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It is beneficial to move here if you are not a teacher! HA!
DH took about a 30% pay cut (he has slowly gone up to almost what he made 3 years ago in LA now). His benefits and such were the same.
I would have taken a 50% paycut (if I included the difference in benefits....retirement benefits are way less here.)
Dawn
Teachers are recruited to come here from all over, but many, many leave fairly quickly because they have a hard time making it here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sillygirl77
Thank you so much. I can't believe how much it is. I guess North Carolina is out for me. My medical insurance is free now and I have to pay something like $10 a month for my husband in nyc. The pay is a lot less in NC. I figured cost of living would be cheaper, but $400 a month is a huge expense and I'm finding that I'll have all these other expenses I don't have here. So I guess it's not meant to be. Thank you everyone for your help! I'm glad to know now, before I pursued this anymore.
Location: Charlotte,NC, US, North America, Earth, Alpha Quadrant,Milky Way Galaxy
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Reputation: 2118
Quote:
Originally Posted by tippster
Yes, when we first moved to NC we encountered "sticker-shock" when we saw the cost of health insurance for the entire family.
My husband almost has to pay triple for what he was paying for in TN.
Apparently I had heard that the idiot who was in charge of the State Health Care thought it was best to pass the expense off to the employees instead of the state paying the bulk of it.
Technically the buck would have been passed to the tax payers. I'm not saying that benefits should be better for teachers, but all this stuff originates from the tax base
Well duh, all the funding from schools come from taxes. But you're not going to get quality teachers if the pay base is low and health insurance not affordable in comparison to surrounding states.
Well duh, all the funding from schools come from taxes. But you're not going to get quality teachers if the pay base is low and health insurance not affordable in comparison to surrounding states.
I'm surprised that with the low pay of NC teachers, full heath benefits for spouse and families at no cost aren't offered as a way to attract and keep good teachers. Many states provide this. This may be a reason teacher turnover is so high down here.
yes this and the other low benefits are much of the reason.
Retirement benefits are very low too. They take out 6% of a teachers' salary but then only match 3%. I don't know how any teacher could survive retirement with that. Where I came from they took out 8% but matched 8.5% and the salary was much higher. A totally doable retirement.
I have 16 years in our old place and I am seriously looking at at least trying to finish up my manditory 20 years sometime between now and retirement age.
Dawn
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEmissary
I'm surprised that with the low pay of NC teachers, full heath benefits for spouse and families at no cost aren't offered as a way to attract and keep good teachers. Many states provide this. This may be a reason teacher turnover is so high down here.
Well duh, all the funding from schools come from taxes. But you're not going to get quality teachers if the pay base is low and health insurance not affordable in comparison to surrounding states.
You know, SOME teachers actually teach because it is their vocation, or calling, in life. They go into the field knowing they will never get rich. They do it for the love of children, the love of learning, the joy in knowing they are making a real and tangible difference in our world.
When the most important issue for a teacher becomes his paycheck maybe it is time for him to change professions, maybe he was never meant to be a teacher in the first place. After all, it can hardly come as a surprise to anyone in this country that teachers are not paid at the level most of us wish they were, or at the level of doctors or professional atheletes. You don't suddenly graduate, get your first teaching job and THEN discover this information. Life is about choices and the consequences of those choices.
In my years in Charlotte I have had the pleasure of knowing several quality teachers - the best of the best. Do they wish they made more money? WHO AMONG US DOESN'T? Yet, they would never dream of doing anything else in life, because they do it for all the right reasons, not just the green ones. If we paid every teacher in this country a millon dollars don't think for one minute that means we would suddenly have nothing but "quality" teachers. In fact, we would likely have less dedicated and quality teachers because so many people would be clamoring to do the job just to make that kind of money, NOT because they really want to do this extraordinarily important job.
No, but you do look closely at the fact that NC treats teachers worse than many, many other states and you ask questions like the original poster did. I would be fine working here with a DH who has a job, but if my husband couldn't work, we would have to move to a state that took better care of its teachers than NC.
Not wanting to get rich and wanting to actually support your family are two entirely different things.
Dawn
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovesMountains
You know, SOME teachers actually teach because it is their vocation, or calling, in life. They go into the field knowing they will never get rich. They do it for the love of children, the love of learning, the joy in knowing they are making a real and tangible difference in our world.
