teaching in Tennessee

[nike M]

It is nothing about Teach for America, DubbleT. I found out on the department of education web site, I think there is something based on the educator's evaluation, data, etc.

The open positions I see are all around the state, including Memphis, Nashville, and rural counties.

[Starman71]

Mid-sized cities (city school systems as opposed to their counties') in TN are your best bet for salary, COL, and comfort. By mid-sized I mean compared to Memphis, Nashville, etc. Places like Knoxville & Chattanooga and even smaller ones like Johnson City, Oak Ridge, Maryville. (someone else from Middle and West TN can point our similar sized cities for me please.)

Our retirement isn't the best in the world: A 30-yr teacher will gross 48% of the average of their 5 highest grossing years, and you do have to pay into it yourself. You do pay into SS, which you will also draw on later. I bring this up because we've heard from other states that some pensions are paid for completely by the state, and some don't get to draw on SS. So retirement isn't too bad, but there are better ones out there. Check out Virginia's... it's better.

Oh, I forgot... we don't pay a state income tax! Yay.

Salary vs COL in this area is probably one of the best draws for teachers coming from elsewhere. Rural county systems pay less of course, but housing costs are pretty low as well.

A salary example - Johnson City schools: a teacher with a BS and 0-yrs of experience will make $38,171.00 in their 1st year. In their respective county - Washington - the same teacher will make $34,574. Not a big difference, but at the end of the career, there's a difference of about a $13K after 30 years ($43K vs $56K).

There's a few other positive differences that the mi-sized cities have over the small towns and large cities. You could probably guess them.