Organizing for America — now a part of the DNC — sends me this message:

Right now, my job — along with those of my colleagues — could be in jeopardy.

I’m a public school teacher in Philadelphia. And, like most states across the country, Pennsylvania is facing some bad budget shortfalls. Without federal help, a lot of teachers like me — as well as other public servants like police officers and firefighters — will lose their jobs. Maybe you know some of these people. Maybe it’s you.

Democrats in Congress are trying to do the right thing, proposing emergency assistance for states to preserve more than 100,000 jobs like mine. They’re racing back to the Capitol for an emergency session this week to pass this bill and save these jobs.

But Republicans are standing in the way. Minority Leader John Boehner is calling the bill a “payoff” to “special interests” and attacking every Democrat who is fighting for us.

But I’m not a special interest. I’m a teacher.

The message is from “Wendy C.,” a teacher in Ambler, Pennsylvania. 

Ambler is in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The Borough of Ambler is served by the Wissahickon School District. According to the Morning Call newspaper, the average salary in this school district was $71,204 for the 2006–07 school year, making it the 17th-highest-paid district out of 727 in the state. The district ranks 316th in teacher experience and 52nd in most-educated teachers.

In 2007, the median household income in the state of Pennsylvania was $48,576.

Note the salary figure above does not include teachers’ benefits.

When the local board of education spends money at a rate that the local tax base cannot afford, those teachers who refuse to adjust their salaries to reality do start to look like a special interest.