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Can't say I got into this profession for the money, although the pay is more than I was making beforehand. But salary is keeping me teaching where I am, as I am constantly looking at other states in an attempt to have a reason to move out of Texas. Unfortunately I can't find anything that moves the needle. The districts in Ft. Worth and outside of Houston pay their teachers exceptionally well given COL with good benefits (the state retirement system is extremely well maintained and funded). You can expect to start in the low-mid $50's with zero experience, with some districts offering an additional $2,000 for a graduate degree. A teacher starting off at $55+ is not uncommon for the area, and the districts are huge. This has fortunately, or unfortunately rather, kept me here as I'm not willing to take up to a 20% pay decrease to move.
TLDR version: Areas in Texas has some of the higher paying districts and are always hiring. If you like 350 days of summer per year, come on down.
Is this a typical example of what you pay for monthly healthcare premiums? If I'm reading it correctly, this example shows a two employee family with Fort Worth ISD pays at minimum $800/month. A single employee family plan is at least $1,087/month. https://docs.mgmbenefits.com/externa...66&InBrowser=1
What does the rest of the pay scale look like? For example, this link shows one that has what looks to be good starting salaries ($52-54k), but the steps increase at a snail's pace. https://www.fwisd.org/cms/lib/TX0191...20Schedule.pdf
Most steps on this scale move $200-$500 each year and a teacher with 20 years only makes $8k over a first year teacher. Is that typical? In my district someone with 20 years and a BA makes $27,000 more than a first year teacher with a BA. Someone with 20 years and a MA makes $38k more than a new teacher with a MA.
Typical for me will be moving up within 6 years and earning about $17,000 more than I was year 1.
Anywhere the kids are disadvantaged. We need teachers that love the challenge of bridging the gap between students/families that are successful and have a great learning environment at home vs. those students/families that do not. I'm sure this would mean more of the poorer states where poverty is more prevalent.
We need teachers to have a love for minority students/families that cannot afford charter schools. We need teachers to teach at places where they can inspire students to love learning and get ambitious about college and having a career vs graduating high school and getting a dead-end job.
My daughter teaches in Colorado. She is in her third year there with two years prior experience. (I could be long by a year). She is satisfied with the pay (Just bought a house that she loves). She likes her school, loves the students, but is very unhappy the administration. Also the atmosphere (back stabbing manipulating, etc.). The school district keeps teachers on the edge of their seat wondering whether they will have a job next month. She thinks the Union is pretty weak and not able to do much. Wile it is better than Arizona where she used to teach, it is a challenging place to teach.
I think disadvantaged students are pretty much everywhere, so a teacher can find challenges wherever they teach. However we need to move away form the silly concept that everyone needs to go to college. For many students College gives them nothing but debt (and sometimes a great learning experience). Because of this concept that not going to college = failure. Our colleges are churning out millions of students with massive debt and no marketable skills. The schools need to change their worldviews in this regard. They are doing kids a disservice.
My daughter teaches in Colorado. She is in her third year there with two years prior experience. (I could be long by a year). She is satisfied with the pay (Just bought a house that she loves). She likes her school, loves the students, but is very unhappy the administration. Also the atmosphere (back stabbing manipulating, etc.). The school district keeps teachers on the edge of their seat wondering whether they will have a job next month. She thinks the Union is pretty weak and not able to do much. Wile it is better than Arizona where she used to teach, it is a challenging place to teach.
I think disadvantaged students are pretty much everywhere, so a teacher can find challenges wherever they teach. However we need to move away form the silly concept that everyone needs to go to college. For many students College gives them nothing but debt (and sometimes a great learning experience). Because of this concept that not going to college = failure. Our colleges are churning out millions of students with massive debt and no marketable skills. The schools need to change their worldviews in this regard. They are doing kids a disservice.
I love your quote Coldjensens! I wish some college president or Board Chairman would read your post and let it marinate! Teaching has many layers. We need teachers to love the student ( the "A" student from the rich neighborhood as well as the student from the ghetto), we need teachers to love their jobs, we need teachers to have the support they need from their unions, and we need teachers to have a drive to see students' aptitude increase as well as their salaries.
So glad to hear you all are getting a raise, I suppose the strike earlier this year worked out in your favor. Do you understand the rationale behind removing additional MA pay? I'm just struggling to understand why that call was made and correct me if I'm wrong but I believe NC is the only state that does this. I love the Charlotte area, I went to school down there for a little bit. I actually considered moving down there and trying to teach in upstate SC in York or Lancaster but the salaries aren't much better there and the COL in Charlotte is rising so I'm not sure it makes sense to go that route. If you don't mind me asking, where do you teach?
Money. That is the only rationale for pretty much anything in public education in NC.
I love your quote Coldjensens! I wish some college president or Board Chairman would read your post and let it marinate! Teaching has many layers. We need teachers to love the student ( the "A" student from the rich neighborhood as well as the student from the ghetto), we need teachers to love their jobs, we need teachers to have the support they need from their unions, and we need teachers to have a drive to see students' aptitude increase as well as their salaries.
Well put.
And you may not agree, but I would add that we need teachers who support their professional organizations while cleaning then up a bit.
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