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My bestfriend is a teacher and she lives paycheck to paycheck. Dont you have to be a teacher for a LONG time to get that type of salary? She started at at $40,000 I think she has been teacher for a couple of years. I know when I was doing research for an essay I was writing I was looking at the different school districts salary chart to even get to $50,000 a year you had to be a teacher for like 10 yrs! I have heard many of my classmates say that they would love to be teachers but they couldnt afford the low salary.
I know a teacher who had been teaching 8 years and he was making 68K here in the SF Bay Area, and he was not at the top of the scale.
That is not a luxury income here, but it's hardly poverty, especially when the generous pension benefits are factored in. He, too, got sick of all the illegals where he was teaching in Salinas, CA. There were some (not all) who would brag that they never learned English. This guy was a bilingual ed teacher but said it was not working. He told me many people think bilingual ed means "Spanish only". This guy was Puerto Rican and sick of the liberal politically correct BS in education circles. I think the worst part about being a teacher isn't the salary, but the inept bureaucracy and the political correctness.
Last edited by mysticaltyger; 06-10-2009 at 12:22 AM..
Even so, for teachers in the SF Bay Area, even combined wages means very modest living. In most cases, private schooling for the kids and private university are just about ruled out.
My response to this is....So What???? MOST 2 income families in the SF Bay Area can not afford to send their kids to private school. That is just the reality of life.
Other realities of life here are the high cost of housing, due to our state's stupid housing policies and tax structure, which discourages new housing supply from being built. But these are things EVERYONE has to deal with.
So teachers here earn more than the national average but their higher salaries do not make up for the higher overall cost of living. That is true for MOST people who live in the Bay Area. That's just life. Don't like it? Then don't live here.
my district starts at 48k a year but is the hardest district in california to get into because for the 1st 7 years we are one of the highest paying districts. After that we just can't compete. It is not easy being a new teacher and making a low salary. The compensation for teaching is in the long run. I for one say why stick to teaching when you can become an administrator. I'm new and don't plan on teaching for more than a handful of years. Unfortunately i do not see the point to make a little bit of money vs a lot more money by being an administrator.
sorry just my point of view.
oh and for the person below...with all of the "Extra" work that comes to teaching. Most of you who do not teach will not understand the hard work that comes with it. It is not a 40 hour a week job if your new--trust me!!!
my district starts at 48k a year but is the hardest district in california to get into because for the 1st 7 years we are one of the highest paying districts. After that we just can't compete. It is not easy being a new teacher and making a low salary. The compensation for teaching is in the long run. I for one say why stick to teaching when you can become an administrator. I'm new and don't plan on teaching for more than a handful of years. Unfortunately i do not see the point to make a little bit of money vs a lot more money by being an administrator.
sorry just my point of view.
oh and for the person below...with all of the "Extra" work that comes to teaching. Most of you who do not teach will not understand the hard work that comes with it. It is not a 40 hour a week job if your new--trust me!!!
If educators didn't always complain the public wouldn't counter with why they shouldn't. Why as a profession can't we just do what we do without such a need for public embracing of our workday and work conditions. People who work construction in hot and cold don't need forums and advocates soliciting empathy for them.
I know a teacher who had been teaching 8 years and he was making 68K here in the SF Bay Area, and he was not at the top of the scale.
That is not a luxury income here, but it's hardly poverty, especially when the generous pension benefits are factored in. He, too, got sick of all the illegals where he was teaching in Salinas, CA. There were some (not all) who would brag that they never learned English. This guy was a bilingual ed teacher but said it was not working. He told me many people think bilingual ed means "Spanish only". This guy was Puerto Rican and sick of the liberal politically correct BS in education circles. I think the worst part about being a teacher isn't the salary, but the inept bureaucracy and the political correctness.
But what is the cost of living in the SF bay area? It's all relative.
If educators didn't always complain the public wouldn't counter with why they shouldn't. Why as a profession can't we just do what we do without such a need for public embracing of our workday and work conditions. People who work construction in hot and cold don't need forums and advocates soliciting empathy for them.
That's because no one tells a construction worker how easy they have it and how anyone can do their job.
