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I see administrator salaries on this link, but not teacher salaries. I'll look again.
You need to scroll in quite a few pages to get to the teacher salaries. Salaries are listed in descending order and there are a voluminous number of administrators bringing in six figure salaries.
I think the thing is that it is subjective to different areas of the country and school districts.
As BioMom said after 26 years she makes what a starting teacher makes where I am (upstate NY) with experienced classroom teachers very near $100,000 yr here (180 days); no upper cap and on par with what a local atty would make. This is far above what other new grads are offered ($42 vs $18-20) in our local economy that is ailing.
This is not the case in many places and is aggrevated by the escalated prices of homes in most areas of the country. Complaining by those underpaid in those instances should be taken seriously. It's when others as above insist on more that it becomes maddening. Many teachers are supporting non-teacher spouses as jobs have been driven away because of high taxes. Others not on a public financed payroll have simply had to move for that reason.
It can cause problems on either end of the spectrum, either pay that is too low or too high for a locale.
Sgoldie brings up a good point. Location contributes to one's salary. Simply because one is experienced does not mean that they are "raking in the dough." I know of a teacher who had approx 20 years experience, received multiple teaching awards on various levels over the years, constantly rated one of the best, etc., and she wasn't even making $30K. She was worth well more than that, in my opinion, but people want to complain that she was overpaid.
You're not making sense. What does not tearing others down have to do with what teachers make? I don't see them tearing you down.
My father was an engineer and he made plenty of dough, Hell, he made 10 grand a year in 1948 when he and my mother married. He was a good engineer.
Maybe you need to quit whining about the other guy and get off your dead ass and put your nose to the grindstone.
Whining, right you parasite supporter. Public servants don't deserve to earn better pension/benefits than private sector. That's my point, and thats very important.
The problem is that there aren't "steady" jobs in the summer when teachers aren't employed. I rather we have full one-year long school years but I suppose the business sector wouldn't like that cause they lose out on our spending (overspending) in the summer.
How about giving teachers the option to work 260 day schedules. Instead of having 13 weeks a year off, they could use those 13 weeks on administrative tasks like lesson plans, continuing education, and so on? Use the regular weeks off during the year when the students aren't in class to get lesson plans all lined up and ready for the next few weeks until the next break. Set up a vacation schedule like most full time jobs, with a couple of weeks of the first year up to a month or two off after you've been there for a while.
Would teachers trade 13 weeks off that are unpaid in order to have paid time to work on their lesson plans and such if it meant a 25 increase in their take home?
Whining, right you parasite supporter. Public servants don't deserve to earn better pension/benefits than private sector. That's my point, and thats very important.
Man, if it wasn't for those so-called "parasites" I'd be as ignorant as you.
Whining, right you parasite supporter. Public servants don't deserve to earn better pension/benefits than private sector. That's my point, and thats very important.
So, you're implying that we, teachers, firefighers, police officers, nurses, social workers, etc. are not as valuable as you are, because we work in the public sector rather than the private sector?
So, you're implying that we, teachers, firefighers, police officers, nurses, social workers, etc. are not as valuable as you are, because we work in the public sector rather than the private sector?
Nancy
Nurses? since when have we had universal healthcare? I am saying that teachers, fire fighters, politicians, judges, military, don't deserve to have better pension/benefits or even salaries than the private sector. Not because they are "less" but because they are public. Their salary is dependent on tax revenue. With high salary equals higher taxes for the middle class. That isn't good for us.
