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So did I. Still waiting for the gravy train. My district has given one step increase in 7 years, wants a pay cut from us now and has informed us it will be several more years before they give any more step increases. No gravy train here. I'll be lucky if I make over $50k before I retire IF I can ever afford to retire.
I wonder what the trends have been for your school district: is school population up or down? Has employment number gone up or down? What about merit pay....does your district have it?? Do you have a masters degree?? What about your benefit package?? Is your town or city in financial difficulty? What part of the country are you in?
Starting pay where I am is 30 k (for teachers). A good house can be bought for $50 k.
See what I mean?
Why would you not be able to afford retirement?
In our area, the big mill employees took an 8% pay cut. Or they could choose to close.
The times are tight for almost everyone.
I never felt for one minute I was underpaid as a teacher.
I wonder what the trends have been for your school district: is school population up or down? Has employment number gone up or down? What about merit pay....does your district have it?? Do you have a masters degree?? What about your benefit package?? Is your town or city in financial difficulty? What part of the country are you in?
Starting pay where I am is 30 k (for teachers). A good house can be bought for $50 k.
See what I mean?
Why would you not be able to afford retirement?
In our area, the big mill employees took an 8% pay cut. Or they could choose to close.
The times are tight for almost everyone.
I never felt for one minute I was underpaid as a teacher.
It can not be repeated enough... cost-of-living matters.
Where I am the starting teacher salary is $47K, average home price is $459,000. Lowest priced piece of property today in the entire area is a 450 sq. ft. studio condo (0 bedrooms, 1 bath, no central air) in a sketchy area of town for $124,500. They will also have to fork over $350/month in HOA fees if they buy that studio condo. Average rental for a studio apartment is $1,600 - that is over 50% of that new teacher's take home pay and they don't even get a bedroom. The average household income in the county is $104K. Teachers around here can not afford to live unless they are married to someone with a better income. Yeah, teachers are underpaid here.
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You have to spend 3-4 weeks out of the summer maintaining your license? So you really only get 2 full months off? Oh the horror! You know most licensed professionals have to get their continuing education requirements fulfilled while working 50+ hours a week 50 weeks out of the year. Most of us are grateful for a 3 day weekend.
You should spend the entire summer, every summer updating your knowledge base so that you aren't teaching outdated science in the classroom. You should also have to take courses during the fall and spring breaks. You're getting paid anyway, so is it really too much to ask you to work for the money? You're not entitled to 4 months of vacation a year! What makes you think you deserve the summers off, spring break, fall break, Christmas break, Thanksgiving break, "teacher planning" days, etc, etc, etc...
The sense of entitlement that most teachers have in this country is simply stunning.
I can't speak for every state but in my state teachers get a set salary. They can choose if they want 12 month paychecks or 10 month paychecks. So if they choose 10 month paychecks, they really aren't getting paid during the summer.
Sorry for the typos in the title... SNF and typing don't mix
I just found out my Aunt, a teacher of 25 years and who works for a rather small PSS (under 1200 teachers) in SoCal, has a base pay of $86,000 + $22,000 in benefits. She teaches a class of first graders, and has an assistant. She is in her seventies and refuses to retire until she maxes her retirement to 80-85% of full pay.
Is this underpaid?
Yes
I mean you need $80,000 just to live in California. I mean where I live anything below $50K a year your in poverty. Most teachers here need a Master's to teach. Most teacher's stay on die to retirement benefits so few job's. Mostly STEM teacher's have a lot of opportunities and receive bonuses if they have certain specialties.
The tenure system is to protect a teacher, who awards grades to students, from being placed under employment pressure for not assigning the grades the administration wants them to assign.
An example of this is that school superintendents want to show high achievement, as measured by grades and standardized tests. If a teacher knows that his/her job might be threatened by being strict, then they will be easy with grades and allow students to cheat on tests.
Moreover, complaining parents shouldn't be able to get higher grades for their children -- which is often the case with untenured teachers.
In your example of unqualified teachers, your beef is with a school board that awarded tenure based upon something other than qualifications. Your beef is with them, not the tenure system.
I'm not going to say that the scenarios you've outlined never happen, but my experience was usually the opposite. Teachers that would be so adamant about an assigned grade that they would say that they'd give up their jobs rather than change a grade.
"Complaining parents shouldn't be able to get higher grades for their children"...unless, of course, an illegitimate grade has been given on an assignment or test.
I can't speak for every state but in my state teachers get a set salary. They can choose if they want 12 month paychecks or 10 month paychecks. So if they choose 10 month paychecks, they really aren't getting paid during the summer.
That's a good point.
Where I taught in Maryland and New York State, you got your annual pay divided by 10 months. It was up to you to spread that income out over 12 months.
Where I worked in Virginia, you got your annual pay divided out over 12 months.
It can not be repeated enough... cost-of-living matters.
Where I am the starting teacher salary is $47K, average home price is $459,000. Lowest priced piece of property today in the entire area is a 450 sq. ft. studio condo (0 bedrooms, 1 bath, no central air) in a sketchy area of town for $124,500. They will also have to fork over $350/month in HOA fees if they buy that studio condo. Average rental for a studio apartment is $1,600 - that is over 50% of that new teacher's take home pay and they don't even get a bedroom. The average household income in the county is $104K. Teachers around here can not afford to live unless they are married to someone with a better income. Yeah, teachers are underpaid here.
You live in the area of the country which is the enemy of all of the rest of the country. Hardly representative ....lol
They "can't afford to live"??? Bizarre claim. They are all dirt poor, then??
Many, many people commute to work from outside their town. I did, when I was teaching.
Two teachers making 50k each in your town would be 100k. Basically the average. Wise saving, etc. means they can buy a house. And live okay.
Teaching is a great way to live a lifestyle old well-used cars and small apartments in sketchy locations. Been there, done that, got out and returned to normalcy. I'll never begrudge teachers and coaches their pay. Whatever they earn, it isn't enough for what they do.
Let me get this straight: when you were teaching, you were poor?? How long ago was this?? Thirty or forty years ago, an argument could be made that teachers were underpaid. No longer. Salaries have increased.
I was not rich when teaching. But I certainly was not poor. And that was 25 years ago.
No one told you that you had to live in a sketchy town or neighborhood.
So if they earn 200 k, that is not enough "for what they do"???
Let me get this straight: when you were teaching, you were poor??
You shouldn't have to ask. I made that explicit.
Quote:
How long ago was this??
20 years.
Quote:
Thirty or forty years ago, an argument could be made that teachers were underpaid. No longer. Salaries have increased.
I was not rich when teaching. But I certainly was not poor. And that was 25 years ago.
No one told you that you had to live in a sketchy town or neighborhood.
My income vs cost of living told me that.
Quote:
So if they earn 200 k, that is not enough "for what they do"???
If you keep in mind the fact that most teachers only actually work about half the year, the vast majority of them have the equivalent of six figure salaries. That's especially true when you consider the crazy benefits packages and retirement plans. Now, throw in tenure that gives them the kind of job security most people can't even imagine and it becomes a pretty cake job.
No, they frequently don't earn as much as lawyers or engineers, but they don't go through nearly the same kind of rigorous academic training, they don't work nearly as many hours in a day, and again, they only work about half the year!
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