Since becomming a teacher, I've been told that I made the career change because:
...I can't handle the real world
...I want the summers off
...I want a short work day (people actually think I work only the hours the kids are in school )
and I've been told I don't deserve full time pay because I only work part of the year and I should just get a job during the summer to make up for what I don't make as a teacher. Only problem with that logic is you can't make up for half a paycheck missing in only 10 weeks off
I'd be ecstatic if I were paid proportional to the days I work compared to engineering. I worked 225 days as an engineer and made $90K. I work 190 days as a teacher. So, shouldn't I be on track to make $76K? Unfortunately, I'm on track to make less than half of that.....forever.... I'd settle for half of what I made as an engineer or, better, yet, half of what a construction worker makes. I have a SS who works construction and he makes more than I ever dreamed of making.
There's a reason other professionals and people like construction workers don't have a forum to complain on. No one tells them they have it easy and don't deserve what they are paid. I can handle people saying nothing (no one ever said anything about my wages or work conditions as an engineer) but I won't sit back and be dissed. I won't sit back and be told I'm not worth paying, I only have a part time job, I can't handle it in the real world and I should just be happy I have the summers off.
I have taught in CA for 3 years and make 54,000, which is a good amount but I also live in the bay area and the average house that was built in the 70's cost $800,000. Even with the market going down there are condo’s in the mid $400,000 which I still would not ever be able to afford. Also with the lay offs I may still lose my job next year and most teachers including myself are looking at a pay cut some only 5% and some more, we are still waiting to hear back from my district and I have a feeling because my district is so small and doesn't get any extra income from the surrounding neighborhoods that we will end up taking a bigger hit then 5%. And at some point I would rather work as a receptionist with out any stress making $16.00 an hour then having my pay cut more and more dealing with a TON of stress. All the cut backs are also cutting back on other things too making a teachers job even more complicated. I was just told that we will not be supplied with paper next year and would have to ask parents to donate, which is fine but that also means I’m sure that I will end up spending more of my own diminishing salary to make up the differences.
That's because no one tells a construction worker how easy they have it and how anyone can do their job.
Since becomming a teacher, I've been told that I made the career change because:
...I can't handle the real world
...I want the summers off
...I want a short work day (people actually think I work only the hours the kids are in school )
and I've been told I don't deserve full time pay because I only work part of the year and I should just get a job during the summer to make up for what I don't make as a teacher. Only problem with that logic is you can't make up for half a paycheck missing in only 10 weeks off
I'd be ecstatic if I were paid proportional to the days I work compared to engineering. I worked 225 days as an engineer and made $90K. I work 190 days as a teacher. So, shouldn't I be on track to make $76K? Unfortunately, I'm on track to make less than half of that.....forever.... I'd settle for half of what I made as an engineer or, better, yet, half of what a construction worker makes. I have a SS who works construction and he makes more than I ever dreamed of making.
There's a reason other professionals and people like construction workers don't have a forum to complain on. No one tells them they have it easy and don't deserve what they are paid. I can handle people saying nothing (no one ever said anything about my wages or work conditions as an engineer) but I won't sit back and be dissed. I won't sit back and be told I'm not worth paying, I only have a part time job, I can't handle it in the real world and I should just be happy I have the summers off.
Have you ever talked to or hung out with construction workers. If someone did tell them that they would have a response different tthan many teachers.
The other reason why we and our work conditions are so much under the microscope is because our salaries come from TAXATION and it is quite the norm for people to analyze, discuss and react to how their hard earned tax dollars are spent. Perhaps that is why the focus is so much on public teachers and not private school teachers. We need to be ever aware that our profession is supported by taking money from those who earned it and distributed to us for our income. Not that we don't earn it but they had it taxed and taken without much input. Construction workers are paid from the earnings of others but those people usually had a say in whether they wanted to buy or not. Yes we do hire construction workers with public dollars and they and those facilities gets critical review also. You can build a fancy private office building without complaints but not a school. Public employment comes with public reaction to the outcomes of being taxed.
My husband is a teacher and I'm finishing school to be a teacher, we have one child and we are looking to get out of California. Why? You can't afford to live here unless you are each making close to a 100,000 a year and the cost of homes has not dropped enough to change that. Here is a current study from the teacher portal website Teacher Salary Comfort Index | TeacherPortal.com as you can see California is #44 on the list as far as living comfortably on a teacher's salary. Illinois is #1 but the jobs there are few & far between, just like here. California is no longer hiring-unless you are in one of the few fields they really need like ESL-they are actually firing (pink slips) but it's still firing & many teachers (my husband included) are suffering pay cuts and have classrooms w/ 38 students in them. California is not a fun palce to be and I'm afraid it's getting worse.
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i am a teacher...
I'd settle for half of what I made as an engineer or, better, yet, half of what a construction worker makes. I have a SS who works construction and he makes more than I ever dreamed of making. 
