. “If you want to defund our schools, if fascism is your goal, then I would encourage you to say so.”
McDonald never directly called anyone on the board a fascist.
Casciato later said he supported giving teachers more pay, but saw no way to achieve that goal.
“We need good teachers. We need good coaches. We need good administrators,” he said. “And I wish we could give all the teachers a huge raise, but we can’t do it at this time.”