I have been teaching elementary school for going on 26 years and I now make about $15,000 more per year than a beginning teacher, who makes about $30,000 in my distict. Keep in mind that this is after paying for at the very least, four years of college. There are not too many four year degreed careers out there where the workers make only $30,000. I do live in an area whose economy is tourist based so in my community my salary is at least fairly respectable, but I work very, very hard for that money and not only do I work very hard for my money, I end up putting a lot of my salary back into MY OWN JOB! I do not do that because I want to, but because it is necessary. This coming year, due to state budget cuts I will have a budget for my kindergarten classsroom, for the entire year of a whopping $87. In most good years, we don't have quite double that amount. We will ask the parents to supply their own child with a box of crayons, a pair of scissors, one pack of glue sticks, one box of tissues, a bottle of hand sanitizer and one container of wipes. We will also ask them supply one snack item per month as we have lunch at 10:30 and to go for the rest of the school day without a light snack is very difficult for a five or six year old child. About half of our parents, give or take a couple more, will comply. That means that my $87 will pay for the rest of those necessary supplies. I will also need writing paper (not the kind you can buy in the store, but since its Kindergarten we'll need the handwriting paper that can only be ordered or purchased from our warehouse or from an educational supply store). I will need newsprint, construction paper, drawing paper, paint, finger paint, and the list goes on. At some point before Christmas even arrives I will be out of supplies and need to purchase those. Where will the money come from? Oh, I can send a wish list home, but I'll be very lucky if 1/4 of my parents send anything in. So that means it comes out of my own pocket. There will be parents who forget to send a snack for the class and some never do. That means I am the one who supplies it. My choice now, but I will purchase Christmas gifts for these kids, crafts supplies so we can make Valentines for our families, Mother's Day gifts, etc. I kn ow these things do not sound absolutely necessary, but with very young children, most of them are. I do not know any custodian who goes out and purchases his/her own cleaning supplies. I do not know any doctor who goes out and purchases his/her own medicine. I do not know any dentist who goes out and purchases his/her own toothbrush and toothpaste samples to give to his/her patients and the list goes on.
Now, on to the hours and days I work. My contact calls for me to be on duty for 196 days per year, seven hours per day. In order to do everything I need to do, and notice I said need, not want, I will work most days for at least nine hours, many days for ten and some even 12 hours. There will be PTA meetings I have to attend, workshops I need to attend (some of which I have to pay for), parent conferences, committee meetings (and we don't get paid extra for those, even if we chair the committee) and of course as I mentioned above, shopping to do for my class. I also need time to write my lesson plans, prepare my materials, like taking time to cut out the pumpkins and Christmas trees (in our district we have no assistants in Kindergarten), grade papers, orgainize my centers for the next day on a daily basis, pick up messes and the list goes on. During the summer I will attend a couple of workshops, again, not being paid for them and even having to pay for some of them. I will be at school over the next few weeks, several days, just to prepare my room since four days is not nearly enough to prepare for the coming year when they schedule meetings and such all day long for a couple of those pre-planning days.
And, you think my job is NOT hard?????? Think again. I have usually 25 (it can be more) five and six year olds, alone, all day long with about a total of 20 to 25 minutes to eat my lunch and if I'm lucky, 35 minutes to get some paperwork done. At any given moment in my classroom I can literally have one child crying for mommy, one throwing up in the corner along with six or seven of them yelling to me about it, one trying to eat glue, one crying and telling me that another kid doesn't want to be her friend anymore and two calling for help with writing their names on their papers. Moments and days like that I can assure you, are NOT rare. I have so many different levels of children and my colleages who teacher high grades, have even more levels of children with which to deal. On the first day I will have two or three come in who have already been tested and determined to be gifted. I will have a couple more who are reading already. I will have a few who have obvious speech problems, one or two who may have language problems and/or other learning disabilities, one or two who have severe behavior problems, a few others whose problems may not be severe, but who have obviously either been spoiled rotten to the core and/or beaten black and blue and have their own issues, among them, never having been taught any social skills. I will have several who fall somewhere in between. I am not complaining. Overall I do love my career, but I tend to become a little defensive when someone says its easy or I make too much money.
Please do not say that my job is not hard or that I am overpaid, at least not until you have spent at least a week in my shoes dealing with 25 young children who all want your attention at the same time, their parents, administrators and other school staff, endless paperwork, meetings, planning, setting up, cleaning up and so forth. Oh, and during your week on duty, don't forget to go out and purchase with your own money, any additional things you will be needing to teach the class. Then you have the right to come back and tell all of us here who are teachers, that our jobs are easy and we are overpaid. Or even better, after reading about how stressful our jobs can be, instead of disagreeing and bashing us, go out and fill out a volunteer form in a local public school and volunteer to work with the teachers and children on a regular basis. Lord knows we could use the extra help in our classrooms.
Nancy
OK Irishtom,
Are you happy now? I wasn't exactly concerned about paragraphs as much as I was making my point since my eight year old DD was waiting for me to take her to the library and to meet a friend. I was in a hurry. So I thought I should take some extra time now to prove to you that yes, I do understand paragraphs and grammar in general. It's pretty obvious you were just looking for a "come back" comment to make.
Nancy
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