When the most important issue for a teacher becomes his paycheck maybe it is time for him to change professions, maybe he was never meant to be a teacher in the first place. After all, it can hardly come as a surprise to anyone in this country that teachers are not paid at the level most of us wish they were, or at the level of doctors or professional atheletes. You don't suddenly graduate, get your first teaching job and THEN discover this information. Life is about choices and the consequences of those choices.
In my years in Charlotte I have had the pleasure of knowing several quality teachers - the best of the best. Do they wish they made more money? WHO AMONG US DOESN'T? Yet, they would never dream of doing anything else in life, because they do it for all the right reasons, not just the green ones. If we paid every teacher in this country a millon dollars don't think for one minute that means we would suddenly have nothing but "quality" teachers. In fact, we would likely have less dedicated and quality teachers because so many people would be clamoring to do the job just to make that kind of money, NOT because they really want to do this extraordinarily important job.
Many teachers may not do it for the money, but I can guarantee you ther overwhelming majority wouldn't do it for free. I have a very good friend who teachs in a Buffalo public school and for the most part she enjoys it. What she really likes is she can do whatever the heck she wants come summertime. So while someone maybe working all year and making 30k, a teacher (if not teaching summer school) is making 30k for 8-9 months.
Okay, time to step down off the high horse. My husband loves kids. He enjoys teaching. That was never the question. When we first moved to this state he took a pay cut. His starting salary was what he made three years prior. And it's pretty darn sad when most of his paycheck pays for our health insurance. Yet, he's still here and still teaching. Why? Because he loves it.
Not only does he has a college degree but a master's degree as well and is making far below most other people in his profession in surrounding states. Even the governor is aware of this and is trying to get NC's teacher's salary up to par with everyone else.
Any raise he receives goes to offset the rising costs of insurance. Yes, it is dedication and he is darn well dedicated.
I was simply commenting on the fact that this state will not attract any good teachers with what they are offering now. A person has got to eat!
Oh, and the getting paid once a month is also very irksome. Who's idea was that?!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovesMountains
You know, SOME teachers actually teach because it is their vocation, or calling, in life. They go into the field knowing they will never get rich. They do it for the love of children, the love of learning, the joy in knowing they are making a real and tangible difference in our world.
When the most important issue for a teacher becomes his paycheck maybe it is time for him to change professions, maybe he was never meant to be a teacher in the first place. After all, it can hardly come as a surprise to anyone in this country that teachers are not paid at the level most of us wish they were, or at the level of doctors or professional atheletes. You don't suddenly graduate, get your first teaching job and THEN discover this information. Life is about choices and the consequences of those choices.
In my years in Charlotte I have had the pleasure of knowing several quality teachers - the best of the best. Do they wish they made more money? WHO AMONG US DOESN'T? Yet, they would never dream of doing anything else in life, because they do it for all the right reasons, not just the green ones. If we paid every teacher in this country a millon dollars don't think for one minute that means we would suddenly have nothing but "quality" teachers. In fact, we would likely have less dedicated and quality teachers because so many people would be clamoring to do the job just to make that kind of money, NOT because they really want to do this extraordinarily important job.
Many teachers may not do it for the money, but I can guarantee you ther overwhelming majority wouldn't do it for free. I have a very good friend who teachs in a Buffalo public school and for the most part she enjoys it. What she really likes is she can do whatever the heck she wants come summertime. So while someone maybe working all year and making 30k, a teacher (if not teaching summer school) is making 30k for 8-9 months.
The problem comes when like many newcomers, you know how much teachers make where you came from and the benefits they have, and then compare to NC salaries and benefits which seem downright paltry. There was a thread in the NJ forum about all the towns that had beginning salaries for teachers starting at $50K. There are quite a few that at the top of their pay scales are well over $100K and have pension benefits that NC teachers would drool over! Scarsdale NY was trying to steal NYC teachers that had MA+32 in math and science by offering over $130K. Yes, you can love your job as a teacher solely by what you do, but more money and better benefits help you love it a lot more!
Last edited by TheEmissary; 01-02-2008 at 02:33 PM..
Reason: sp
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