Massachusetts Teachers Are Subsidizing the Taxpayers [OPINION]

The school buildings are closed in Massachusetts. The teachers who are working remotely to deliver education to their students are subsidizing their employers.

Like workers in the private sector who are working from home, teachers are providing assets to their employers to keep their operations functioning. This isn't a complaint, it is a fact.

Because of the COVID-19 virus, the schools of Massachusetts shut down their buildings and in-person delivery of education. Given the information available at the time, there was no other responsible decision.

Many districts moved to a remote education model with teachers working from outside the public buildings and, in most cases, from their homes.

By having the teachers work from home, the taxpayers were spared an enormous financial expense and a logistic impossibility.

Teachers, like many of us working remotely, are now providing real estate, utilities, and technology to their employers. Nobody was asked if they were willing to provide this subsidy; they just rolled with it because it was the only answer to a question that had never been placed before them before this virus. This isn't a complaint, it is just the facts.

Without this subsidy, there is no way most operations, including schools, could function in the current climate. If the schools had to go out and rent space for each teacher to use and then pay for the utilities, insurance, taxes, technology, and office furniture for each new classroom it would break the budget. Instead, the district sent the teachers home and passed all those costs onto the individual educators.

The taxpayers are getting a tremendous gift.

Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact him at chris.mccarthy@townsquaremedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Chris_topher_Mc. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.