Also, as a side note, teachers don't get vacation time. Yes, they get a lot of time off for holidays and summer, but they are not allowed to choose their vacation. So if there is something you want to do really badly, but it falls during the school year, well, tough titties. This includes people's weddings or other major events like the birth of a nephew or something. Basically, if it's not legally mandated that you can take off for it, you don't get to take off. Fine. You take the good and bad with each job, and this just requires a lot more prescheduling and paying more money to go places during the busy seasons (which usually coincides with students being off school).

Her sick time, though, is part of her compensation package, but for some reason, she's not allowed to use it? When I left the education system, I had 40 unused sick days because it was heavily frowned upon to be out sick. Did I get those paid out when I left? Nope. You just lose them. They get (40 days x 8 hours per day =) 320 hours that they get to just not pay me for or have to pay a sub for.

Those days off are part of her compensation package, meaning that instead of giving her a higher wage, they make the trade-off for other benefits, like those sick days. So there is a dollar figure that corresponds to each of those days that they are being paid with, and the general public seems to think they should just donate those benefits (which are the equivalent to money) to the government. Would you donate money to the government?

This is on top of the fact that teachers are not allowed to get overtime. This is on top of the low wages. This is on top of having to purchase their own supplies with that meager wage. This is on top of the high pressure and responsibility of the job. This is why over 50% of teachers leave the field completely within 5 years. I barely made it to 8 years before leaving.

I now work in the private sector making double what I did as a teacher, can take off whenever I want, and have a job that is a hundred times easier. When I have a difficult day at work, I remind myself that it's still easier than teaching. My 3 weeks of vacation now is still better than the 12 weeks I got off as a teacher (most of which were spent sick as my body tried to recover from finally getting a moment without stress). They lost an excellent educator because I finally said f-it.

I don't give a crap if she did see a concert. She should be able to use the time that she is being paid with instead of donating it. The tax dollars that she "cost" the taxpayers were already budgeted. Your taxes did not increase because she chose to use her sick time.